The new Maggie’s Cambridge centre will offer support to people with cancer and their loved ones, with annual visits expected to rise from nearly 10,000 in 2024 to around 30,000 once the new facility is complete. It will replace a current interim site on the grounds of Addenbrooke’s Hospital, with the new centre being located at 28 Long Road.
Expected to open in 2028, the development will comprise 5,200 sq. ft set across a two-storey timber-built structure encompassing a generous entrance and welcome area, a central kitchen and dining suite forming the main social hub of the building, a large exercise studio, private counselling rooms, quiet area, and a staff room with good visibility of the welcome area.
The centre will feature an outdoor garden designed by award-winning landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith, whose work includes the Queen’s Jubilee Garden at Windsor Castle, and more recently the Bicentenary Glasshouse Garden Royal Horticultural Society, Wisley.
Maggie’s Cambridge has been designed to engage with the existing surrounding woodland and wildlife– an important consideration throughout the planning process.
Bidwells and the project team collaborated with the Local Planning Authority to find solutions to ensure existing trees are respected while ensuring that the scheme retained its design ethos and maximised the facility’s ability to provide a haven for those living with cancer and their loved ones.
Bidwells submitted the planning application on behalf of the client in January 2025, and secured permission on 17 April 2025.
Jake Lambert, Associate, Planning, Bidwells, said:
“This consent will help facilitate a significantly expanded programme of cancer support to build on the already excellent work that Maggie’s does in Cambridge. The new, much-enhanced centre has been carefully conceptualised to support people living with cancer by engaging with the surrounding natural habitat to create a comfortable and relaxing environment.
“A new and improved Maggie’s Cambridge will be separate in character from the clinical environment of the hospital while being in close proximity to it, and this aspect of the proposed development has ultimately been appreciated by the city council.”
Maggie’s Director of Property Siobhan Wyatt said:
“We are delighted to have secured planning permission for our new purpose-built centre in Cambridge and we are very grateful to Bidwells for helping to make this happen. They have played an important role in supporting people living with cancer at possibly the hardest time of their lives.”
CGI image: Niall McLaughlin Architects
