New Liverpool HQ of the Royal College of Physicians set to be one of the UK’s healthiest workplaces

Plans for the new northern headquarters of the Royal College of Physicians have been unveiled this morning at MIPIM. The 160,000 sq ft building, currently in development at the Knowledge Quarter, Liverpool will be one of the healthiest workplaces in the UK for mental and physical wellbeing and among the first to achieve the international WELL standard of modern building design, according to its designers. The £35m northern building will be known officially as The Spine, taking its name from a staircase on its north elevation that resembles human vertebrae. The building has been designed by AHR Architects.

While the bottom three and top four storeys of The Spine will become a new 70,000 sq ft centre of clinical excellence for the RCP, the remaining seven floors are designed to offer a flexible range of innovative, contemporary spaces.

Located within the £1bn Paddington Village development, The Spine will feature a timber curtain wall and a ceramic façade, complete with 23 million voronoi polygons that are designed to ‘mimic human skin and react to the local environment to control noise and glare’.

It will also incorporate an internal sky garden, complete with oxygen producing plants, a restaurant, and bicycle and shower facilities.

A mezzanine exhibition space will connect via a spiral staircase to a ground floor café and foyer, while each of the floors, which are circa 11,560 sq ft, will enjoy views of the city thanks to floor-to-ceiling glazing throughout.

Morgan Sindall is working in partnership with Liverpool City Council to deliver the Paddington Village scheme. Phase one is underway and involves the installation of infrastructure, public realm works and the creation of development plots to make them market-ready. Phase two will see the arrival of The Spine. Morgan Sindall has instigated the planning process and consultant appointments for the building and last year competitively appointed AHR Architects and Arup to design the building and advise on how to achieve the prestigious WELL standard.