The institute is housed in a trailblazing centre of excellence that supports scientific goals and promotes public engagement. The Institute’s founding partners are the Medical Research Council (MRC), Cancer Research UK, Wellcome, UCL, Imperial College London and King's College London. The Francis Crick Institute’s award-winning building is welcoming and accessible, open to the public for lectures, exhibitions, with a teaching laboratory for school children. Designed by architects HOK and PLP Architecture, the 84,000 m2 facility houses 1,500 scientists and staff across four basement levels including two interstitial plant floors, and eight levels above ground containing laboratory, plant, support, administration, and amenity areas. The site is an irregularly-shaped piece of land of about 1.6 hectares located in central London immediately to the north of the British Library and bounded by Brill Place (formerly Phoenix Place) to the north. The building was sensitively designed with respect to its surrounding buildings, of which many are historic.

Formed in 2015 and fully operational in 2017, the institute is housed in a trailblazing centre of excellence that supports scientific goals and promotes public engagement. The Francis Crick Institute’s founding partners are the Medical Research Council (MRC), Cancer Research UK, Wellcome, UCL, Imperial College London and King's College London.

The Francis Crick Institute’s award-winning building is welcoming and accessible; open to the public for lectures, exhibitions, with a teaching laboratory for school children. Designed by architects HOK and PLP Architecture, the 84,000 m2 facility houses 1,500 scientists and staff across four basement levels including two interstitial plant floors, and eight levels above ground containing laboratory, plant, support, administration, and amenity areas.

The site is an irregularly-shaped piece of land of about 1.6 hectares located in central London immediately to the north of the British Library and bounded by Brill Place (formerly Phoenix Place) to the north. The building was sensitively designed with respect to its surrounding buildings, of which many are historic.

Client requirements

This state-of-the-art medical facility called for accurate hand over information. Edocuments was able to rise to the challenge and create such a construction-specific, intuitive solution that met the client’s needs.

The client desired that during the design, construction and project handover, project information would be progressively developed. Doing so would ensure FM teams have access to relevant, useful information that will help streamline operations.

The project would involve BIM integration of the 84,000m2 site using an electronic document management system. This would minimise the building life-cycle costs and disruption to the facility during planned and unplanned maintenance or breakdown.

Project scope

Edocuments’ software solution was able to deliver what was needed and more. Edocuments’ Springboard solution is an online authoring and management platform designed to accurately collate project handover information. It provides a controlled environment to ensure data follows a defined and traceable production process.

Historically, companies have been met with lengthy and costly implementations when looking for the right digital solution. However, with Springboard’s predefined and/or customisable templates, processes and flexibility, companies can get up and running quickly and cost-effectively, all the while using a platform that is clear and easy to navigate. These were recognised as huge benefits on the Francis Crick Institute project, particularly the configurability and user management.

Key processes

Throughout the project’s process, data from models, technical submissions and supply chain documentation was collected, monitored and managed using the Edocuments reporting tools. Stakeholder consultations also ensured that on handover, information had been reviewed and approved with a full audit trail.

On handover, certain assets were QR coded, enabling operators in the filed access to specific manufacturers’ information for maintenance and servicing. Asset information was fed onto the client’s chosen CAFM system.

To bring people along on the digital journey, workshops were provided to help the client understand how to use the information.