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Permanent home approved for cancer support centre

Hannah Brown
Local Democracy Reporting Service
Níall McLaughlin Architects Illustrative image of the proposed cancer support centre in Long Road. Its is a light coloured building with lots of windows surrounded by plants both inside and outsideNíall McLaughlin Architects
The new centre will replace the current interim site which has been supporting people from a converted residential building

Plans for a new cancer support centre to replace a temporary facility have been approved.

The new centre for the charity Maggie's will be built on Long Road, in the grounds of Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge.

It would give the charity a permanent base to replace the temporary facility it has run on Puddicombe Way since 2012.

Maggie's said it expected the centre would be open by 2028.

The plans were submitted by the charity and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH), which runs Addenbrooke's.

They asked Cambridge City Council for permission to demolish an existing building to build the new centre.

'A step closer'

The two-storey building would have a kitchen, counselling room, dining area, welcome area, staff room, living area and toilets on the ground floor.

Plans also include a library, counselling room, group room, winter garden, exercise room, quiet room, and a toilet on the first floor.

The plans said: "The purpose-built facility would provide people affected by cancer with comforting and inspiring spaces to decompress from the clinical hospital setting, seek support and take part in activities."

They added: "No. 28 Long Road has been selected by the trust and Maggie's as the optimal location to build a Maggie's centre for Cambridge."

Planning documents added the new support centre would also create a "positive link" to the new specialist cancer hospital due to be built at the biomedical campus.

Maggie's chief executive Dame Laura Lee said: "It is wonderful to now be a step closer to building a centre designed with people living with cancer in mind."

Níall McLaughlin Architects Illustrative image of the proposed cancer support centre in Long Road. It is a light-coloured building with lots of windows surrounded by plants both inside and outside. People can be seen sitting outside the centre. Níall McLaughlin Architects
The design of the centre aims to engage with the existing woodland and will also feature a garden designed by Tom Stuart-Smith

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the application was approved by the city council after planning officers said the new facility would offer "health and wellbeing benefits to the community".

Officers said: "The proposed facility will meet a local need for cancer support services, and provide a significant improvement over the existing Maggie's facility, which is located within a converted apartment.

"The site is in close proximity to the cancer patients it serves, whilst it will also benefit from being in a location which is separate in character to the clinical environment within the campus proper."

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