The new Maggie’s centre, which will provide expert support for people with cancer as well as their family and friends, will be built in the grounds of Addenbooke’s Hospital. It will replace the current interim centre which has been supporting people from a converted residential building elsewhere on the hospital site since 2012.
It is expected the centre will be open to support people living with cancer by 2028.
Maggie’s Chief Executive Dame Laura Lee said: “We are delighted to have planning permission to build our new purpose-built Maggie’s in Cambridge.
“We have worked closely with Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for many years to ensure people with cancer across the Cambridgeshire area, as well as those who love them, have had free expert support at our interim centre. It is wonderful to now be a step closer to building a centre designed with people living with cancer in mind.”
The new Maggie’s centre will be designed by Níall McLaughlin Architects and will include a warm and welcoming kitchen area, a winter garden, rooms for one-to-one support and larger spaces for groups, exercise classes and more. The design of the centre aims to engage with the existing woodland as much as possible, but the proposals will also feature a garden designed by Tom Stuart-Smith. Maggie’s believes that gardens and outdoor spaces play a vital role in improving physical and mental health and wellbeing.
In 2024 the centre supported people nearly 10,000 times. It is anticipated that the new centre could potentially triple those figures. The new centre will be built near Bright Horizons Day Nursery and Preschool, off Robinson Way.
Lisa Punt, Centre Head of Maggie’s Cambridge, said: “I am delighted planning permission has been approved for our new purpose-built centre. We have supported a lot of people from our former hospital staff residences, but it will be brilliant to have more room to offer a larger programme of support and reach more people living with cancer. To have a garden where people can simply sit and decompress will be a wonderful addition.”
Níall McLaughlin said: “It is wonderful to receive the news of the approved planning permission for the new Maggie's Centre in Cambridge. This exceptional organisation deserves a thoughtfully designed and inspirational setting, and we believe that the proposed building and landscape will do much to complement the care and support provided by the centre's remarkable staff. We are honoured to be a part of the team helping Maggie's to deliver their vision.”
Dr Hugo Ford, director of Cancer Services at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, added: “We are absolutely delighted to learn of Maggie’s wonderful news, and would like to wish them every success with the new centre, and thank them for the years of fantastic support they have given this Trust and our patients. We know that Maggie’s makes a huge contribution to our patients’ wellbeing, and this new centre will enable them to enhance the care they give even further.”
Since Maggie’s opened its first centre in 1996, the charity has developed a programme of support that is proven to help people with cancer, as well as family and friends, take back control. There are now 24 centres across the UK.
Maggie’s expert staff include psychologists, cancer support specialists and benefits advisors, and the majority of funding comes from voluntary donations.
To find out more about Maggie’s, please visit maggies.org
Image credit: Niall McLaughlin Architects
