Find out about the design of the new centre
The early designs for our new facility have been developed in close collaboration with staff and clinicians from Moorfields and researchers from UCL IoO as well as with input from patient groups and our charitable partners.
We are now seeking everyone’s views on our current designs and are fully committed to working in partnership with our users, staff and the local community so that we can together achieve our vision of a truly integrated and world-leading centre.
The proposed new centre will be designed as an open and welcoming environment with a highly innovative and flexible layout.
We’d like to invite you to get involved in our current co-design phase of engagement. Your views will help shape the interior design of the building as part of the journey for delivering the new centre. Visit our get involved page for more information on how you can provide your ideas and feedback.
More information on the overall design concept and different areas of the centre are explained further down this page.
If you would like to know more about the proposed new centre’s location, please visit our why St Pancras page. If you would like to know more about the journey from public transport to the new centre, please visit our getting to the new centre page.
Our other design pages
- Please visit the inside the centre page for more information about the building’s internal design..
- Please visit the outside the centre page for more information about the building’s external design.
- Please visit the masterplan page for more information about the public realm and plans for the surrounding St Pancras Hospital site area.
Moving to the St Pancras Hospital site
We are proposing to develop two acres of the five-acre St Pancras Hospital site.
This site in Camden will provide us with an excellent location, ideally situated close to multiple public transport hubs and near the UCL Bloomsbury campus and several of our voluntary sector and charity partners, including RNIB and Guide Dogs.
The five-acre site of St Pancras Hospital is currently owned by Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust. The existing mental health inpatient wards located at St Pancras Hospital are planned to move to a new, purpose-built facility next to the existing Highgate Mental Health Centre and the Whittington Hospital.
To find out more about the proposed new location, visit out why St Pancras page.
An image of the current St Pancras Hospital site in relation to nearby Google offices, St Pancras International Station, UCL main campus and the Francis Crick Institute. The St Pancras Hospital site is filled as orange.
The design concept
The design of the new centre is inspired by the Moorfields crest, which carries the motto, Fiat Lux – “let there be light.”
Feedback from previous discussions included many comments from patients on the importance of adequate lighting, while avoiding glare and harsh contrasts.
To address these comments, the building’s shape has been designed as two boomerang-shaped wings embracing a central space that will allow natural light to reach the centre of the whole building. To balance this natural light, the new centre will also use circadian lighting that will adjust the artificial light in the building throughout the day. Oriel, a word for a bay-window, was chosen as an appropriate name for our development programme, referring to the central, light-filled space.
The Moorfields crest
More information
If you have any questions about the design of the proposed new centre that isn’t answered here, please visit our FAQ page or email us at moorfields.oriel@nhs.net.
We want to hear from you
We want your views on the early designs of the new centre for eye care, research and education on the site of St Pancras Hospital. This feedback will be essential in helping us design a centre that is modern, fit for purpose and accessible for patients, carers and other users.