Young patients have been moved out of old facilities and into new modern wards at the Mittal Children’s Medical Centre, which has 240 beds and spans two connecting wings. Housed within it is the new Premier Inn Clinical Building, which offers 141 beds, including single bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms and space for parents to stay overnight.

Skanska project managed the construction of the building, which was designed by Llewelyn Davies. Most of the acute inpatients will move out of the hospital’s old Southwood building, which will continue to be used for inpatients and administrative facilities.

During her visit, the Duchess of Cambridge spent time with cardiac patients, some of whom have spent months in hospital on pioneering heart devices, which help them stay alive while they wait for a heart transplant. GOSH is just one of two centres in the UK to offer this treatment. The Duchess also met children with rare and complex medical conditions who were taking part in an art activity facilitated by GOSH Arts, the hospital’s arts programme.

As many as 618 children present at GOSH from across the UK for treatment each day, and demand for the hospital’s services is growing. With its state-of-the-art wards and surgical facilities, the new medical centre will help the hospital meet this demand, which has been made possible through contributions from Aditya and Megha Mittal, Premier Inn and Restaurants, and supporters of Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity.

Speaking at the opening event, the Duchess of Cambridge said: “It’s been my first trip to Great Ormond Street Hospital and I’ve been so impressed with everything I’ve seen and the scale of the work that’s going on here. It’s been wonderful to meet so many families and young people, and I’ve been so inspired by their bravery and courage at such a difficult time.”

Aditya Mittal said: “My wife, Megha, and I always wanted to support causes relating to child health, particularly after we had our own children. We’ve followed the progress of the Mittal Children’s Medical Centre closely as it’s taken shape, and it’s been wonderful to see it come to life.

“My family and I are confident that the patients and families who come here in the future will receive the best possible care, in the best possible space.”

Phase 3 celebrates topping-out milestone
Attention will now turn to the completion of phase 3 of the redevelopment programme – the creation of the Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children, also constructed by Skanska and which last month celebrated its topping-out milestone. Due to be completed later this year, the centre aims to be a multi-disciplinary centre of excellence, bringing together clinicians from GOSH and researchers from the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science.

The centre will focus on research around rare diseases and rapidly translating these findings into new treatments for patients. Its facilities will include laboratories, manufacturing units, research write-up areas, and meeting rooms. The development will also provide much-needed outpatient clinical space, advancing the translational research approach, which focuses on taking discoveries from the lab bench to the patients’ bedsides.

Work has now begun on the interior of the centre, which will house state-of-the-art laboratories and highly specialised facilities for the development of new gene and stem-cell therapies, as well as a much-needed outpatients clinic.

Designed by architects Stanton Williams, construction of the new building, which is targeting a BREEAM rating of excellent, will include:

• 4200m³ of concrete to build the frame;
• 520 tonnes of steel for the building structure;
• 5000 metres of drywall partitions;
• 13,000m² of floor space; and
• 2500m² of glass within the external walls.

Speaking at the topping-out ceremony in December, Tim Johnson, chief executive of Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity, said: “I’d like to thank the family of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. Thanks to their generosity the charity has been able to support GOSH to discover new treatments and cures for children with complex and rare conditions, both at the hospital and across the UK.”