The Fleming Centre is part of the wider Fleming Initiative, established jointly by Imperial College Healthcare and Imperial College London to find solutions to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) at a global scale. As part of the St Mary’s Hospital masterplan in Paddington, the design competition for this new centre focused on providing a space to bring together researchers, policymakers, clinicians, behavioural experts, commercial partners and the public to combine their shared networks, expertise and skills.

Located in a tight site in Paddington Basin, west London, the centre is also intended as a vital conduit between the existing hospital to the wider area, through publicly accessible routes, and in its proximity to the canal, linking and engaging the critical scientific advancement of the centre directly with the public.

Grimshaw’s design, developed in collaboration with Brunet Saunier & Associes and SpaceHub was shortlisted (one of five) in the international, anonymous design competition.

The proposed design embraces the heritage of the site, preserving the existing industrial buildings — the last remaining wharf buildings in the basin — adapting them for reuse and reinstating historic openings to provide stronger visual connections and unification with a new public square.

This concept of connection, accessibility and openness, continues through the design, with six stories of functional spaces comprising an exhibition, café, interdisciplinary, and research laboratories and workspaces, all accessed via an open double height foyer. The often-expected barriers between science and the public are removed across these spaces, with open views into the laboratory spaces, and at the heart of the building, a Discovery Centre. Providing open access to visitors, schools, and the public into the central space, supports the ambitions of the Centre, enabling knowledge about the critical importance of AMR and the role we all play in combating it.

These values and vision extend to the building envelope, which is a striking visual identify for the Centre. This veil — inspired by the bacterial cell structures — varies in opacity and transparency in response to the internal functions of the building and distinguishes but draws together the historic (wharf buildings) and new. Light interacting with the facade surface, throughout the day, also provides the Centre with a distinct but contextualised presence on the site and opens up the views in and from the Centre.

Through connecting the form of the building with its function, the design is deliberate in its action to ensure Fleming Centre’s influence extends well beyond its physical boundaries, serving as a distinctive and differentiated landmark for the area and place of international scientific significance.