The building, which will be part of the University鈥檚 existing Mood Disorders Centre, will be named the Sir Henry Wellcome Building for Mood Disorders Research, after the Wellcome Trust, the charitable foundation funding the project. Once complete, it will be a state-of-the-art facility that will enable the University to improve its clinical and therapy research in the area of mood disorders.
This high profile and equally high quality building, which will be located behind the Washington Singer building on the University鈥檚 Streatham Campus, will be used as a research facility and consists of a purpose built treatment centre, where the conduct of clinical trials to evaluate psychological therapies will be undertaken.
With the original contractor on the project in receivership, Leadbitter has stepped into the breach, taking over just as the steel frame of the building was nearly complete. The Group has previously worked with the University, delivering both administration blocks, teaching facilities and research laboratories for its medical school and student accommodation.
Rob Bradley, Regional Director of Leadbitter鈥檚 Western Construction division, said: 鈥淒espite the external economic circumstances which initially delayed the project, we are pleased to once again be working with the University of Exeter and we look forward to building a high quality environment for research and learning.鈥�
Professor Ed Watkins of the Mood Disorders Centre, part of the Discipline of Psychology within the University鈥檚 College of Life and Environmental Sciences, said"We are very pleased that works are underway again on the Sir Henry Wellcome Building. We look forward to the building being ready for the end of the year. This work takes us a step closer to providing a world-class facility which won鈥檛 just help the hundreds of people who come through the doors each year, but the many others who we believe will benefit from the results of our research.鈥�
鈥淢ood disorders, such as depression and bipolar disorder, cause considerable distress and disability, and place a considerable economic cost on society. By developing and testing better therapies, the research we will conduct in this new cutting edge research centre will help us to improve the lot of many people who experience depression.鈥�
鈥淭he state-of-the art laboratory facilities will help us study the underlying psychological mechanisms and inform the development of more targeted and effective therapies. The purpose-built treatment centre will allow us to conduct valuable clinical trials to determine which of these new treatments works best, as well as to improve existing treatments."
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