About us

The Academy of Medical Sciences took over the lease for 41 Portland Place in July 2008. Prior to this the building had been the home of the Novartis Foundation since the mid 20th Century and had developed a reputation as an important venue for scientific discussion.

In December 2008 the building was closed to the public and the archives and antiques were carefully preserved and stored.

Our plans for a major refurbishment will result in an independent, professional headquarters building and prestigious new conference venue.
We have appointed Stefanie Fischer from award winning practice Burell, Foley, Fischer as the project architect. We have exciting plans to reinstate the Georgian grandeur of the building while introducing modern services and state of the art facilities appropriate to a 21st century scientific academy and first class conference venue.

We will remove many of the unsympathetic additions made to the building since the 1950s. This will include relocating the small lift, currently sited within the sweep of the main staircase, and removal of partition walls to allow new areas to open up that were previously devoid of natural light. Specifically we will create a new exhibition area on the ground floor, a new meeting room suite on the lower ground floor and modern, airy offices on the top three floors. In addition, the lift will be sited in a new location where it will meet all access requirements.

We are delighted that these plans have been approved by the relevant authorities thanks to the careful design that is sympathetic to the building’s listed Grade II* status.

Building work commenced in January 2010 and is due for completion in the late summer allowing the Academy to move into 41 Portland Place in October 2010.