Member Article

Construction milestone celebrated at London South Bank's new biomedical engineering hub

A key moment in the construction of The London Institute for Healthcare Engineering (LIHE), a new centre for healthcare technology innovation on London’s South Bank, has been celebrated with a topping out ceremony onsite.

Morgan Sindall Construction has been appointed by King’s College London to build The London Institute for Healthcare Engineering, an initiative led by King’s School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences with the Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

Part of the St Thomas’ MedTech Hub, LIHE will build on King’s expertise in healthcare engineering to develop a leading centre for medical technology and biomedical engineering in the heart of London.

The new building will be embedded within St Thomas’ campus and will bring together King’s research excellence, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust’s leading clinical practice and the medtech sector’s commercial innovation power and talent, engaging multinationals, SMEs and start-ups simultaneously. This close collaboration ensures that research in healthcare engineering is translated rapidly into new products and technologies that will benefit patients.

LIHE’s initial focus will be on key clinical challenges in cancer, neurological, cardiovascular, ophthalmology, oral health and prenatal conditions, which have been selected for their high disease burden and potential for transformation through healthcare engineering.

Representing a total investment of £32m, the project will be delivered under the Southern Construction Framework (SCF), a quality-managed collaborative construction framework for public bodies to procure major building works using a two stage open book process to deliver best value.

Richard Dobson, Morgan Sindall Construction’s area director for London, said: “We’re delighted to be delivering this important project and the topping out ceremony was a great opportunity to reflect on the world-class research and industry innovation that this new pioneering centre for medical technology and biomedical engineering will create in the heart of London.

“Throughout this project, we have leveraged our team’s outstanding experience in successfully delivering very technical projects in high profile locations across the capital as we work to create a sustainable, future-fit building which will enhance the UK’s biomedical engineering capability. This is a great testament to Morgan Sindall’s Intelligent Solutions approach and our ability to think creatively about complex construction challenges.

“During this project, we are working closely with the Southern Construction Framework, our project partners, and supply chain to create social value for our local communities – ensuring the development creates a positive economic legacy through training and employment opportunities for people living locally.”

Professor Sebastien Ourselin, Head of the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences at King’s College London, said: “We are pleased to be working with Morgan Sindall Construction on the new London Institute for Healthcare Engineering. This building will enable us to pioneer approaches that will advance the implementation of new medical technology into the patient care pathway while enhancing the standard of care. The London Institute for Healthcare Engineering will address these aspects by physically embedding staff from multiple sectors to create an ecosystem to accelerate end-to-end translation of novel healthcare technologies.”

“Peter Ward, Director of Real Estate Development at King’s College London, said: “This project represents an important milestone in the growth of St Thomas’ as a centre of expertise in biomedical engineering and healthcare technology at the heart of our life science innovation cluster, SC1. It will drive partnerships between clinicians, academics and industry and help us grow a vibrant community of start-up businesses, so we’re delighted that Morgan Sindall Construction have used their broad experience in this sector to design the building to adapt as our needs change and grow. We look forward to successfully commissioning it in 2023.”

The project is being funded by UKRI, with co-investment of over £32m from Wellcome and industry partners including Siemens Healthineers, Medtronic, NVIDIA and IBM, as well as £15m contribution from King’s towards the construction of the new building. The funding received by The London Institute for Healthcare Engineering is part of the Round 6 of UK Research Partnership Investment Fund (UKRPIF).

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