UCL to work with Mace to complete world-class neuroscience centre

UCL will work with global construction firm, Mace to complete UCL’s new world-class neuroscience building at 256 Grays Inn Road, it was announced today (Friday 8 November)

The appointment follows the news that ISG, the company who had been working on the programme for nearly four years had filed to enter into administration in September 2024 and stopped all works on site.  

Mace was appointed after a robust procurement and selection process, with quality as the top priority. The project attracted a lot of interest from major contractors as a prestigious high-profile programme and all the bids were very strong.  

The selection panel, led by UCL director of capital programmes, Hannah Milner included programme sponsor Professor Alan Thompson, the construction project management team, cost consultants and representatives from UCL Estates and Finance teams, faculty of Brain Sciences and UCLH.  

One of the top construction firms in the UK and globally, Mace has a highly respected track record of delivering major large-scale projects, including recent UCL projects Marshgate at UCL East and the Student Centre. 

Over the next three months, Mace will carry out a detailed review of the site before the terms of its appointment are finalised, as well as a revised schedule, with a planned completion date.  UCL and Mace will continue to explore a potential role for incumbent suppliers formerly appointed by ISG during the review and delivery phases. 

Professor Alan Thompson, Dean, Faculty of Brain Sciences and Project Sponsor said:  
“I’m very pleased to welcome Mace to the programme. We felt very confident that the team shared our vision to build a world-class research and treatment centre, which will translate discoveries into treatments and have a real impact on patients with disabling neurological conditions. We are all looking forward to working closely with Mace to move forward without delay. 

“This extraordinarily complex and ambitious project will play a critical role nationally and internationally in transforming patients’ lives and I’m looking forward to beginning work on the final stage and seeing the project come to fruition.” 

Hannah Milner, Director of UCL’s Estate Capital Programme said: 
“This is a very positive step for the programme and I am delighted to have Mace on board. With their extensive experience in the education and life-sciences sectors, they are ideally positioned to complete our state-of-the-art facility with us. The legacy of this construction project will be the vital research that will be conducted within the completed facility and hence our focus remains on completing to world-class standards. 

“We’re all very much looking forward to establishing a collaborative working relationship with Mace and finishing the project together.” 

Robert Lemming, Managing Director, Public Sector and Life Sciences, Mace Construct said:  
“Following the successful completion of both UCL East Marshgate and the Student Centre, we are once again ready to partner with UCL on delivering this high-quality neuroscience building. We recognise the significance of this facility in advancing neurological research and treatment, and we are committed to ensuring its successful completion.” 

UCL is already one of the largest, most productive and highest-impact neuroscience centres in the world and the pioneering new centre on Grays Inn Road, London, aims to accelerate the discovery of treatments for neurological conditions, including dementia – for which there is still no known cure. 

The facility will be home to the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology; the UK Dementia Research Institute at UCL Centre and HQ (UK DRI) and an outpatient unit for the UCLH National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. 

 Alongside its Queen Square home, it will be the first centre of its kind, translating ground-breaking discovery research into breakthrough treatments, with an on-site outpatient facility, allowing clinicians and researchers to work closer than ever before with people with neurological disorders and their families, their doctors and researchers.   

The new centre will house up to 1000 scientists, clinicians and patients together and enable advances to translate from bench to beside and back again. As well as seven floors of shared labs, workspaces, consulting rooms and collaboration spaces for scientists and support teams, the building will host a MRI suite with five scanners, a 220-seat lecture theatre and a range of shared core facilities, equipment and core technology platforms including microscopy, transcriptomics and tissue processing to encourage new ways of working, collaboration and knowledge-exchange.  

The building is funded by UCL, the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund, the Medical Research Council, the UCL Dementia Research Retail Coalition and generous philanthropic partners, including: Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation, the Wolfson Foundation, the Garfield Weston Foundation, Mr Martin Lee and Mrs Cathy Lee, the National Brain Appeal, Brain Research UK, and more. The Founding Funders of the UK Dementia Research Institute are the Medical Research Council, Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research.