Getting the new hospital's design right is absolutely vital. We gave our architects, BDP, a detailed brief defining the key characteristics we wanted to incorporate. The resulting design has been informed by three features that have consistently emerged as key priorities for patients, visitors and staff:
- A sense of airiness and light
- A friendly and peaceful atmosphere
- A feeling of connecting with nature by bringing the outdoors 'in' where possible.
We believe the new hospital will deliver all this through a landmark design that will provide fantastic facilities with the warmth, friendliness, and tranquillity of The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre's existing hospitals.
Design objectives
- A truly stunning design that provides a superb care environment for patients and staff and is in harmony with the local skyline
- A layout that really works, allowing patients, staff and visitors to move through the building in the most efficient way making best use of space and protecting patients' privacy and dignity
- An environmentally-sustainable and energy-efficient building that is fit for the future, as well as today
Overall design
- Flooded with light, thanks to its stunning glass-fronted façade and central light-well running right through the building
- Airy and peaceful with a calming environment that doesn't have a traditional hospital feel
- Outdoor space allowing people to connect with nature, including open terraces on the upper floors and a 'winter garden' outside radiotherapy. The 'green heart' of the new health campus will be right next door
- Patient privacy and dignity, with individual rooms and separate inpatient and outpatient routes to treatment areas
- Physical links to the new Royal Liverpool University Hospital to allow patients, staff and visitors to move easily between the two buildings – rapid access to non-cancer specialists and intensive care for complex or seriously ill patients
Design process
Frontline NHS staff – doctors, nurses, radiographers and other health professionals – have played a major role in designing the new hospital. They have worked alongside the architects from BDP and construction experts from Laing O'Rourke to make sure the design supports the best clinical care and patient environment. Other staff, patients and visitors have had their say at exhibitions in our hospitals.
Patient representatives have also been involved throughout the process and we had an event in May 2015 where they helped us develop more detailed designs for areas including social space on the inpatient wards.
Key features to note
Natural light: Patients, visitors and staff will have maximum access to natural light, with rooms facing out over the city around a central light-well running right through the building down to Radiotherapy.
Interior design: The BDP architectural team includes an interior designer who has ensured the whole building has a warm, welcoming, positive feel that enhances patient care.
Landscaping: The BDP team also includes landscape architects who have ensured that the green spaces in and around the building are carefully designed to provide high-quality external spaces in which to relax.
Privacy & dignity: Patients arriving by ambulance and those in beds/trolleys have their own lifts and routes so they can be taken to treatment areas in privacy away from visitors and outpatients.
Logical layout: The hospital is designed to make it as easy as possible for people to move around in an efficient way. Departments that need to be near each other are vertically / horizontally close, with convenient lifts and stairs between them. This is different from Clatterbridge Cancer Centre - Wirral, which is quite spread out.
Plant & services: There are dedicated lifts/routes for goods and services. Plant (e.g. heat and power) and main service areas are in a block together at the rear of the building adjacent to the Royal.
Did you know?
The hospital has been designed and will be built by the same team that created the new Alder Hey in the Park hospital: architects BDP and main contractors Laing O’Rourke.
