Cancer care centre Maggie’s, Royal Free

Designed by the internationally renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, this centre features a striking architectural vision and thoughtfully crafted spaces that foster relaxation and community. Set within the hospital grounds, visitors can join various support sessions with no need to make an appointment.

The centre's official opening, attended by Her Majesty The Queen, the president of Maggie’s, on Wednesday, 31 January 2024, underscores its significance in enhancing cancer care.

Special Projects and the wider business partnership with Maggie’s

Since completing the first Maggie’s centre in 2011, Sir Robert McAlpine Special Projects has delivered eight centres, including the recently completed Maggie’s Royal Free. The ninth centre, Maggie’s Northampton, completed in October 2025, with the contract awarded following the successful handover of Maggie’s Royal Free. This long-standing partnership establishes a trusted framework for repeat Construction Management opportunities, built on a deep understanding of shared values and goals.

These projects play a vital role in developing aspiring project leaders, providing opportunities for individuals who embody the ethos and commitment of Sir Robert McAlpine. Maggie’s is also one of the primary charities supported by the company, with its Charitable Giving Committee and project teams organising regular fundraising events to champion this meaningful cause.

At the heart of the Maggie’s centre is Daniel Libeskind’s commitment to crafting spaces that resonate emotionally with users. The building’s undulating walls, angled façades, and distinctive window shapes allow natural light to flood the interiors, fostering an uplifting and reflective atmosphere. These elements create a stark yet inviting contrast to the clinical environments typically associated with hospital settings.

The inclusion of a roof garden provides a tranquil outdoor space, offering people with cancer and families a connection to nature. Libeskind’s design integrates community-oriented spaces while maintaining privacy, ensuring a balance between collective support and personal reflection. “You will never go here and have a dull thought, ever,” Libeskind remarked, highlighting the space’s transformative potential.

Comprehensive support for cancer care

The Maggie’s centre complements the Royal Free Hospital’s medical services, one of the UK’s largest cancer treatment providers, handling nearly 50,000 cancer referrals annually. Within the centre, people with cancer and their families have access to a variety of resources, including:

• Expert emotional and psychological support.
• Workshops focusing on nutrition, mindfulness, and exercise.
• Relaxation areas that provide comfort and a sense of community.

This holistic approach to care underscores Maggie’s mission to address the emotional, social, and physical challenges of cancer.

Technical solutions and logistical challenges

Delivering Maggie’s centre at the Royal Free Hospital involved navigating complex design and construction requirements on a constrained and active hospital site. The project’s success stemmed from meticulous planning, collaboration, and innovative engineering solutions:

• Slope stability assessments: The site’s sloping topography necessitated detailed stability assessments of working platforms and existing, Grade 2 listed walls to minimise ground movement during construction. Landscaping designed by Martha Schwartz Partners.
• Foundation engineering: McAlpine Design Group conducted design checks on the piling platforms to accommodate the building’s bearing piles and contiguous and sheet pile walls. This ensured the structural integrity of the site while meeting architectural demands.
• Steel frame stability: The steel structure is raked and curved causing twisting forces and a planned structural movement of magnitude akin to that of a thirteen-storey building.  Collaboration with the site team and trade contractors addressed construction tolerances and movement between structural and architectural elements. This ensured seamless integration of Libeskind’s design vision with practical construction requirements.
• Façade construction: The façade is raked and curved through continually changing radii, with full height timber panels, which posed significant challenges in setting out, coordination and install. Close coordination among the site team, design team, and contractors was required to ensure safe and precise assembly. Each bespoke insulated timber cassette panel was constructed in Germany and JIT delivery was adopted to eliminate damage of the cassettes and to suit the limited laydown space.
• Material logistics: Tight working spaces externally and internally, with the need to work around raked walls, necessitated deployment of a variety of task specific MEWPs and collaborative trade-to-trade sequencing. Additionally, careful planning minimised double handling of organic soils and landscaping materials, to preserve their quality and to provide tracking information for discharge of planning conditions.

Sustainability and Recognition

The Maggie’s centre demonstrates a commitment to sustainability through its thoughtful design and material use. The landscaped roof garden enhances biodiversity while contributing to the centre’s tranquil atmosphere. By incorporating energy-efficient air-source heat pumps to charge the underfloor heating, and ventilation through natural means only, the project supports long-term environmental stewardship. The centre has earned national recognition as a finalist in the Structural Steel Design Awards, celebrating its architectural and engineering excellence.