EIGHTEEN months after a blaze devastated the critical care unit of Britain's most famous cancer hospital, building work has begun on a new £10million facility in Chelsea.
The Royal Marsden Hospital, in Fulham Road, has started building an improved critical care department after fire ripped through its roof in January last year.
The inferno saw operations interrupted and seriously ill patients evacuated from the building to escape falling debris.
Those harrowing scenes will live in the memory of many Chelsea residents for years to come.
The blaze also damaged the leading hospital's original critical care facility - which had only opened in 2000 - beyond repair.
Its replacement is set to become the largest and most advanced unit in Europe, and will include a dedicated space to treat teenage cancer victims.
Chief executive of the Royal Marsden, Cally Palmer, said: "The new critical care unit will make a real difference to patients, providing spacious and high quality facilities, with extra capacity, so that we can provide the very best care."
The unit will be made up of 19 beds, with the potential to add up to four more in the future.
It will treat seriously ill patients, who may be experiencing bone marrow failure or have come out of major operations.
A new dedicated space for adolescents, consisting of two single bedrooms equipped to provide life support facilities, is set to be built.
Each adolescent's room can accommodate a patient's parent overnight, with unrestricted visiting for family. Games consoles, computer and a television will be provided.
The cost of the unit will be met by charitable sources, commercial insurance and from the hospital itself.
