Last week, LSE confirmed they had formally acquired a 155-year leasehold of Nuffield Building, currently part of the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) headquarters, which is attached to 32 Lincoln’s Inn Fields. It will be transferred to the School in 2020 when its redevelopment is complete.
The aim is for the RCS to provide a ‘Professional Surgical Centre’ to improve education and research facilities, as well as refurbishment and maintenance of historical aspects, including the library and the façade. Andrew Reed, Chief Executive of RCS, said: “This is another step on the RCS’s path to becoming a modern home for surgical excellence in the UK and across the world.”
The purchase means an additional 93,000 square feet of space will be used by the School to offer further facilities for students. Julian S. Robinson, LSE’s Director of Estates, has said: “This strategically important acquisition further reinforces the School’s presence on Lincoln’s Inn Fields and will help us realise our ambition of creating a ‘world class’ estate.”
The redevelopment received approval from Westminster Council in January 2017, and since then the Wellcome Museum of Anatomy and Pathology, the Nuffield Hotel, the Hungarian Museum, conference and education facilities, and archive services have been closed until 2020.
The RCS have “developed plans ensuring that [they] minimise the impact of the redevelopment to the services we provide to our members, customers and visitors”.
At present, the School’s plans for the Centre Buildings Redevelopment are underway, and are due to be complete in April 2019.
LSE announced in 2016 that 44 Lincoln’s Inn Fields would be demolished and the Marshall Building would be constructed and completed by 2021. It is set to hold the Departments of Management, Accounting and Finance, as well as a sports centre, café and arts rehearsal facilities.
Robinson commented that in addition to the Marshall Building, “the acquisition of the Nuffield contributes to our state-of-the-art infrastructure in central London, supporting and sustaining LSE as a world-leader in social science education for generations to come.”
