Celebrating 20 years since University College Hospital opened on Euston Road

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the University College Hospital building. On Monday 29 September, we held a special event open to all our staff and welcomed back some of the people who were involved in building the hospital.

Having opened to patients in June 2005, University College Hospital had its official opening later that year, in October, when the late Queen Elizabeth II unveiled a plaque that is still on display in the atrium.

The new hospital building provided state-of-the-art facilities using cutting edge technology and spectacular views across London.

The project envisaged a 669-bed teaching hospital with a 17-storey tower, a five-story podium housing a mix of inpatients, outpatients, theatres, diagnostics and a large emergency department.

A year before it opened, then Prime Minister Tony Blair and then Secretary of State for Health John Reid visited the construction site, with Mr Blair saying: “I congratulate everyone who has been involved in this project. It will be a fantastic facility and demonstrates real investment in the NHS.”

Less than four weeks after it opened, the new hospital was tested when, on 7 July 2005, it received 58 casualties from the terrorist attack on central London, four of whom were treated for serious injuries, five with moderate injuries and the rest walking wounded.

University College Hospital was originally founded as the North London Hospital in 1834 to provide clinical training for students at the nearby University College London (UCL). In 1906 it occupied the then state-of-the-art cruciform building on Gower Street and, in 1994, became part of University College London Hospitals NHS Trust (UCLH). UCLH achieved foundation trust status ten years later.

When the new building opened in 2005, it brought together teams that had previously been based at the Middlesex Hospital as well as from the old University College Hospital.

To mark the 20th anniversary, staff and visitors congregated in the University College Hospital atrium for speeches and refreshments, as well as a photo exhibition about the history of the hospital, a performance by the UCLH and GOSH Staff Choir, Healing Voices, and an interactive printmaking workshop by artist Adam Bridgland.

We’d like to say a big thank you to our building partner HMU, and facilities management team, Mitie, for their generous support in funding and helping to manage this event.

UCLH chief executive David Probert said: “I’m very pleased to mark 20 years since the opening of the University College Hospital building. It stands as an example of how great architecture and planning can create a hospital that’s truly fit for purpose, helping our brilliant staff to provide the best possible care for our patients.”