by Robert L. Stevenson AL
Timeline for Building the Francis Crick Institute
The UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation (UKCMRI) (now known as the Francis Crick Institute) was established in response to the need for an organization dedicated to improving healthcare in Great Britain. Its purpose was to provide critical research in a central location, enjoying close proximity to London’s leading hospitals. Contributors to the center included the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) and the London Research Institute (LRI). The timeline below explains the activities leading to its opening.
December 2007: Stakeholders vote to construct the UKCMRI on a 3.6-acre site in Central London near The British Library and three train stations.
August 2008: HOK architects are hired to design the new building.
December 2009: The UKCMRI introduces the first design review along with a supporting research strategy intended to address four needs:
1) research excellence, 2) training and developing future scientific leaders, 3) participating in British biomedical research and 4) promot- ing innovation and translation.
March 2010: The U.K. government announces a £250 million invest- ment to build the UKCMRI.
June 2010: The UKCMRI proposes an institute capable of tackling the underlying causes of the most challenging health problems.
July 2010: Sir Paul Nurse is appointed UKCMRIÕs first director and chief executive.
September 2010: The UKCMRI applies for a building permit from the Camden Council.
May 2011: UKCMRI is renamed the Francis Crick Institute (FCI). June 2011: Construction of the new building begins.
The new Francis Crick laboratory (Figures 1–3) is immense by any measure. It is 560 feet long and has almost 1 million ft2
of floor space; its 1553
rooms are twice the number found in Buckingham Palace. Eight of the building’s 12 floors are above ground, so its height is comparable to sur- rounding buildings, a design that required the excavation and removal of 185,000 m3
of soil. A forest of piles under the foundation extend an ad-
ditional 52 feet into the ground and anchor the structure. To ensure that it is water-tight, the basement was constructed using a continuous pore distribution of 65,000 m3
of concrete and it is reinforced with 9000 tons
of steel. Electrical power is distributed via more than 100 miles of cables feeding 17,000 lights and four kilometers of lab benches. The building
Figure 1 – Francis Crick Institute (images courtesy of Francis Crick Institute). AMERICAN LABORATORY 48
Figure 2 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017
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