London Institute for Healthcare Engineering

The London Institute for Healthcare Engineering (LIHE) is a state-of-the-art research and innovation hub where medicine and education come together. Through close collaboration between academia and industry partners, LIHE’s mission is to accelerate the translation of research in healthcare engineering into new products and technologies that directly benefit patients.

Located within Guy’s and St. Thomas’ hospital and surrounded by historic Grade I & II listed buildings, LIHE’s design approach and material selection were informed by the surrounding architecture, delivering a contemporary building that is strongly connected to its context.

The design brief emphasised creating a dynamic, adaptable building that would foster collaboration among diverse stakeholders, including academics, clinicians, engineers, and industry specialists. The brief included office and research space, admin space for professional support services staff, space for 140 PhD students, lecture space, a variety of learning / study spaces, and social and collaboration spaces.

The new building is located within a constrained site at the southern end of the wider Guys’ and St Thomas’ hospital site, flanked by listed buildings, and facing onto the River Thames. The new building is informed by its unique context:

• On the eastern edge of the site the entrance is set within a new landscaped area, which connects to the adjacent Lambeth Palace Road and positively opens up access to the wider site, creating a welcoming and inviting entrance, whilst sensitively integrating into the wider hospital complex.

• To the south, the building forms a new edge to an existing courtyard, whilst improving access through the site.

• On the west, the urban edge is reinforced along Thames Embankment, and a terrace provides views from the building across the Thames to the Palace of Westminster.

• Social spaces have been centrally located and distributed throughout, to allow for anchor destinations, pulling the social aspect of the brief through the building. The generous main circulation stair is also intended to foster collaboration, designed to be open and light and encourage opportunities for informal interaction.

• Contemporary materials have been used to compliment, reflect and mediate between those in the surrounding listed buildings.

LIHE is King’s most environmentally sustainable building, achieving BREEAM Excellent and EPC A ratings, and surpasses the sustainable outcomes in relation to the London Plan’s net zero-carbon target for all new developments, with a minimum of 35% on-site reduction in regulated carbon emissions beyond Part L 2021 of the Building Regulations.