The £300m Moorfields and UCL Centre for Eye Health is using immersive digital modelling technology to give clinicians direct input into the design and delivery of the new facility before construction is completed.
The flagship development, which is due to open in 2027, is being delivered by Bouygues UK in partnership with collaboration platform Revizto.
The project team is using building information modelling (BIM) technology to allow healthcare professionals, engineers and contractors to review and coordinate designs within a shared digital environment.
Clinicians are able to navigate a live 3D model of the facility, enabling them to assess operating theatre layouts, review the positioning of medical gas outlets and evaluate patient flows through clinical spaces months before those areas are built.
According to the project team, the approach has helped reduce design coordination times significantly, with clash detection processes shortened from around a week to between 10 and 15 minutes.
The new centre will span 47,000 sqm and includes a range of specialist healthcare environments, including operating theatres, research laboratories, blackout rooms and a dedicated emergency department.
More than 100 users and contractors from 20 disciplines are involved in the project on a daily basis.
The project is being viewed as an example of how digital technologies can support the delivery of complex healthcare infrastructure projects by improving coordination between specialist disciplines and end users throughout the design and construction process.
The Moorfields and UCL Centre for Eye Health is a partnership between Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Charity.
The facility will relocate services currently delivered from Moorfields' City Road site and is expected to welcome its first patients in summer 2027.
Lewis Wenman, lead BIM manager at Bouygues UK, said: “Traditionally, delivery specialists in different construction disciplines, whether that's structural engineers, MEP contractors, or fire safety teams, are working from separate drawings and models, often shared weeks apart.
“At Moorfields and UCL Centre for Eye Health, with Revizto, that fragmentation is being replaced with a single live environment, accessible to every team on the project. Design conflicts are being surfaced automatically, and issues are logged, tracked, owned and resolved in real-time.”