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Her Majesty The Queen opens the Francis Crick Institute, London

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Charlotte S Charlotte Fernández UKIMEA Press Office,Leeds
9 November 2016

On Wednesday 9th November The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, accompanied by the Duke of York, formally opened the Francis Crick Institute.

The Crick is one of Europe’s largest centres of biomedical research and home to 1,250 scientists from many disciplines. The centres work is helping to develop new treatments for illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, neurodegenerate conditions and infectous diseases.

Arup has been involved in the £650 million project since its inception in 2008. The firm’s project management team developed the procurement strategy, allowing enabling works to the basement construction to commence ahead of the original programme. Arup’s building engineering team designed the complex building services at the modern science research centres, which needed to meet very high specifications to accommodate the most sensitive and advanced research equipment.

 

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This was an exciting project to be a part of. We needed to work closely with the Crick’s scientists, the designers and the contractor to make sure that the multi-purpose needs of the building were met. Each lab has been adapted and purpose-built for each research department, which meant a lot of collaboration to understand the specific needs of all disciplines using the facilities. ” Steven Berry Steven Berry Associate Director, Building engineering

The Francis Crick Institute is the first laboratory, and one of the first buildings of any type, to be subject to the latest UK energy regulations. This has led to approximately 25 per cent reduction in carbon levels; achieving an ‘Excellent’ BREEAM rating.