The first scientists have moved into the new £650 m Francis Crick Institute building in London, and are starting work in their purpose-built laboratories.
Next to St Pancras station and the British Library, the Crick will be Europe’s biggest biomedical research institute under one roof. Research groups will continue moving in each week until the year-end, as laboratory space is adapted for each. Early 2017 will see the Institute fully up and running, with all staff, including some 1,250 scientists – moved in, and research projects ‘ramping up’. Research at the Crick will aim ‘to discover how and why disease develops to find new ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat conditions such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, infections, and neurodegenerative conditions’.
The Crick has been established through the collaboration of six founding partners: the Medical Research Council (MRC), Cancer Research UK, Wellcome, UCL (University College London), Imperial College London, and King’s College London.
The building – ‘one of London’s most complex’ – was designed by architects, HOK with PLP Architecture, and built by Laing O’Rourke. Arup and AKT II were the engineers, with Arup also project manager. Turner & Townsend were cost consultants, and Cordless Consultants provided IT and AV facilities. The 170 metre-long facility incorporates ‘approaching one million square feet’ of floor space over 12 floors. ‘Very high specifications’ – including for high vibration resistance, close temperature control, minimisation of electromagnetic interference, and high rates of air change – had to be met to enable the use of ‘sensitive and advanced’ research equipment’. The striking roof features roof-mounted solar panels. Energy-saving features also including a CHP system should reduce the energy bill of the ‘BREAAM excellent’ building by a third.
Biomedical research facilities include access to advanced DNA sequencing, and the latest mass spectrometry equipment to allow gene expression, proteins, and metabolic pathways, to be characterised. Bioinformatics support allows studies involving very large datasets. The robots in the building’s high-throughput screening facility allow tens of thousands of drug candidates to be tested in cells, while electron microscopy, X-ray crystallography, and nuclear magnetic resonance suites, allow biological structures to be studied ‘in fantastic detail’.
The building’s exterior was designed to echo the design of local buildings, with the masonry and distinctive vaulted roof ‘recalling features’ of the adjacent St Pancras International Station. The roof is arranged in two ‘shells’, both for decorative reasons, and to conceal sizeable heating and cooling units, while to reduce visible mass, one-third of the structure is below ground. Extensive glazing allows natural light to flood in.
The Institute said: “The design deliberately ‘nudges’ inhabitants towards collaboration; the atria cross at the centre of the building to create a hub with break areas, informal collaboration space, and a large central stair. Walkways and informal meeting areas ‘criss-cross’ the main atrium and connect neighbourhoods – to foster joint working and discussion between the multi-disciplinary scientists working in the laboratories and other areas.”
