Member Article

Landmark Liverpool City Region infection innovation centre celebrates key development milestone

A major milestone in the construction of a new multi-million-pound centre that will develop the next generation of global health leaders has been celebrated with a ‘topping out’ ceremony.

Operated jointly by Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and iiCON: Infection Innovation Consortium, the new centre, Pembroke House, builds on the Liverpool City Region’s world-leading capability in infectious disease research and innovation.

The building, located in the heart of Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter on the corner of London Road and Daulby Street, is undergoing an extensive refurbishment delivered by main contractor Kier. This involves the external façade being retained while internal works deliver an attractive, contemporary space with state-of-the-art facilities with immersive and experiential technologies at its core.

A celebratory ceremony to mark the completion of a key phase in the refurbishment was held on Wednesday, July 13th, with a ceremonial laying of the building’s final brick by iiCON’s founding Director Janet Hemingway, and LSTM’s Director, David Lalloo.

Once complete, the centre will provide a bespoke centre for world-class collaborative and interactive online learning, industry collaboration, and community engagement and training. The centre will accelerate the development of transformative technologies, and future-proof the region as a world-leading centre for infection innovation, research, and learning.

Professor David Lalloo said: “Pembroke House responds to a growing need for a step-change in training to equip health professionals to deal with the global health challenges of the future.

“The new centre will support impactful global partnerships with multiple stakeholders in teaching and research and enhance LSTM’s educational collaboration with overseas partners and students by linking learning on-campus in Liverpool into a world-class, globally connected digital learning environment.

“It’s exciting to be ‘topping out’ the building and laying the final brick and we look forward to officially launching the building as we celebrate LSTM’s 125th anniversary next year.”

Professor Janet Hemingway said: “It’s great to see such good progress being made on the refurbishment of Pembroke House and we’re delighted to be marking this key development milestone.

“Once open, the centre will support and super-charge infection innovation by bringing together industry, academia, and our regional community in world-class facilities and providing industry partners with a dedicated space to enable high-quality training, networking, and partnering – supporting pioneering collaborative innovation.”

Sean Fenner, regional director for Kier Construction North & Scotland, said: “We’re pleased and proud to be marking this milestone in the refurbishment of Pembroke House. This development will breathe new life into this beautiful historic building in Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter, carefully retaining the external façade while creating a state-of-the-art centre where innovation and learning thrives. We’re delighted to be working closely with the team at LSTM and iiCON on this important project for the Liverpool City Region.”

Offering innovative learning platforms and cutting-edge facilities, including immersive reality technology, the centre will be used to train future health leaders, both globally and across the Liverpool City Region and wider North West, and support increasing industry, NHS and academic collaboration.

iiCON, which has established a world-leading centre of infection R&D in the North West, will utilise the centre to drive forward impactful partnerships between industry, research, and the NHS to support pioneering infection innovation R&D, contributing to the Liverpool City Region target of R&D increasing to 5 per cent of GDP.

Secured with funding from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA), generous donations from leading philanthropic organisations including The Garfield Weston Foundation and Lord Leverhulme’s Charitable Trust have supported the development of the new centre.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by John Robson .