Construction starts on Oriel

A celebration was held on 11 July to mark breaking ground on the construction of a new eye care, research and education hub in Camden.

Oriel is being developed in partnership between Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the University College London Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Charity. The centre is scheduled to open to the public in 2027.

Lord Markham CBE, parliamentary under secretary of state at the Department of Health and Social Care, attended the ceremony celebrating the beginning of construction.

Moorfields Eye Hospital chief executive, Dr Martin Kuper, shared that staff have been looking forward to the milestone for a long time.

“It signifies we are now in the construction stage of the project to build the new home for Moorfields Eye Hospital and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology. Thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to get us to this stage,” he said.

Professor Alan Thompson, of University College London, said the ceremony brought home the fact that construction on the new centre is about to start.

“This is a hugely exciting milestone for Oriel and a great opportunity to celebrate all the work it has taken to get to this point. Oriel will allow us to drive forward innovation to support our work in the long-term and strengthen our partnership with Moorfields to deliver real benefits for patients,” he said.

Health minister Lord Markham highlighted: “We continue to work closely with the NHS to improve services and Oriel is part of our commitment to build 40 new hospitals by 2030, which is now expected to be backed by over £20 billion of investment.”