Planning permission granted for trailblazing Cambridge Children’s Hospital
Early designs for Cambridge Children's Hospital received the green light from Cambridge City Council this week, with the approval of the October 2021 planning application building on the outline planning permission granted for the site.
Built on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, the hospital will care for children and young people from across the east of England – Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire - but also nationally and internationally, as a ‘hospital without walls’.
Embedding genomic and psychological research alongside clinical expertise in physical and mental child health, Cambridge Children’s Hospital will be a brand new state-of-the-art hospital designed to take care of the whole child, not just their illness. Approval of the October 2021 planning application builds on the existing outline planning permission which was granted for the site previously.
We are project and cost manager for the hospital and are leading an international design team comprising an architectural collaboration between Hawkins\Brown and White Arkitekter, with Ramboll providing engineering services, MJ Medical providing healthcare planning and planning consultancy by Bidwells.
With an estimated total footprint of around 35,000sq m, including 5,000sq m of research space, the early designs show how this innovative hospital might look when it opens. The plans also include details of possible future development for the hospital. Meanwhile, work continues on developing the outline business case, which has to be approved by NHSE/I and the Department of Health, and on the fundraising campaign which was announced earlier in 2021.
Andrew Tollick, Senior Programme Manager for Design and Construction, Cambridge Children's Hospital, said:
I’m delighted that we have taken another big step towards making Cambridge Children’s Hospital a reality. There is still a long way to go before building work can begin but planning approval for the early external designs is a rock-solid foundation. We are determined to realise our vision for ‘a whole new way’: one that integrates children’s mental and physical health services alongside world-class research to provide holistic, personalised care in a state-of-the-art facility.
The project team has been engaging with staff from across the partner organisations about how the hospital should work. Members of Cambridge Children’s Network, which is made up of children, young people, parents and carers from across the region, have also been instrumental in helping shape how the facility might look and feel in these early designs.
The environmental impact of CCH has been a major consideration in the development of these plans. Cambridge Children’s Hospital aims to be an exemplar in sustainability as part of its role in providing a safer future for all. The hospital will include as many outdoors spaces as possible, including gardens, courtyards and terraces to provide access to nature and spaces for play and relaxation that support biodiversity and wildlife. The main hospital building will itself be enclosed within a wide landscaped green perimeter that recreates the feel of a summer meadow.
Clinton Green, Director and Design Team Project Director, said:
The new hospital is a trailblazer in how integrated children’s mental and physical care is delivered. Its landmark design for a state-of-the-art healthcare facility, with its focus on sustainability and wellbeing, will set a new standard of paediatric care as an example for other hospitals across the UK and beyond to follow. The speed of reaching the major milestone of planning permission approval is testament to the expertise and collaborative efforts of the entire design team, working side by side with the Cambridge Children’s Hospital team on this important journey.
Cambridge Children’s Hospital will sit opposite the Rosie Maternity Hospital on Robinson’s Way.
