Cancer Centre wins London architecture and engineering awards

The new Cancer Centre at Guy’s has won two prestigious industry awards.

This landmark building was a winner at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) London Awards on Monday 22 May and also won the ‘Best Building’ category at the London Civil Engineering Awards on Thursday 25 May.

It was designed by architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners with healthcare architects Stantec – engineers Arup and construction firm Laing O’Rourke completed the team.

A total of 215 schemes were entered for the RIBA London regional awards and the Cancer Centre, which opened last September, is now in the running for a national RIBA award later this year.

RIBA’s judges called it “a very humane and welcoming, state-of-the art hospital for cancer patients” with “a very sensitive design for patients”.

They said: “A new system of ‘vertical villages’, where functions of the hospital are clustered around double or triple-height mini-atria and colour-coded for ease of navigation, removes the necessity for the disorienting, labyrinthine corridors that are associated with many older NHS buildings.

“Large windows onto private balconies provide natural light and views into these central atria, which spills out into a variety of waiting areas. In addition to the larger central waiting areas, smaller pockets of space, private rooms and balconies are provided, where patients can find privacy.”

Winning the capital’s Best Building Award at the London Civil Engineering Awards recognised the use of modern design, engineering and construction methods to create a world-class building which is designed around the needs of patients and their families.

Cancer survivors helped influence the design of the building through a Patient Reference Group to ensure the voice of patients was heard throughout its development.

The Cancer Centre at Guy’s was recognised at two other awards ceremonies this week:

• Highly commended for ‘Design through innovation’ and shortlisted for ‘Community benefit’ at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) London Awards
• Shortlisted for ‘Communication’ at the Health Service Journal Value in Healthcare Awards

The Cancer Centre is also in the running for a number of other awards over the next few months:

• European Healthcare Design Awards in two categories, ‘NHS healthcare design’ and ‘Interior design and arts’ – winners to be announced 13 June
• London Local Authority Building Control (LABC) Building Excellence Awards in the ‘Best public service building’ category – winners to be announced 16 June
• Healthcare Transformation Awards in the ‘Improving patient & community engagement’ category – winners to be announced 28 June
• New London Awards in the ‘Ashden Prize for sustainability’ category – winners to be announced 5 July
• Construction News Awards in the ‘Project of the year (over £50 million)’ category – winners to be announced 13 July
• British Construction Industry Awards in the ‘Major building project of the year (over £50 million)’ category – winners to be announced 11 October