Oriel has awarded Bouygues UK the £300m construction contract for its new eye care centre in Camden, UK.
Bouygues UK, who were awarded the £300m construction contract in February 2023, and the Oriel partners have spoken to Building Better Healthcare about the joint efforts to build the new eye care centre.
Oriel is a new eye care, research, and education centre, partly funded by the New Hospital Programme, and is set to be completed by its 2027 target.
The build has now reached level 2 of the 10-storey, 47,000 sqm build, Neil Pixsley, the Project Director for Oriel at Bouygues UK, revealed to Building Better Healthcare.
The new eye care centre is currently being built in the heart of the Knowledge Quarter, an internationally renowned hub for science and innovation in Camden.
The vision for Oriel
Oriel is a joint partnership between Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology (IoO) and Moorfields Eye Charity.
Bringing the expertise of the partners under one roof, the aim is to create a world-leading centre for advancing eye health through health care, research, and education.
Moorfields and the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology already collaborate on several research and education initiatives, but the current facilities are housed in several separate co-located buildings.
Oriel is set to be completed by its 2027 target
The new centre will allow greater interaction between clinicians, researchers and patients.
In addition to clinical departments, laboratories, and education spaces, the new building will have a range of collaboration spaces for staff to come together and discuss new ideas that will lead to innovative research and treatments for patients.
A spokesperson for Oriel said: “It is exciting for our staff, patients and students to see the building emerge from the ground this year. Co-design has been at the heart of us creating the new centre for advancing eye health and we have dedicated groups of patients, staff, students, partners and other stakeholders who have supported us at every step of the design process."
“Our move in 2027 will also mean we will be part of the Knowledge Quarter, one of the highest concentrations of knowledge-producing organisations in the world,” the Oriel spokesperson concluded.
The latest Oriel build update
According to Neil Pixsley, the Project Director for Oriel at Bouygues UK, the construction team has now fully mobilised, with more than 150 skilled operatives currently working on-site to build the centre.
The building’s structure can now be seen emerging above ground level.
Bouygues UK is expecting to reach the 10th floor and top out by the end of the year.
To get to this point, Bouygues UK, so far, has utilised around 700 lorries to pour 3,800 cubic metres of concrete on site with 1,000 tonnes of steel reinforcements.
Bouygues UK is expecting to reach the 10th floor and top out by the end of the year
The concrete foundations have now been poured, ground source boreholes are complete and the second floor slab has also been poured.
To further facilitate construction, Bouygues UK imported a formwork system from France for the vertical elements which “helped streamline the process,” according to Pixsley.
A formwork system is a standardised and modular approach to creating temporary frameworks used to shape and support concrete until it reaches the required strength and can stand on its own.
According to Pixsley, the formwork system has many advantages, such as, “cost savings, reusability, efficiency, quality, and safety.”
Modern build methods used in the Oriel build
In addition to the formwork system, Bouygues UK installed over 200 precast concrete elements for the basement wall. This includes an innovative solution of concrete called Uniwall.
Uniwall is a “solution that revolutionises basement wall construction, offering a semi-prefab technique that is both watertight and load bearing,” Pixsley explained.
Uniwall is a “solution that revolutionises basement wall construction, offering a semi-prefab technique that is both watertight and load bearing
“Uniwall streamlines the construction process, eliminating the need for traditional formwork. This saves time, costs, and minimises the need for concrete repairs,” Pixsley continued.
Bouygues UK is at the forefront of introducing Uniwall to the UK market (seen in the video below), supplied by its longstanding partner, the Belgian precast provider, Prefaxis.
The Oriel build from the beginning and digging up history
Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust previously owned the two-acre Oriel site.
In February 2023, Moorfields acquired the site through an NHS-to-NHS transaction approved by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and Bouygues UK started the build of Oriel by demolishing six buildings.
Ground source heat pumps are a safe and reliable form of renewable energy
As a part of the planning permission from Camden Council the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) were permitted to conduct an archaeological dig.
The MOLA team identified remains of a Victorian workhouse, which were unconventional for workhouses of the time such as “brightly coloured walls, fireplaces, branded crockery and even a bone toothbrush with horsehair bristles,” according to Pixsley.
The site had to be excavated in order for the Bouygues UK team to start preparation works for the deep foundations of the building.
Renewable energy in the build
Boreholes were part of the preparation works in order to install a closed-loop ground source heat pump system.
To install the heat pumps, the team dug 81 boreholes to a depth of 172m each which is equivalent to the length of two football pitches.
The mock-up construction is expected to start in May 2024
Ground source heat pumps are a safe and reliable form of renewable energy, using free and abundant energy from the ground to heat and cool the building.
What is next?
Looking ahead, the team is preparing to install a full-size mock-up that will exhibit some of the building's main rooms, including a patient consultation room and a science laboratory.
The mock-up construction is expected to start in May 2024 and will help Bouygues UK "refine the construction sequence, and design details and improve delivery," according to Pixsley.
As with all our projects, social value is key for us
Fabienne Viala, Chair and CEO of Bouygues UK, said: “We are so proud to be the leading contractor for this innovative building which will be an exemplar for accessibility, tailored to the needs of its patients, and designed flexibly to meet their future needs."
"As with all our projects, social value is key for us we are working with the Oriel partners, Camden Council, and the Knowledge Quarter to unlock training and employment opportunities for local people to create a lasting legacy in the community,” Viala concluded.
Photo credit: Photos of the progress of the Oriel build to date by Richard P Walton for Bouygues UK Video credit: Richard P Walton for Bouygues UK