Realising the extraordinary for Maggie's

Solving unique challenges to achieve Maggie’s ‘healing architecture’ designs

Every Maggie’s is a unique place that fits perfectly into its surroundings – a home from home that’s designed to feel nothing like a hospital – and the centre in Swansea is no different.

Two wings faced with precast concrete wall panels and covered by a curving zinc roof wind into the middle of the building, which is formed around a large oval skylight. The geometry of the structure meant close liaison was required across the professional team, and, in particular, with project architect Garbers & James, to ensure the spatial concept was achieved and the flowing interface details accurately realised.

Our site team called on the expertise of McAlpine Design Group to undertake the reinforcement detailing and scheduling for the structure’s complicated concrete frame.

The up-front scrutiny of the general arrangement formwork drawings, along with this meticulous attention to the detailing activity, helped ensure that construction of the frame went smoothly. The challenging geometry of the external pre-cast panels meant bespoke moulds were required to form each section. The process required scrupulous attention to detail and each of the building’s individually sized decorative titanium inserts was pre-fabricated and delivered to site for insertion into corresponding pockets in the precast concrete.

The roof is supported off a central tubular steel member propped off the concrete frame, the structure acting as a diaphragm once covered.

With the building constructed on land adjacent to existing hospital buildings, careful control of deliveries was essential to ensure that safe pedestrian and vehicular access was maintained along a single carriageway onto the site.

The centre was named Best Community/Healthcare Building at the LABC South Wales Building Excellence Awards 2012. The scheme was also highly commended in the Best Technical Innovation Project category.

Establishing a long-term corporate partnership with Maggie’s

As a result of the successful delivery of the centre in Swansea, we were awarded contracts to build two further Maggie’s Cancer Care Centres at The Christie in Manchester and St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. Over the last ten years, we’ve gone on to help deliver a temporary centre in Clatterbridge and Forth Valley and build new centres in Yorkshire, Sutton and Southampton.

As well as the construction of Maggie’s centres, we’ve committed to raising £1,000,000 in ten years for the charity. Five years into that commitment, our current fundraising total is £850,000.

It costs £2,400 a day to keep one Maggie's Centre open - that's more than £500,000 a year. Over the coming years, we'll be fundraising as a company to contribute to those running costs, and offering our colleagues the opportunity to take part in events like the London Marathon, Swim Serpentine and the Maggie's Culture Crawl.