Overview

The Crick Institute undertakes scientific research about health and disease. It's the largest biomedical (relating to both biology and medicine) research institute in Europe. It's a working building and while its laboratories are not open to the public, there are public areas where fascinating exhibitions and regular events are held. It's engaging and similar in style to what is on offer at the Wellcome Collection. It's housed in a very striking contemporary step free building, which is impressive and well worth visiting for the architecture alone.

Transport & Parking

The Crick is located next to the British Library in King's Cross. There's great public transport links. King's Cross tube station is step free and King's Cross , St Pancras and Euston Train Stations are close by. The Midland Road exit of St Pancras Station is directly opposite The Crick. The Crick is located on Midland Road, which is a one way street, with a bus stop which has south bound buses route numbers 45, 46, 63 and 214, almost directly opposite the building.

Access

The Crick is step free and is accessible. There is a concourse in front of the building and the public entrance is on the right hand side. I found the entrance to the building a little confusing due to poor signage. Looking directly onto the front of the building there are stairs and a ramp on the left hand side and it's difficult to know if that's the entrance or not until you go over to the foot of the stairs and read the sign, which directs you to the right hand side. At the public entrance there are 2 revolving doors and I entered through these doors and walking with a crutch I found that the doors turned a little to fast for me. There is third door, to the right of the revolving doors, which doesn't have a handle, but in front of there is a post with an intercom at wheelchair accessible height, which you'd use to gain entry. Once inside there's is a desk at wheelchair accessible height and some sofas. We were attending an event, film show, in the auditorium which is to the right of the main reception area and is step free. The auditorium has two entrances. The one closest to reception is step free and only the first row of chairs are at step free level. There is another entrance at the back of the auditorium which is accessed via a platform lift and which on the website says that dedicated spaces for wheelchairs are available at the back of the auditorium. Most of the seating is via a staircase with a single handrail. On my visit I didn't see their exhibition space so unable to comment about this. Their website says that there are an induction loops in reception, auditorium and meeting rooms. All guide dogs for the hearing and sight impaired are allowed in the ground-floor communal areas and in the collaboration areas on each floor. There is also a coffee shop which is step free.

Toilets

The public toilets are not clearly signposted. I asked at reception and was directed to a mezzanine floor which was accessible by stairs or platform lift (this is also the route for accessing the back of the auditorium. There was a sign pointing to the toilets but it wasn't clear from the sign that the accessible toilet was also located there, so I asked a member of staff. There are double doors off a corridor, not clearly labelled, to the accessible toilet. The double doors and accessible toilet doors are manual, which is disappointing given that this is a brand new building. The accessible toilet don't require a radar key, it is spacious, there's plenty of grab rails and an emergency cord which reached to the floor.

Staff

Staff were brilliant, very friendly and helpful. The event was well organised. When I asked at the end of the evening about where the wheelchair spaces in the auditorium were to a member of staff, they were very responsive and engaging. When I raised the issue of the manual doors, another member of staff joined the conversation and asked me to include it in the feedback form as that was a really important point and something they'd follow up.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

We visited to see part of their Science on Film programme. There was a screening of The Imitation Game, lively Q + A afterwards and free popcorn. There was a paying bar selling a small selection of drinks. The event we visited was free, I think a lot of their events are, but please check. The whole experience was very positive. There's a couple of minor issues about signage and manual doors, but it felt like they are going to address these. Overall it was a fabulous evening, very accessible building, great staff and well worth visiting.

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