HEALTHCARE DESIGN
At Maggie’s, multifunctional spaces adapt to different needs.
Craig Chandler
Craig Chandler is a project manager with nearly 25 years’ experience across the construction industry, spanning modern builds, complex refurbishments and heritage conservation. He brings together solid technical know-how with a genuine appreciation for architecture, focusing on the careful renewal of historic buildings and a thoughtful approach to protecting and enhancing the built environment.
centres have demonstrated over the years. One way that design choices like these can be justified to decision makers and budget setters is by demonstrating the multifunctionality of a space. When it comes to budgeting, spaces like a wellbeing room for yoga classes are deemed ‘less essential’, but a shift in perception can make any room a space for yoga, rest, or relaxation. Rather than designating rooms with a purpose, spaces can be made multifunctional to adapt to different needs. When thoughtfully implemented, these spaces can be designed as an asset to the healthcare facility. For example, through the use of sliding doors, like those installed at the Maggie’s centre in Northampton, spaces can become transitional, meeting the changing needs of a healthcare environment. While continuing to boast a largely open plan building, rooms can, in effect, be ‘created’ as and when they are needed. With doorways large enough to move furniture in and out comfortably, the space can become a counselling room, or bereavement space for those wanting total privacy. In the same vein, providing individual toilet cubicles with floor to ceiling doors, as opposed to a row of stalls, means that people can quickly excuse themselves, if needs be, to have a moment alone. Enabling people to personalise the space in line with
how they want to use it allows them to feel like it is theirs – encouraging a sense of autonomy and independence at a time when they may be feeling vulnerable and alone. It is this sense of autonomy that all healthcare providers should be striving towards for their patients.
Bringing the outside in Before even setting foot in a Maggie’s centre, patients will have to walk over from the hospital and through the front door. Landscaping and outdoor design therefore play a critical role in delineating this transition. Leaving the hospital environment behind them, a thoughtfully crafted outdoor space allows patients a moment to breathe. This means landscaping design should be considered from the early stages of a construction project, rather than as an afterthought, to allow for mindful decisions that create a seamless flow from outdoors to indoors, and vice versa. Furthermore, for those who are having a tough day
38 Health Estate Journal September 2026
of treatment, or are particularly fatigued, it is important that they can reap the benefits of well-designed outdoor spaces from the comfort of a cosy armchair, sat with a book in a warm room. Even if they do not feel capable of venturing outside, it is important that patients can see the changing weather and seasons and maintain connection with the wider world around them.
A beacon of hope The teams at Sir Robert McAlpine and Maggie’s both understand that architecture and interior design cannot solve people’s problems when grappling with a cancer diagnosis for themselves or a loved one. However, when clearly laid out in an architectural brief, what can be provided is a place that acts as a beacon of hope; an uplifting space where patients and those affected can rest and receive care. Beyond this, feats of architectural innovation are so
out of the ordinary in a healthcare setting that they can provide a welcome distraction, albeit briefly, as patients start to come to terms with a diagnosis or treatment plan. At the centre next to Northampton General Hospital, for example, the building’s precisely engineered cantilevered roof acts as a talking point for those seeing it for the first time: architectural excellence creating an entry point for people looking to access the care and support available inside.
Putting theory into practice Examples like the Northampton project show that the best way to achieve not just good, but unique and innovative results, is by giving contractors the room and independence to contribute to the design of a healthcare setting from the beginning. The chance for contractors to share their expertise
on how to transform architects’ visions into buildable designs should be offered at an earlier stage, allowing a variety of views to be shared as well as a view on what is practically feasible. It is this experience that is invaluable when hoping to inject innovation and creativity into a healthcare project. Indeed, having worked on ten projects with Maggie’s to-date, Sir Robert McAlpine knows the best ways to incorporate architectural innovation without
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