6 Facts About the New Francis Crick Institute
The new Francis Crick institute has opened in London. The building is the biggest biomedical laboratory in Europe. Costing £650m, the institute sits in a prime London location, just a little behind St Pancras station and the British Library. Scientists will hope to explore how illnesses develop, as well as finding new ways to treat conditions such as stroke, cancer and heart disease.
To find out more about this state-of-the-art building, here's 6 interesting facts!
1) It's huge!
The total floor space of the institute is 93,000 sq m, or 23 acres. That's more than 17 football pitches!
2) Plenty of floors
There's eight floors above ground and four below!
3) High-tech
The deep basement floors are home to high-tech electron microscopes and powerful magnetic resonance scanners
4) No vibrations
The building is vibration resistant so sensitive equipment in the basement is unaffected by London's underground trains and busy traffic.
5) Animals!
The basement is home to a large animal research facility.
6) Big bill
The building isn't cheap to run, it has an annual budget of about £130m!