Construction of a new biomedical research institute designed to bring the UK to the forefront of fundamental research in a broad range of diseases will get under way early in 2011, according to the team behind the project.

The UK Centre for Medical Research & Innovation (UKCMRI) brings together four of the world's leading biomedical research organisations and will be "the most exciting project for UK biomedical research in the next 50 years", according to Professor Sir Paul Nurse of Rockefeller University in New York, one of the architects of the project in central London.

Sir Paul will serve as chairman of scientific planning at the UKCMRI that will bring scientists from the Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council and University College London under one roof.

The aim is to unite researchers from a broad array of disciplines to increase the understanding of the biological processes underlying cancer, diseases of the cardiovascular, central nervous and immunological systems, and infectious diseases such as influenza and malaria.

In addition to that research function, the UKCMRI also intends to serve as a training ground for future scientific leaders and a focal point to promote networking among the UK's biomedical research and development (R&D) fraternity. It will also benefit from close proximity to a number of top teaching hospitals at which "many major breakthroughs in medicine have been made throughout history," according to a UKCMRI press statement.

John Cooper, interim chef executive of the UKCMRI, said: "UKCMRI will pursue vital, ground-breaking research and work with the best scientists to make important discoveries about human disease and health."

A plot of land about 1.4 hectare (3.6 acre) in size in north central London has been set aside for the centre, and planning applications to start building the unit will be filed in early 2010. If all goes to plan it could be up and running towards the end of 2014, with the complete cost of the unit expected to be about 500 million pounds, according to a UKCMRI spokesperson.

The UK government has supported the project via the sale of land formerly owned by the British Library to house the facility. The consortium paid 85 million pounds for the plot, the spokesperson said, adding that when fully operational there will be about 1,500 staff employed at the site.

The UKCMRI will help the UK compete and collaborate with other scientific and medical research hubs, including Biopolis in Singapore, the Allston Initiative at Harvard in the United States, and the Shanghai Science-based Industrial Park in China.

Harpal Kumar, chief executive officer of Cancer Research UK, said: "We truly believe being part of UKCMRI will help accelerate our goal to beat cancer. UKCMRI will be one of the most important medical research projects anywhere in the world over the next 20 years. We are very excited to be part of this unique partnership. The scale of UKCMRI will enable our scientists to pursue cutting-edge research with ambitious objectives."

Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, CEO, Medical Research Council, added: "Answering the big questions about how to tackle diseases like cancer, flu and malaria, and exploiting the promise of regenerative medicine, needs bold science. These plans provide excellent facilities for highly skilled people and world-leading technologies."

Meanwhile, pharmaceutical research giants GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the Wellcome Trust are also collaborating with the UK government to build what they hope will be a "world-class" science park north of London.

Designed to attract early-stage biotechnology companies, it will be located on GSK's site at Stevenage in central southern England and set up with initial funding of 38 million pounds.

GSK told the drug industry publication Pharmafocus that it wants to start building work early in 2010 with a view to the first people moving on site in 2011. The company, which invested 1.3bn pounds in R&D in the UK last year, is contributing 11m pounds in land, facilities and investment.

The United Kingdom has a strong track record in backing pharmaceutical and biomedical research programmes. It is the home of the globe's largest centralised healthcare system: the National Health Service that is the fourth largest employer in the world.

Twenty-five of the world's 100 top-selling medicines were discovered and developed in the UK. There is a comprehensive approach to the development of new medicines and medical devices. The UK has established capability in bringing products to market - and accounts for 40 per cent of the total of European drugs in the clinical trials pipeline.

There are more than 200 companies engaged in the management of clinical trials in the UK and many international research organisations have their European centres located there. The new science park has been conceived as a competitor to similar sites in Boston, California and North Carolina in the US.

The UK is the world's number-two pharmaceuticals exporter and ranks with the US and Japan as one of the top three centres for pharmaceutical research, according to UK Trade & Investment's annual report on inward investment.

The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills will provide almost 17m pounds, while Wellcome donates almost 6m pounds, with 4m coming from the East of England Development Agency. The campus will give companies shared access to specialist skills, equipment and expertise to stimulate innovation in drug development, say the backers.

"The Stevenage Campus will affirm the UK as a global hub for the life-sciences industry," said GSK chief executive Andrew Witty. "It will bring together scientists from around the world, providing them with new access to leading research and development facilities."