Planning permission has been granted for a new cancer support centre in Liverpool. The centre will be commissioned, designed and funded by the Steve Morgan Foundation and is the first project confirmed to go on the site of the old Royal Liverpool University Hospital.
The new Maggie’s centre will be located at the junction of Daulby Street and Prescot Street, close to the new Royal Liverpool University Hospital which opened in 2022, and The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre – Liverpool, which opened in June 2020. The Maggie’s centre is the first project to be approved for development on the site of the old Royal, with future development opportunities on the healthcare campus currently being explored by NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group.
The Steve Morgan Foundation has worked with HB Architects to design the centre, which will provide free practical, psychological and emotional support for people with cancer, as well as their family and friends, from across the whole of Merseyside. This will be the second Maggie’s centre in Merseyside; Maggie’s Wirral also funded by the Steve Morgan Foundation opened in 2021. Maggie’s Liverpool is expected to open in 2027.
The centre will support people like 39 year-old Chris who is living with incurable cancer and who visits Maggie’s Wirral with his wife Rachael, also 39.
Chris said: “I lost so much, it has all been taken away from me. Maggie’s made me feel warm and accepted. I was listened to. I have done some courses where for that hour I forgot everything, an hour of normality.”
Rachael added: “I had been told to go to Maggie’s for information, but they gave us so much more. I left Maggie’s for the first time feeling strange, I felt like I couldn’t wait to come back to Maggie’s with Chris. I always hear laughter from the room where Chris is in at Maggie’s, and it warms my heart to and that’s thanks to Maggie’s.”
Out of the 2.8 million people in Cheshire and Merseyside about 17,000 people are newly diagnosed with cancer very year– both figures are higher than the England average.
Dame Laura Lee, Chief Executive of Maggie’s said: “We are delighted to have been granted planning permission for our centre in Liverpool.
“The Steve Morgan Foundation’s incredibly generous support in commissioning, designing, funding and building has fast tracked our ability to bring Maggie’s to Liverpool and for that I am so grateful.
“The Steve Morgan Foundation has committed to building three new Maggie’s centres – including the one in Liverpool – which is a truly phenomenal act of philanthropy.
“I am greatly looking forward to working closely once again with the Steve Morgan Foundation, and NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group, to ensure the people of Merseyside living with cancer have the support they need at possibly the hardest time of their lives.”
The Steve Morgan Foundation has provided £5 million to build the centre in Liverpool and has already commissioned, designed, built and funded Maggie’s in Wirral which officially opened in the grounds of The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre – Wirral in September 2021 and Maggie’s North Wales which is due to open in September 2025. In 2024 Maggie’s Wirral supported people more than 18,000 times.
Steve Morgan said: “We are delighted to have received planning approval for our third Maggie’s centre in the region, helping to bring vital cancer support to the people of Liverpool and ensuring they have easy access to the warm, welcoming and free expert support that a Maggie’s centre provides.
“Our partnership with Maggie’s highlights the power of collaboration and the Foundation’s ability to ‘give’ well by harnessing our expertise, practical support and commercial experience to maximise the impact of our financial support.”
James Sumner, Chief Executive of NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group, said: “As part of the old Royal Liverpool University Hospital demolition process, we have been working closely with partners to develop a masterplan that will have the health and wellbeing of our patients and local communities at its heart.
“We are delighted to be welcoming Maggie’s as the first new partner onto the site of the old Royal. The services they offer to support people with cancer will be hugely beneficial to the people of Liverpool.”
Maggie’s has nearly 30 years’ experience of supporting people with free cancer support and information in centres across the UK. The charity puts people with cancer at the heart of everything they do and believes that everyone should have access to professional psychological and emotional support to help change the way they live with cancer.
Maggie’s helps people take back control when cancer turns life upside down, with support for anything from treatment side effects to money worries. The centres’ professional teams provide help and information and run groups and activities, all designed to make coping with cancer easier.
Support by Maggie’s professional staff help people with stress, fear and anxiety as well as money worries and questions about treatment.
Maggie’s is a charity that’s funded by the kindness of our donors and fundraising. To find out how to support Maggie’s in Liverpool click here.