HOSPICE DESIGN
An uplifting building with a feeling of light and space
Donna Talbot, director of Fundraising and Communications at the Arthur Rank Hospice Charity, and Louise Knights, an associate at LSI Architects, reflect on the challenges of designing a new home for the Hospice in Cambridge.
Since 1981 Arthur Rank Hospice has provided free services to people in Cambridgeshire living with a life-limiting illness and those who need end-of-life care. After more than 30 years on its site at Mill Road in Cambridge, however, the charity knew it needed a new building. While much loved, the original facility was no longer fit for purpose, and opportunities to develop on the existing site were limited. This need was driven by the fact that staff now care for more than 3,600 patients each year across the Hospice in Cambridge, the Alan Hudson Day Treatment Centre in Wisbech, and in patients’ own homes, via the Arthur Rank Community Team.
The care and support provided by the Inpatient Unit, Day Therapy, and Hospice at Home teams is practical, holistic, and tailored to the individual; the team wanted a new building which would reflect those aspirations. The team also needed a facility that would work well for them them when providing services such as specialist end-of-life nursing in the Hospice and wider Cambridgeshire community, psychological support, physiotherapy, complementary therapy, occupational therapy, rehabilitative support, outpatient clinics, counselling, bereavement, and spiritual support.
Next steps
A building that could support the Charity’s multi-disciplinary team approach to end-of-life care was always going to be expensive. Building upon reserves of around £4 million, fundraising actively began in 2013; £10.5 million would be needed for the project, in addition to the £8 million required annually to deliver daily care. In November 2013 the Charity found a new site at Shelford Bottom, Cambridge, and was granted planning permission in December 2014. When it came to designing the building, the Charity was looking for an architect which shared its values and ambitions for the project. After a competitive tendering process, LSI Architects, a leading architecture practice in the healthcare sector, was appointed. LSI’s team is used
54 Health Estate Journal August 2019 The Arthur Rank Hospice in Cambridge.
to working on projects that feel like home, for people who have wide range of needs, including those who may require medical intervention: some of its previous projects include the award-winning Louise Hamilton Centre in Gorleston, and work at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, and Guy’s Hospital and St Thomas’ Hospital in London.
Community involvement User group engagement strongly influences how the building flows and how spaces are used. Users told the Hospice and LSI they wanted all of the bedrooms to open into a large, double- height communal space that would give patients, visitors, and families, an opportunity to come together. One
Dr Lynn Morgan, who oversaw the planning and build during her nine years as CEO before retiring in March this year, said: “The new Hospice is light, airy, and modern.”
©Andrew Wilson Photography
©Andrew Wilson Photography
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