The future of the Royal Brompton site is not yet clear. We do not want to delay plans for an essential new facility when we do not have certainty that we would be able to purchase this space. We need to tackle the capacity issues quickly, and we can only have this certainty and control by building on our own site.

For the cancer centre to perform as an integrated part of our site, there needs to be easy access to it from our hospital for both staff and patients. Co-location is key to our plans, and the type of services that we need to expand must have connectivity to our current facilities, such as additional theatre space connecting to the current theatre suite, and the critical care unit being next to or near the theatres.

We are still in the early stages of developing our plans, having recently appointed Stanton Williams as architect. They are progressing with early designs, which we should be able to show to the community in our first phase of public consultation in Summer 2023.

We will be able to effectively answer questions regarding access and servicing once we have more formalised plans. Access and servicing will be considered by the architects as they develop their proposals.

We are aware of some instances in the past where temporary structures did not have planning approval before construction, or where a change of use was made such as at Dame Unity House to offer overnight accommodation for relatives of patients. Where this has happened we have worked to correct these errors and these have been approved with the Council.

In 2022 we met with many key stakeholders, including the Sydney Street and District Residents’ Association, and held a public webinar. The purpose of this was to introduce our vision and hear initial feedback, at a very early stage of the project before the architect had even been appointed.

Stanton Williams have since been appointed as architect for the project, and are developing their early proposals. In Summer 2023 we will be holding our first phase of public consultation, to ensure that local residents continue to be fully involved in the process.

No, this project is not being driven by demand from overseas patients. We haven’t presented a commercial rational at this stage as it is important to highlight the clinical rationale for why we need to deliver this proposed cancer centre. We will of course need to develop the business case but this is being driven by our long-standing presence within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

We are proud to be a part of Kensington and Chelsea – as a world-leading cancer centre, as an employer and a neighbour. We have a long history in this location: it is our home and we do not have any plans to leave.

In 2020, RB Kensington & Chelsea published a Supplementary Planning Document in response to the NHS plans to merge Royal Brompton and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trusts which put Royal Brompton’s presence in the borough at risk. In this document, the council described Chelsea as an ‘internationally renowned medical hub on our doorstep’, specifically siting the presence of The Royal Marsden, Institute of Cancer Research, and Royal Brompton.

This document set out a passionate case for preserving medical and healthcare uses in this part of the borough. The council is clear that Chelsea is an essential hub for world-class healthcare and medical research, and that The Royal Marsden is a key part of this offer. Our proposals represent a tangible investment in our site which allows us to stay competitive and innovative, preserving Chelsea’s place on the map as a global centre of excellence in healthcare and medical research.

We are proposing to add to our hospital sensitively, respecting the rich heritage and history of our buildings, so that we can secure our future here and offer the very best care for patients who are London-based or who travel to London for our specialist care.

In 2022 our project team has held a series of meetings with key stakeholders to introduce our vision and hear initial feedback. So far, we have met with the following:

• Sydney Street and District Residents’ Association
• The Chelsea Society
• The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
• Leader, Deputy Leader, Lead Member for Planning, Place and Environment and Stanley Ward Councillor
• South West London Integrated Care Board
• Dovehouse Street Residents’ Association
• Royal Avenue Residents’ Association
• Felicity Buchan – MP for Kensington
• NHS England
• North West London Integrated Care Board

We will be holding a first round of comprehensive public consultation in Summer 2023.

We are at an early stage of developing our proposals. So far, we have undertaken some initial assessments to set the parameters for the project, such as a heritage assessment and a review of the constraints and opportunities for developing this site, including the potential internal footprint available. We have also appointed Stanton Williams as architect, who have now begun early design work.

We are committed to a comprehensive programme of engagement with the local community around our proposals and will share early concept designs for feedback as soon as we are ready to. We are planning to  hold our first phase of public consultation on the proposals in Summer 2023.

Grove House has a gross internal area of 442 sqm. As part of the plans, we would propose to take down Grove House and some of the Oratory School building. The Oratory School has a gross internal area of 3,983 sqm and part of this building would be demolished in Phase 1.

Our initial vision for the new cancer centre is built around our current healthcare needs, and therefore looks different now compared to 2007. The previous application was for laboratory-based services, and this cancer centre is being proposed in response to clinical and research needs, right across the spectrum of services we deliver at Chelsea.

At present, this project is at the conceptual stage, and we will learn from the lessons of the 2007 application, however, they are fundamentally different projects.

We withdrew the plans in 2007 because we considered it better to co-locate with the facilities in Sutton. This proposed cancer centre really needs to be delivered at Chelsea to fulfil the needs of our future patient cohort.

We have now appointed Stanton Williams as architect, we will work with them and with the community to understand what we can achieve here and how we can mitigate the impact of any new building on this site for our neighbours.

We have already built a lot of additional space, particularly to set up an admin and corporate function in Wallington. There is only one corporate facility of any size left on site at Chelsea (at Stewart’s House). 

We have built a new research facility in Sutton, which opened earlier this year, and the Oak Cancer Centre in Sutton which provides an improvement on existing facilities and offers increased capacity. Even with the new building in Sutton, we won’t be able to meet the clinical needs of the future, which will outstrip the current space that we have. 

If we moved any further clinical functions off the site in Chelsea, it would mean local residents will need to have treatments in Sutton. While a small amount of that can happen, it is best that the treatment and aftercare is on a single site to avoid fragmenting care.

We can confidently identify and describe why certain services need to be in Chelsea and will do so as part of our planning consultation.

The largest part of our work is serving patients of London and the South East. We do international work, as we have some rare types of cancer that we treat and sometimes an intervention is complex and needs a specialist to respond. The majority of our client base is local, but we also bring a national and international interest with our research and trials work.

This project will primarily be donor funded, made possible by the generosity of supporters of The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. An expert external advisor has collated the initial costings for the new building in Chelsea, and the budget includes significant contingency for risk and price inflation.

The new building will improve the hospital’s ongoing cost efficiency on a per patient basis. For example, the redevelopment will demolish and replace older buildings that currently host a range of support services and laboratories but are inefficient both for modern workflows and on energy usage. The new building will be carbon neutral, which will reduce ongoing energy costs.

The Royal Marsden has recent experience of managing a significant construction project with the charity-funded Oak Cancer Centre at its Sutton site. This project faced the usual building cost pressures, exacerbated by the uncertainty of COVID-19 and Brexit. These have been successfully managed through collaborative planning, working with expert advisors, and making decisions on what to deprioritise if required.

We wanted to ensure that we spoke to our closest neighbours first and so we hand delivered letters to 65 of the closest homes to the hospital on Stewart’s Grove, Sydney Street, Guthrie Street and Cale Street.