Revisiting Maggie's Manchester

Located alongside NHS hospitals across the UK, Maggie’s provides a ‘home away from home’ – a place of refuge where people dealing with cancer can find emotional and practical support. Inspired by the blueprint for a new type of care set out by the writer, artist, and garden designer Maggie Keswick Jencks, they place great value upon the power of architecture to lift the spirits and help the process of therapy.

In 2016, Foster + Partners - a global studio for architecture, urbanism, and design - completed a new Maggie’s centre in Manchester. Located just a short walk from The Christie Hospital and its leading oncology unit, the centre complements the existing cancer treatment facilities at the hospital by offering a place where centre visitors and their families can be supported and informed throughout their treatment – from diagnosis to recovery.

Over the past seven years, Maggie’s Manchester has provided people living with cancer from the local community with information and advice on a wide range of issues including financial challenges, the side effects of treatment and returning to work, helping visitors take back control of their lives. A therapeutic space for healing, it provides free access to the kind of practical, emotional, and social support that might not otherwise be available.

The film shows Foster + Partners revisiting the centre in 2022, to speak to some of the staff and visitors who use the space and understand the role it has come to play in their lives. Hearing the stories of the people who are so intimately familiar with the building – some of whom even see it as a second home – reinforces a belief in the power of design and its ability to make a positive contribution to everyday lives.