Dr Kershaws' vision of exciting new wellbeing centre gets big boost

Dr Kershaw’s Hospice’s plans for their new state-of-the-art wellbeing centre have taken two major steps forward with the granting of planning permission along with funding for the brand-new building which will not only house the new centre, but form the centre piece of the Hospice’s outdoor redevelopment project.

Funding for the new wellbeing centre has been helped by a significant grant from the Roger Tanner Trust and in recognition, the Hospice will name the development ‘The Wellbeing Centre in The Roger Tanner Building.’

Ian Mills, of The Roger Tanner Trust, said: “Dr Kershaw’s Hospice provides essential, compassionate, community led support and care at tough times for individuals and families, and touches so many people from our local communities, so we were delighted to be able to support such an inspiring project.

"The Dr Kershaw’s team deserve huge credit for their passion and vision in delivering this enhanced and vital community service.”

The new facility marks the final phase of the Hospice’s outdoor redevelopment project, delivered by Urban Green, integrating with the revitalised gardens to provide a calming and functional space for reflection and support.

It will enhance the current, at capacity wellbeing centre and will offer purpose-built surroundings that can accommodate up to 50 patients at any one time, providing a peaceful space for therapy, bereavement support, dementia care and creative wellbeing services.

Kat Harding, Hospice Wellbeing Centre Manager, explained: “We know our services are working and making a real difference. We’re now able to support people from the point of diagnosis right through to end-of-life care.

"In the last 2024/25 alone, we delivered over 3,000 patient attendances, nearly 2,500 carer attendances, alongside hundreds of counselling and bereavement sessions.

"With The Christie and Macmillan also delivering services from our space, the need to expand has become essential.”

Services set to benefit from the new building include the Men’s Group, Bereavement Support Groups, the Dementia Hub, and The Nightbird Project - a series of creative sessions supporting people with life-limiting illnesses to share their stories through art, writing and craft.

To support the Hospice’s vision of holistic, patient-focused care, the wellbeing centre will be linked to the outdoor space, enabling more nature-based and mindfulness activities.

The building will also feature core amenities in one accessible location, separate from the main Hospice, helping to reduce distractions for service users and offering a non-clinical, therapeutic space.

The new building will serve as a dedicated hub for wellbeing services, designed to enhance quality of life for patients, carers and families, and act as a community anchor in supporting those navigating serious illness and bereavement.

Kat added: “The wellbeing centre in The Roger Tanner Building will be a calming, beautiful space to support mental and physical wellbeing, and engagement with nature and community.

"It will enable us to make fuller therapeutic use of our wonderful gardens and woodland space.

"We are thrilled that this project has now been granted planning permission and look forward to seeing the building works start and the transformation of our facilities.”

As part of the Hospice’s wider redevelopment, a poignant new feature has been included in the external design - a bespoke granite and timber bench designed by Matt Taylor, Director at landscape architecture / environment consultant firm Urban Green, who are leading the project.

The bench was worked up in collaboraton with Hardscape whom Urban Green work closely with as a supply and have kindly gifted it to the project.

Matt has a personal connection to Dr Kershaw’s as his wife, Becky, was cared for at the Hospice before she sadly died in 2021 at the age of just 37 following a breast cancer diagnosis.

During her illness, Becky found great comfort in painting, writing and flower-pressing - activities that later inspired the launch of The Nightbird Project.

Matt said: “I wanted to include something meaningful to Dr Kershaw’s, that would both capture an further uplift the garden design scheme, I wanted this to be a surprise on arrival and my personal way of thanking Dr Kershaw’s.

"I’m really happy with the result, it adds a finishing touch to the space.

"Dr Kershaw’s is our chosen charity at Urban Green, so I’m very pleased to have been able to contribute something special.”

Urban Green and their project team; Ashton Hale, PG Consulting, Hive Projects, Clancy, Landscape Engineering, Moduplan, Hardscape and Robert Aspray Digital, celebrated the Hospice’s Wellbeing Centre planning approval as a major step forward in delivering the final phase of the Hospice’s gardens and outdoor facilities.

Director Matt added: “We are delighted to have finally secured planning permission for the new wellbeing centre facility at Dr Kershaw’s Hospice which will be the final phase of the newly constructed garden spaces and outdoor facilities.

"We look forward to the delivery of the final phases and seeing the benefits that the new facilities will bring to the Hospice’s Wellbeing Centre services across the local community.”

Work on the wellbeing centre is expected to begin in November, with a proposed completion date of early 2026.

For more information on the ongoing wellbeing centre development please visit Dr Kershaw’s social media channels or: www.drkh.org.uk

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