CONSTRUCTION work has begun on a new children’s cancer centre at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).
Irish-headquartered John Sisk & Son (Sisk) are the main contractors for the project, which will start with four months spent demolishing the existing cancer centre.
Following this excavation and works on the basement will begin, before moving “onwards and upwards until the world-leading new centre is complete” a Sisk spokesperson confirmed.
A ground-breaking event was held at the site in central London as works got underway on June 4.
Ger Hayes, Sisk’s Managing Director for UK South, said it marked a “huge milestone” in the project, which has been “six years in the making”.
“Now we transfer from the pre-contract phase into the construction phase,” he explained.
The construction phase of the GOSH Children's Cancer Centre project has now begun“We are going to really move on to the exciting bit now, which is pushing on with the demolition and the construction of the brand new state of the art cancer care centre at GOSH.”
The construction phase is expected to take four years and will be undertaken while day to day life at the hospital continues.
“This is a complex build in a complex environment, working and operating within an operational hospital,” Gary Beacham, Children’s Cancer Centre Delivery Director at GOSH, confirmed.
Once completed the new centre will increase their cancer centre capacity by 20 per cent.
It will also feature digitally advanced inpatient wards and a new hospital school.
“The thing that has got everybody behind this job is what it will be at the end,” Mr hayes explained.
“When you walk around this place and you see some of the sickest kids and families and the toll it takes on them, if we can build something that will make that better it will make it better for the clinicians it will make it better for the families, it will make it better for everybody.
“And that is the ultimate aim, that in four years’ time we will be back here celebrating that.”
Steven McGee, who is Sisk’s Chief Operating Officer for Ireland and UK, outlined where the project is at currently.
“Weve done the soft strip, we are about to start the demotion followed by the basement box frame façade,” he said.
“So it’s a four-year journey and at the end it will be a world class children’s cancer care unit that will leave a lasting legacy, not just in London but in our business.”
GOSH has launched the Build It. Beat It. fundraising appeal to help fund the project.
At the ground-breaking event, hospital staff were joined by principal donor, John Grayken and long-time GOSH Charity supporters the Said family as well Public Health and Prevention Minister Ashley Dalton.
The appeal is aiming to raise £300m to help build the Children’s Cancer Centre.
“The Children’s Cancer Centre will make a difference to every child who comes to GOSH, and particularly, it will help us advance how we care and treat children who have rare and complex cancers,” Mat Shaw, Great Ormond Street Hospital Chief Executive, said at the event.
“A massive thank you to everyone who is supporting the Build It. Beat It. appeal – we couldn’t do this without you," he added.
Mr Dalton said he hospital is a "symbol of what we can achieve when we combine the excellence of our NHS people, innovative technologies, ground-breaking treatment and world-class research".
“As someone living with cancer myself, I know how terrifying a diagnosis can be - and when it happens to our children, that's unimaginable," he added.
“These families deserve a government that's backing them every step of the way, which is why we've relaunched the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce and will ensure children’s cancer is at the forefront of our Plan for Change."
GOSH and Sisk are "working hard to limit the impacts of the development on the local community and families who are coming to the hospital", they confirmed this week.
Sisk are using a range of different methods for the works to limit dust, noise and vibrations during the build.
See More: Children's Cancer Centre, Construction, GOSH, Sisk
