Director of Real Estate Development, Guy's and St Thomas Hospital, at Future Cities Forum
Above: Model of plans for development and restoration of St Thomas Hospital Block 9 + Prideaux Building. On a unique site between the Palace of Westminster and Lambeth Palace Gardens with spectacular views over the River Thames, MICA Architects are working with King’s College London to refurbish and develop one of its prime properties in the heart of London to increase space for health education and training. The former Victorian Medical school is at the Southern end of the Guys’ and St Thomas’ hospital campus (MICA Architects)
Future Cities Forum welcomes Peter Ward, Director of Real Estate Development at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London to our 'Making of the Modern City' event in November.
Peter is responsible for the development of new healthcare, teaching and research facilities and has worked on public infrastructure since 1989. He has substantial experience in the successful structuring and delivery of a diverse range of Public-Private Partnerships in the healthcare, water and transportation sectors in the UK and overseas.
Since 2001 he has focussed specifically on healthcare projects, managing the procurement and delivery phases of major acute and mental health schemes across the UK with a capital value exceeding £2 billion.
Peter is a Chartered Civil Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and recently completed two full terms as a Non-Executive Director of the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust.
Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital NHS Trust is a leading centre for clinical research and trials. Its cutting-edge experimental medicine infrastructure, world renowned experts and world class collaborations allows the Trust to deliver research with local, regional, national and global impact. Its estates must be managed carefully and with an eye to the future for the needs of health education. So how do hospital trusts ensure that they develop their estates, when often they are dealing with complex heritage sites?
One such current brief involves MICA Architects working with King’s College London to refurbish and develop one of its prime properties - the Prideaux Building and Block 9 - in the heart of London to increase space for health education and training. The former Victorian Medical school is at the Southern end of the Guys’ and St Thomas’ hospital campus
The project seeks to regenerate the existing under-utilised site to safeguard the long-term use of the listed buildings, providing flexible open plan agile space suitable for medical education and associated professional use.
The site is elevated above the Albert Embankment, which provides a pedestrian link North and South along the river. Having identified the heritage assets in the area, the design propositions put forward show how the new interventions to the campus have been considered in relation to the sensitive context.
Poor quality detracting elements are proposed for removal to restore the integrity of the original historic buildings. This includes the removal existing Prideaux building, a modern addition to the site. The new Prideaux building is proposed with a 2-storey basement. The new double basement provides a large flexible space, primarily for use as a multi-purpose, flat floored / retractable Lecture Theatre. This would enable King’s College London to host academic medical conferences and could have wider benefits to GSST and the local community.
Open plan space is also provided, which can be used as spill out space during an event and used as informal break-out workspace during normal hours. The new lightwell allows daylight and an aspect to activity outside through a large window at balcony level. This allows the space the flexibility to support events benefiting from natural light and utilising black out blinds to create a ‘black box’ for conference events.
The scheme was approved by Lambeth’s Planning Application Committee in 2016.