A new building housing the UCL Institute of Immunity and Transplantation has become more of a reality with the announcement that The Pears Foundation has awarded a £5m grant to get the scheme of the ground.

The new building will be known as the Pears Building and will offers leading academics the opportunity of working mere metres from patients in the hospital next door, which it is hoped will increase the potential for research, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease including cancer and HIV, whilst also carrying out research into grow new organs from stem cell research.



This donation also represents the largest donation made by the Pears Foundation, with the previous highest grant standing at £3m.



The Foundation’s executive chair Trevor Pears said: “My brothers and I are proud to support our local NHS hospital.” “The Royal Free London has a well-earned reputation as one of the UK’s leading teaching hospitals and with the exciting partnership with UCL, we are confident this new institute will deliver research breakthroughs and treatments for the benefit of thousands of patients.”



To date £7m of the £42m building project is still to be raised with the Royal Free Charity hoping to start contraction work in 2015 with a completion date in 2017.



Chris Burghes, chief executive of the Royal Free Charity, said the grant was “a major step towards achieving our vision to create the hospital of the future, enabling pioneering medical research that transforms the patient experience”. He added: “The Pears Building will be on the doorstep of the Royal Free Hospital, bringing award-winning scientists closer to patients, allowing them greater access to clinical trials and the latest medicine”.



This project represents the largest construction project undertaken by the Royal Free Charity since it moved to Hampstead in 1972.