Guy's & St Thomas' East Wing Cladding Project

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The East Wing is a thirteen storey tower in the centre of the St Thomas' Hospital site. It is situated on the south side of the river Thames, opposite the Houses of Parliament and to the North of Lambeth Palace. The tower was built in 1966 and contains over 200 beds together with catheter suites, clinical offices, teaching facilities and other ancillary plant and stores but it suffers from water ingress problems, excessive solar gain and inadequate lift capacity.

The Guy's and St Thomas's NHS Foundation Trust organised a competition in 2010 to solve these functional requirements and address the building's impact on the wider urban fabric through a high quality architectural solution.

The winning scheme by Hopkins Architects was based on retaining all of the existing façade (made of natural slate, teak and stainless steel) in order to minimise any disruption to the ongoing operation of the hospital. In order to solve the problems with the existing façade a new layer of glass has been added to create a double skin façade with timber louvres in the cavity to control solar gain.

On the rear of the building the new glazing has been taken across the corners of the T-shaped block to create two triangular atriums. These atriums provide additional space for the new bed lifts and help to give the building a new identity.