Belgrove House Building Study Tour 26.04.24

On Tuesday, April 23, Simon Allford and Steve Smith from AHMM led a building tour of the Belgrove House construction site, marking the beginning of the Builds Bio+ Life Sciences Study Tour. This immersive journey spanned the historic streets of Oxford and Cambridge to the core of London's life science clusters, celebrated for their vibrant communities, state-of-the-art research facilities, and dynamic incubation spaces.

Located opposite King’s Cross and St Pancras Stations, Belgrove House is a new-build specialised laboratory and office building for the life-sciences sector to be occupied by MSD as their UK Discovery Research Centre and HQ. Designed to be innovative and highly sustainable, operational energy is reduced through a ‘biophilic’ double skin façade allowing natural ventilation and providing a zone for planting.

Life sciences research laboratories are located on the largest floorplates at floors 1-3, providing animation to the facades and a public window into the research activity within. Offices will be located on floors 5-9 with the fourth floor serving as a dedicated ‘collaboration hub’. A generous ground floor provides an education and event space, along with a café. A new step-free entrance to the Underground will link the building into King’s Cross and St Pancras stations via the pedestrian tunnel beneath Euston Road.

The project offers an excellent opportunity to dramatically enhance the surrounding area, bringing active facades where there were previously blank walls, by removing street clutter, and bringing greenery to all four sides of a building which mediates between Euston Road and Argyle Square.