Anshen + Allen's £80m cancer centre opens

A new £80m cancer centre, designed by Anshen + Allen, has opened in Marylebone.

The centre, created for The London Clinic, is the largest hospital to be built within the private healthcare sector in 30 years, and comprises a 8,000m2 new build cancer centre and a 600m2 refurbished grade II-listed building

The new building comprises nine storeys (eight clinical floors plus roof plant), six of which are above ground, with a series of set-backs introduced at the upper levels to reduce the impact of the development.

Due to the restricted nature of the site, three floors of the hospital were built below ground with contractor The McGee Group constructing one of the deepest basements in London at 16m deep and only 16m away from the London tube line. Anshen + Allen specified Ledite blocks, a radiation-shielding material which is twice as dense as concrete but uses less physical space.

Catherine Zeliotis, associate director of Anshen + Allen and senior medical planner on the project, says: “From the earliest stages of the project, the design team and staff worked closely together to challenge pre-conceived notions on the delivery of cancer care - we have created an inspirational facility which combines the best concepts of patient orientated design without ever compromising clinical needs; it is a place for life.”

Shepherd Construction took 84 weeks to complete the final phase of development.

Richard Vining, Shepherd Construction's managing director for the south division said: “This has been an extremely intricate project necessitating carefully planned logistics to ensure deliveries and movement around such a tight site in a busy area were as smooth as possible.”