HRH Prince William Officially Opens Oak Cancer Centre
The Oak Cancer Centre in Sutton was officially opened on 8th June 2023 by His Royal Highness Prince William, Prince of Wales, President of The Royal Marsden.
The new state-of-the-art research and treatment facility was funded by The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity and named after Oak Foundation, which donated £25 million to the Charity’s £70 million Oak Cancer Centre appeal. The centre is hailed as transformational as it combines 400 researchers and 200 healthcare professionals in one facility – the first of its kind.
Desco designed the mechanical and electrical services for the new facility on behalf of the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. The building successfully achieved a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating and includes a number of sustainable design features including utilisation of the Hospitals energy centre waste heat, heat pumps, photovoltaics, green roof and bio-diverse planting.
Spanning across six floors, the centre features a number of external terraces with a striking pergola on the top floor for staff and patient use.
The Charles Wolfson Rapid Diagnostic Centre is to the south end of the building with its own dedicated entrance, allowing patients to attend for testing away from the main treatment areas. The diagnostic centre includes waiting area, rooms for mammography, ultrasound, endoscopy investigations and remote consultation booths.
The ground floor incorporates the atrium, reception, pharmacy and haematology department. Managing the acoustics in the atrium was carefully planned to minimise sound levels in the area. The building features an all-digital record keeping system and enables patients to sign in digitally. The atrium is also served with underfloor heating and natural ventilation.
The first and third floors consist of open plan office space and break out areas for researchers, promoting interaction and collaboration to help advance research and emerging treatments.
The Olayan Day Care Unit is located on the second floor. The open plan unit was designed to maximise the comfort of patients receiving chemotherapy and other cancer treatments by creating a bright and peaceful environment. There are 66 chemotherapy bays, each providing patients with views of the landscaped garden during their treatment sessions.
The building was carefully designed to ensure optimum functionality for both staff and patients including how the building would operate, consideration of which services needed to be in close proximity to each other and how it functions. VR was utilised as a tool to keep clinicians involved throughout the entire design process which enabled staff to physically experience how the clinical areas would be to use and also to allow the fine detail of all aspects of the design to be coordinated with the needs of the staff and users.