A local artist and a designer are being sought to work with local school children to create artwork for the hoardings around the Pears Building construction site at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead.

The Pears Building will house the UCL Institute of Immunity and Transplantation, a research facility currently located in the main hospital building.  The new facility, which will be one of only five clinical research centres of its kind in the world, will provide better treatments for cancer, diabetes, HIV and tuberculosis and to support transplantation.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for a local artist and someone who can help us make the most of this space,” said Chris Burghes, chief executive of the Royal Free Charity. “We have more than 300 square metres in a prime site in what many regard as the best city in the world to showcase artwork and it will also give young people a chance to show off their creative talents.

“By definition, a hoarding covers something up but we want to use ours to open up people’s imaginations and add something really positive to the neighbourhood,” he added.

The new research centre is a partnership between the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, the Royal Free Charity (RFC) and University College London and is supported with a £5 million donation from the Pears Foundation and an award from the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund.

“The hoardings at the Pears Building will be a unique canvas for an artist and designer to volunteer their time to not only make the hoardings a pleasure to look at but help schoolchildren bring to life their vision of the cutting edge research that will take place at the building,“ said Chris.

Any artists or schools interested in the project should contact rf.pearsinfo@nhs.net.