Children’s hospital wants design team and contractor for next phase of redevelopment

A competition has been launched to find a design team and contractor for a £190m project to create a new “front door” for Great Ormond Street Hospital.

The contest, being run by RIBA Competitions, is a competitive dialogue process to appoint a multi-disciplinary design team and prime contractor.

The winning team needs to be able to give architectural expression to the famous children’s hospital’s guiding principle, “The child first and always”.

The hospital is starting work on phase 4 of its redevelopment programme which will see it replace outdated facilities on part of its central London site and provide a new street entrance.

Peter Steer, chief executive of the hospital which has 3,800 staff and sees more than 268,000 patients every year, said they wanted the design to express the things GOSH prizes, from its research programme to the children it treats.

He added: “We are excited to see how the world’s best design and construction experts can reflect our vision to create a building that supports our staff in their important work and nurtures our patients and their families through some of the most testing times of their lives.”

The deadline for PQQs is October 7. Three to six teams will then be shortlisted and invited to participate in a three-month competitive dialogue programme starting in late October. This process will include workshop sessions on design, cost and contractual issues leading to the submission of final tenders in February 2017.  The submitted design proposals will then be put out to public consultation.

Previous architects who have worked at the hospital include Stanton Williams and Studio Weave.

Full details from the RIBA website.