London’s renowned Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) has hit a milestone with the construction of the Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children. The building just recently reached its highest point.
Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Sulaiman Hamid Al Mazrouei, attended the ceremony to celebrate the event, along with a number of officials from Abu Dhabi’s government.
This center wouldn’t be possible without the generous donation of £60 million from Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak who is the only surviving wife of the founder of the United Arab Emirates.
This will be the first building of its kind in the entire world once topped off at the end of 2018. Hundreds of clinicians and researchers can unite to drive rare disease treatments for children forward, seek out cures and transiton discoveries from the lab to the patient room.
Mr. Al Mazrouei shares his gratitude to Sheikha Fatima for her incredibly generous support, along with the partners and shareholders of the center for their commitment.
“The Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children is an innovative and collaborative partnership that brings together world-class medical and scientific expertise, which will have an immediate and lasting impact on the lives of many children from around the world,” said Mazrouei.
GOSH treats rare children from over 90 countries and hones in on rare disease cases. This includes children from the UAE who come to the hospital seeking treatments for rare heart and neurological disorders.
The center will feature cutting edge facilities and labs that will specialize in new gene and stem cell therapies, along with an outpatient clinic.
Construction was a lengthy process, with the demolition of an entire office block that had been standing since the 1960’s. It was being used by the University of London but there was no longer a real need for it. The new building was designed by Stanton Williams, an award winning architect, and construction was spearheaded by Swedish contractor Skanska.
The topping off event was kicked off with a traditional Scandinavian “flying of the fir” where a fir tree was flown over the building using a tower crane with the final pouring of cement.
This is a big win for the world of rare disease and we hope the center will make plenty of discoveries.
