Abstract

Immuno-oncology therapies empower the immune system to recognise and react to tumour cells, and Biomarker-guided therapies target the mutation in tumour cells at a molecular level, in effect creating a completely personalised approach to treatment, treating the disease at a personal systemic level, which is the objective of the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre.

The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre is located within the heart of the city’s Knowledge Quarter on a site adjacent to the Royal Liverpool University Hospital and close to the University of Liverpool. In parallel with the developments in clinical treatment, the project enables patients to be treated in very personalised environments.

Individual flexible chemotherapy bays incorporated into departmental layouts allow patients to control their own environment and choose a level of interaction with others that suits them. This sense of control over environment and choice extends to the design of waiting areas and provision of external spaces adjacent to treatment areas.

The specialist 11-storey hospital has 110 single inpatient beds, delivering a wide range of highly specialist cancer care, including pioneering chemotherapy, immunotherapy, gene therapy, haemato-oncology and radiotherapy. It has state-of-the-art facilities for bone marrow transplant, diagnostics and imaging, outpatients, daycase treatments, a Teenage & Young Adult Unit, and clinical therapies, all facilitated by carefully designed environmental infrastructure.

The hospital has been designed to ensure patients have plenty of privacy and space, which can be personalised to individual needs. Every inpatient has their own single en-suite room, further reducing any risk of infection. The inpatient rooms and the chemotherapy suite, served by an adjacent production pharmacy and clinical trials suite, benefit from being at the top of the building, and have spectacular views across the city and across to the Wirral peninsula.

The stepped massing to the prow of the building creates landscaped terraces, which allow patients to be able to access nature and fresh air. Radiotherapy benefits from a huge central lightwell and access to an outdoor Winter Garden, connecting the building to nature in its very urban context.