£19m Genome Campus overhaul targets global business

The Wellcome Trust is piling almost 10 million additional funding into transformational upgrades to its Genome Campus conference facilities in the Cambridge UK medical technology cluster.

The Conference Centre will look to host an increased programme of events that attract wider audiences including school children as part of the Campuss public engagement strategy.

Planning consent has just been granted for the 9.7 million project, known as the Kitchen Garden Enclosure; the design is reminiscent of the famous glass ceiling in the British Museum and will include a new exhibition centre, modern meeting rooms and a bar.

Groundbreaking for this major new project will begin in January and is due to be completed by December 2014. All facilities at the Conference Centre are due to be opened by January 2015.

In total the Conference Centre will have undergone a 19 million renovation to modernise and improve all available facilities. This project is set to improve the international reputation of the Wellcome Trust Conference Centre, and celebrates the communication, collaboration, achievement and creativity of the overall Genome Campus, according to Linda Prior, sales and marketing manager at the Conference Centre

She said: Not only will this place us at the forefront of the scientific conferences sector, but also the development will better integrate us into the wider vision of the Genome Campus.

This new building work will see the current cloisters and grassed areas opened up and enclosed under a spectacular glass roof to create a multi-use space for both day and evening activities.

The roof, which is the central feature of the build, is designed to create a light and elegant space through the transparent and translucent areas of glass panelling above.

By opening up the area surrounding the auditorium, the Conference Centre will create space sufficient to support exhibitions both fixed and temporary, poster sessions, catering and a relaxation area for delegates and speakers.

David Davison, director of the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, said: We welcome the development of the Kitchen Garden Enclosure on campus, which will complement perfectly the public engagement activities of both the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and EMBL-EBI.

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£19m Genome Campus overhaul targets global business