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The £3.8 million, three-storey, 1,050 sq m building at Queen Elizabeth Hospital will house the HBRC, licensed by the Human Tissue Authority, which will be dedicated to the collection and storage of human biomaterials for distribution to biomedical research groups. The new centre, set up with £2.5 million of Science City funding, will also house a gene therapy pharmacy and business development space.
Morgan Sindall Professional Services is delivering the architectural design, civil, structural and mechanical, HVAC and electrical engineering design and BREEAM assessor services for the project. VINCI Construction is building the new facility which is set to be completed in February 2011.
At an early stage in the project, Morgan Sindall Professional Services used its expertise in 3D computer modelling to allow stakeholders to visualise how the finished facility will look, and how it will fit into the existing space. The laboratory facilities have been designed so that the accommodation can be adapted for other uses in the future. The building has been designed to achieve a ‘Very Good’ rating on the BREEAM scale for measuring environmental performance.
Linked to the existing Wellcome building, the new facility – elements of which are designed to the ADCP (Advisory Committee for Dangerous Pathogens), EU GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice), MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) and NHS HBN (Health Building Note) and HTM (Health Technical Memorandum) standards – is being built on a constrained site surrounded by existing hospital buildings, including wards.
As the development is located in a live education environment minimising impact on the campus is important. Innovative design solutions have been used to minimise noise and disruption during construction including augered piling, minimised excavation and additional temporary screening to the surrounding areas.
Images: Artist’s impressions of the newhuman biomaterials resource centre and gene therapy / research pharmacy building designed by Morgan Sindall Professional Services for the University of Birmingham at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham.
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