The Architects’ Journal Architecture News & Buildings
The cancer care organisation is known for having employed a roster of architecture’s biggest names, such as Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners for the Stirling Prize-winning Hammersmith centre.
However, it has emerged Maggie’s is again working with the 12-person, Rugby-based practice – this time to create a new facility on a plot fronting Prescott Street at the north-west of Royal Liverpool Hospital’s site in the east of the city’s centre.
The scheme is the third Maggie’s cancer support centre designed by the studio, following a completed centre in the Wirral and another under construction in Bodelwyddan, North Wales.
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The design features ‘traditional brick detailing in a contemporary format and scale’, according to HB Architects, with ‘direct language being carried through from [nearby] Liverpool University and The Sacred Heart Catholic Church’.
HB Architects is the first practice to have designed three Maggie’s Centre. Other centres have been designed by star architects, including Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind, Rem Koolhaas, Amanda Levete, Piers Gough and Ted Cullinan.
The practice was selected for the projects by the Steve Morgan Foundation, which led on the design and commissioning of the North Wales, Wirral and Royal Liverpool Maggie’s Centres — the first time Maggie’s has taken a less-direct client role in the development of its centres.
The Steve Morgan Foundation is named after Redrow founder and former chairman Steve Morgan. Morgan leads investment firm Bridgemere, which remains the third-largest shareholder in Barratt-Redrow, the UK’s largest housebuilder.
On its website, the Steve Morgan Foundation said its involvement was an example of ‘disruptive philanthropy’, as it has helped ‘deliver [Maggie’s] product in the most cost-effective way’, with the Wirral centre ‘built at much lower cost than would have been possible without our involvement’.
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‘Drawing on our substantial built environment expertise, we positively influenced practical and design decisions, which saved the charity money, enabling more funds to be directed towards its charitable work,’ it said.
Three practices have worked on two Maggie’s Centres: Page\Park, which has completed centres in Glasgow and Inverness; Frank Gehry, with centres in Dundee and Hong Kong; and Dow Jones, which is currently designing a second Cardiff centre (see full list of Maggie's Centres and architects below).
Maggie’s runs drop-in cancer support centres around the UK and overseas. The charity was founded by Maggie Keswick Jencks, who died of cancer in 1995, and partner Charles Jencks. Maggie’s president is Queen Camilla, while its chief executive is Laura Lee.
Each architect is given the same brief for Maggie’s Centres, which states that they should be ‘beautiful,’ ‘a beacon of hope’ and ‘friendly and welcoming’ — but adds that they ‘should not belittle what people are going through by being too cosy’.
Speaking to Dezeen in January, Lee said that Maggie’s looks for architects ‘who are well-developed in their emotional thinking and who can handle the emotional side of the our brief’.
She added that she was worried ‘that interest in architecture and the value of what buildings can do, beyond just giving a place for things to happen, has diminished in the public eye’.
HB Architects has been contacted for comment.
HB Architects' submitted design for a Maggie's Centre at Royal Liverpool Hospital
List of Maggie’s Centres
Completed
- Maggie's Edinburgh, (designed by Richard Murphy OBE of Richard Murphy Architects, landscaping by Emma Keswick), in the grounds of the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, opened in November 1996.
- Maggie’s Dundee (designed by Frank Gehry, landscaping by Arabella Lennox-Boyd), in the grounds of Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, opened in September 2003.
- Maggie’s Highlands (designed by David Page and Brian Park of Page\ Park Architects, landscaping by Charles Jencks), in the grounds of the Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, opened in June 2005.
- Maggie’s Fife (designed by Dame Zaha Hadid of Zaha Hadid Architects, landscaping by Gross Max), in the grounds of Victoria Hospital, Fife, opened in November 2006.
- Maggie’s West London (designed by Ivan Harbour of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, landscaping by Dan Pearson), in the grounds of Charing Cross Hospital, West London, opened in April 2008.
- Maggie’s Cheltenham (designed by Sir Richard MacCormac of MJP Architects, landscaping by Dr Christine Facer), next to Cheltenham General Hospital, Cheltenham, opened in September 2010.
- Maggie’s Glasgow (designed by Rem Koolhaas of OMA, landscaping by Lily Jencks), in the grounds of Gartnavel General Hospital, Glasgow, opened in October 2011.
- Maggie’s Nottingham (designed by Piers Gough of CZWG Architects, landscaping by Envert Studio), in the grounds of Nottingham City Hospital, Nottingham, opened in November 2011.
- Maggie’s Swansea (designed by Kisho Kurokawa Architects with Garbers & James, landscaping by Kim Wilkie), in the grounds of Singleton Hospital, Swansea, opened in December 2011.
- Maggie’s Newcastle (designed by Ted Cullinan of Cullinan Studio Architects, landscaping by Sarah Price), in the grounds of the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, opened in May 2013.
- Maggie’s Aberdeen at the Elizabeth Montgomerie Building (designed by Snøhetta, landscaping also by Snøhetta), in the grounds of the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary Hospital, Aberdeen, opened in September 2013.
- Maggie’s Hong Kong (designed by Frank Gehry, landscaping by Lily Jencks), in the grounds of Tuen Mun Hospital, Tuen Mun, opened in 2013.
- Maggie’s Lanarkshire at the Elizabeth Montgomerie Building (designed by Neil Gillespie of Reiach and Hall Architects, landscaping by rankinfraser), in the grounds of University Hospital Monklands, Airdrie, opened in September 2014.
- Maggie’s Oxford at the Patricia Thompson Building (designed by Chris Wilkinson of Wilkinson Eyre Architects, landscaping by Flora Gathorne-Hardy), in the grounds of Churchill Hospital, Oxford, opened in October 2014.
- Maggie’s Royal Free (designed by Daniel Libeskind of Studio Libeskind, landscaping by Martha Schwartz) in the grounds of the Royal Free Hospital, London, opened in January 2024.
- Maggie’s Manchester at the Robert Parfett Building (designed by Norman Foster of Foster + Partners, landscaping by Dan Pearson), in the grounds of The Christie Hospital, Manchester, opened in April 2016.
- Maggie’s Tokyo (designed by Cosmos More, coordinated by Abe Tsutomu), currently an interim Centre, in Koto City, Tokyo, opened in October 2016.
- Maggie’s Forth Valley at the Nina Barough Building (designed by Garbers & James, landscaping by Darren Hawkes), in the grounds of Forth Valley Royal Hospital, Larbert, opened in March 2017.
- Maggie’s Oldham at the Sir Norman Stoller Building, (designed by Alex de Rijke of dRMM Architects, landscaping by Rupert Muldoon), in the grounds of The Royal Oldham Hospital, Oldham, opened in June 2017.
- Maggie’s Barts (designed by Steven Holl of Steven Holl Architects, landscaping by Darren Hawkes), in the grounds of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, East London, opened in December 2017.
- Maggie’s Cardiff at the Chris McGuigan building (designed by Biba Dow and Alun Jones of Dow Jones Architects, landscaping by Cleve West), in the grounds of Velindre Cancer Centre, Cardiff, opened in April 2019.
- Kálida Barcelona (designed by Benedetta Tagliabue of Miralles Tagliabue EMBT, landscaping also by Miralles Tagliabue EMBT), in the grounds of the Sant Pau Hospital, Barcelona, opened in May 2019.
- Maggie’s at The Royal Marsden at the Zoë and Andrew Law Building (designed by Ab Rogers of Ab Rogers Design, landscaping by Piet Oudolf) in the grounds of The Royal Marsden Hospital, Sutton, opened in October 2019.
- Maggie’s Yorkshire (designed by Thomas Heatherwick of Heatherwick Studio, landscaping by Marie-Louise Agius of Balston Agius) in the grounds of St James’s University Hospital, Leeds, opened in October 2019.
- Maggie’s Southampton (designed by Amanda Levete of AL_A Architects, landscaping by Sarah Price) in the grounds of University Hospital Southampton, opened in February 2021.
- Maggie’s Wirral at the Steve Morgan Foundation Building (designed by HB Architects, commissioned and built by the Steve Morgan Foundation) in the grounds of Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, Wirral, open in September 2021.
- Maggie’s Groningen (designed by Marlies Rohmer Architecture & Urbanism, landscaping designed by Piet Oudolf), in the grounds of the UMCG Hospital in Groningen, the Netherlands, opened in April 2024.
Maggie’s Southampton by AL_A Architects. Photo: Hufton + Crow
In development
- Maggie’s Northampton (designed by Stephen Marshall of Stephen Marshall Architects, landscaping by Arne Maynard) in the grounds of Northampton General Hospital, Northampton, due to open in 2025.
- Maggie’s Coventry (designed by Jamie Fobert of Jamie Fobert Architects, landscaping by Nigel Dunnett) in the grounds of University Hospital Coventry, Coventry.
- Maggie’s Cambridge (designed by Níall McLaughlin of Níall McLaughlin Architects, landscaping by Propagating Dan) in the grounds of Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge.
- Maggie’s Bristol (designed by Muma - McInnes Usher McKnight Architects, landscaping by Dan Pearson) in the grounds of University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust.
- Maggie’s Kent (designed by Assemble Studio) in the grounds of Maidstone Hospital.
- Maggie’s North Wales Glan Clwyd Hospital, (designed by HB Architects, commissioned and built by the Steve Morgan Foundation) due to open in 2025.
- Maggie’s Liverpool Royal Liverpool Hospital (designed by HB Architects, commissioned and built by the Steve Morgan Foundation).
- Maggie’s Middlesbrough taking over The Trinity Holistic Centre in the grounds of The James Cook University Hospital in 2025.
Maggie’s Cambridge by Níall McLaughlin Architects
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