The Christie Proton Beam Therapy Centre

Opened in August 2018, The Christie Proton Beam Therapy Centre is one of only two NHS proton beam therapy centres in the UK (the other being built at University College London). The new centre has been designed by international architects HKS, who specialise in designing hospital and health care buildings.

The new centre features lighting and quality cladding to emphasise the facility’s importance and position near the hospital’s main entrance. The design also focuses on patient experience, with waiting areas facing outer walls and courtyards.

The roofing and facades contractor is Sky Green Limited of Birmingham, who are installing 7,000sqm of Shackerley Granite and Kalzip FC Rainscreen Façade fixed to a steel framing system, and 6,000sqm of Resitrix single ply membrane roofing system. Protecting the building envelope is Powerlon VCL 170, a vapour control layer produced by North Yorkshire firm Industrial Textiles & Plastics (ITP), which has more than 25 years’ experience producing premium quality protective materials for building and construction.

Air and vapour control layers act as barriers to prevent moisture within the building’s warm air from reaching the insulation layer and forming interstitial condensation. As they are impermeable, they also improve the building’s air tightness. Powerlon VCLs are suitable for roof, wall and floor installations. The new building will be as sustainable as well as life-saving: energy efficient, with reduced carbon emissions and lowered running costs, to achieve a BREEAM “excellent” environmental rating.

Proton beam therapy is a specialist form of radiotherapy that targets tumours with less damage to surrounding healthy tissue and is particularly appropriate for certain cancers in children, who are at risk of lasting damage to growing organs.