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NIMR London or bust?
The National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) may be leaving its Mill Hill base for a site in central London. But there are fears that if the money for the move is not found, it could close for good.
There have been arguments over the future of NIMR in recent years. In 2003, a plan to close the Mill Hill site and move a smaller NIMR to Cambridge was abandoned because of strong resistance from staff and the scientific community.
A Task Force was set up to report on the future of the site (see The future of NIMR: Biochemist e-volution) which has suggested that NIMR should move to central London, entering into partnership with King's College or University College, provided a partnership agreement for this move can be made that is "more attractive than would be possible between a university and NIMR at Mill Hill".
This, the task force says, will help NIMR "strengthen its national role, by providing training for clinician-scientists nationwide. Making its distinctive research facilities into national resources ands increasing public outreach."
Its report says: "The Task Force maintains that this vision will be best delivered through an intramural research institute on a single site."
The Task Force believes that moving NIMR to central London in partnership with a leading university and hospital - on a suitable site, with appropriate governance and financial arrangements - would "strengthen the NIMR's ability to deliver this renewed vision."
Colin Blakemore, Chief Executive of the Medical Research Council, interprets the report as suggesting that Mill Hill will ultimately close, and the debate is over where NIMR goes and when. In a letter to Sir John Skehel, director of NIMR, Blakemore wrote: "the Task Force maintains that its vision for a renewed NIMR could be best delivered through an intramural research institute in central London in partnership with a leading university and hospital ... The Task Force recognises that NIMR at Mill Hill is the standard against which the quality of the bids from UCL and KCL must be judged. The Task Force ... recommend[s] that much can and should be done in the short term to strengthen NIMR's ability to deliver against the vision while it is on the Mill Hill site."
The letter, of 30 June, adds: "I know from our conversation on the 'phone, and from subsequent events, that you are exercised about what will happen if neither KCL or UCL come forward with a sufficiently attractive offer. You will note that the Task Force report makes no specific recommendation for that eventuality, except to say that NIMR could be strengthened on the Mill Hill site in the short term."
Replying on 6th July, Sir John said: "You conclude that I am 'exercised' by the failure of the 'Conclusions' to include Mill Hill as a possible site for NIMR in the long-term. I am certainly concerned with your interpretation of the 'Conclusions' that NIMR at Mill Hill can serve as a benchmark for other bids, but that the Mill Hill site itself is not considered to be a suitable option. I am also disappointed, after all the time and effort and no doubt cost, that the Task Force apparently completed its last meeting without making a clear recommendation that would have avoided such interpretation."
His opinion is shared by the heads of division at Mill Hill who, in a response to the Task Force report, wrote: "we are dismayed to learn that the Task Force Chairman, Professor Blakemore, has interpreted them quite differently from us. In his view Mill Hill is not an option for NIMR in the long-term and worse, he feels that it would be necessary to re-open the entire discussion about the future of NIMR if the central London options fail."
There is a suspicion among Mill Hill staff that if the very large sums of money for the move cannot be found, the MRC will use this as an excuse to close the site.
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