World-class neuroscience centre reaches highest point in construction

UCL’s new world-class neuroscience building, which will include patient facilities for UCLH, has reached the highest point construction milestone this month and celebrated with a ‘Topping Out’ ceremony.

The centre on Grays Inn Road, London, which is due to open in late 2024 aims to accelerate the discovery of treatments for neurological conditions, including dementia – for which there is still no known cure.

UCLH’s National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN) will have two dedicated facilities in the building – a bespoke and modern outpatient unit with facilities to enable patient participation in research studies, and an MRI unit, shared with UCL, which will provide additional capacity for clinical and research imaging for our patients.

The £281.6 million facility will also be home to the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology and the UK Dementia Research Institute at UCL Centre and HQ (UK DRI).

The new centre will house up to 1000 scientists, clinicians and patients together and enable advances to translate from bench to bedside and back again. As well as seven floors of shared labs, workspaces, consulting rooms and collaboration spaces for scientists and support teams, the building will host an MRI suite with five scanners, a 220-seat lecture theatre and a range of shared core facilities, equipment and core technology platforms including microscopy, transcriptomics and tissue processing to encourage new ways of working, collaboration and knowledge-exchange.

The sustainable design, by architects Hawkins\Brown also contains a variety of open and green spaces, including public access areas that the local community can access, as well as a café, open to the public.

David Probert, Chief Executive, University College London Hospitals, NHS Foundation Trust said:

“We are thrilled to be working with UCL on this exciting new centre for neuroscience, which will provide exceptional research and NHS patient treatment facilities to support patients with neurological conditions. As we celebrate reaching the highest point of the new building, we also celebrate the collaboration between science and medicine. It is through this collaboration that we will see increased patient participation in clinical trials and the delivery of life-saving, and life-changing, treatments.”

Max Tolhurst, Divisional Manager, said:

“It was a privilege to be at the topping out ceremony, representing the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, to mark the highest point in this fantastic new building. The new centre will enable greater collaboration between science and medicine and make a real difference to patients. We are really grateful to the National Brain Appeal for their continued support for the new development.”

Professor Alan Thompson, Dean, UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences said:

“The new UCL building at 256 Grays Inn Road has been an ambitious project, long in the making and it is wonderful to see it finally coming to fruition.

“UCL is a global leader in pioneering research into neurological conditions that cause disabling and distressing symptoms such as immobility and dementia and it can be a challenge to link researchers with clinicians, patients, industry, and students. This new purpose-built centre of excellence will enable that collaboration between these key groups to take place and, as a consequence, new treatments to be developed, tested and made available to our patients.

“Our goal is to translate discoveries into treatments and have a real impact on patients with disabling neurological conditions – one of the great unmet needs of society.

For more information on the new neuroscience centre