The Fleming Centre key milestones
Summer 2023
His Royal Highness Prince William, The Prince of Wales, launches the funding appeal to build the Fleming Centre. As Patron of this appeal, Prince William will support efforts over the next five years to make the Centre’s ambitious plans a reality
Autumn 2023
– the Government awards £5 million towards the Fleming Centre.
Summer 2024
– Imperial College Healthcare and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) launch a design competition to appoint the architect.
Autumn 2024
– Lord Darzi announces an initial £100 million fundraised for the Centre, supported by three new partners, LifeArc, Cepheid and Optum, alongside founding partner, GSK, and other philanthropists.
Winter 2024
– The Fleming Centre design exhibition enables over 300 local residents and staff to provide feedback and views on five architectural teams’ proposals.
Early 2025
– RIBA announces that the architecture firm Stanton Williams has been selected to design the Fleming Centre.
Spring to Summer 2025
– Stanton Williams will developits designs and share early plans for the centre in the first phase of planning consultation.
Autumn 2025
– Stanton Williams will finalise the designs and show how they have evolved before they are submitted in a planning application.
2026
– Construction is anticipated to start on site following planning permission.
The site and local context
The Bays building – the proposed site of the Fleming Centre - was originally built as a canal-side storage warehouse around 1850. It was incorporated into St Mary’s Hospital in 1983 as office space.
The Bays has been chosen as the site for the new Fleming Centre because:
- It allows construction with minimal impact to clinical services at St Mary’s Hospital
- It is an easily accessible location next to Paddington Station (with excellent connections across the UK and abroad)
- It will be directly situated in the Paddington Basin, alongside other partners in the Paddington Life Sciences cluster
- The building is in considerable disrepair and would require significant refurbishment to continue as a viable office space.
We are committed to managing construction carefully and we will keep the community up to date with the development through regular bulletins.
Monitors tasked with strictly tracking levels of dust, noise and vibration will be placed across the site, and marshalls will manage construction traffic, helping to keep residents and staff safe.
The ideal location in Paddington
St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington has been at the forefront of healthcare innovation since it opened in 1845. It is where Sir Alexander Fleming was working as a doctor and researcher when he discovered penicillin in 1928.
St Mary’s – along with the other hospitals that make up Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust – continues to strive for better health and care today. With academic partner Imperial College London, it has particular expertise in infectious diseases. In 2023, the Trust became the first UK healthcare organisation to be accredited by the Global Antimicrobial Stewardship Accreditation Scheme.
Collaboration with industry
Centred around St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington Life Sciences is a growing cluster of health research and data businesses partnering with local communities and stakeholders to improve health, healthcare and economic growth for all.
The Fleming Initiative is proud to have the support of a wide range of commercial and philanthropic partners.
St Mary's redevelopment
While funding for the Fleming Centre is separate to NHS funding for St Mary’s Hospital, each will benefit the work of the other. The creation of the Centre is planned as a precursor to the redevelopment of the whole St Mary’s site as part of the Government’s New Hospital Programme. This will deliver a new 800-bed hospital as well as further expansion of Paddington Life Sciences.