Welcome to Maggie's North East

Maggie's North East forms part of the Joy of Living campaign: we are working towards raising £3 million for this Centre which will be built at the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle.

In 2006 Maggie’s Centres was approached by Camillus House in the Tyne Valley with a proposal that Maggie’s take on their work with the objective of developing a Maggie’s Centre for the North East of England.   

Maggie’s warmly welcomed this approach and we are now in the early stages of planning our fundraising campaign to make the centre a reality.

Click here to watch a video and find out more about Maggie's programme of cancer support and its impact.

For more information about supporting Maggie’s North East, please contact
Denise Heron, Community Fundraiser denise@maggiescentres.org

Find out more about how we are building our Maggie's Network through the Joy of Living Campaign.

About the area

Maggie’s North East will lie within the North of England Cancer Network – covering a population of approximately 2.1million people. The region encompasses an area that runs from the east coast across to Cumbria and down to the River Tees. Maggie’s North East will be located a short walk from the Northern Centre for Cancer Care (NCCC) at Freeman Hospital, where people will receive treatment for their cancer.

There are around 5,500 new diagnoses of cancer a year in this region.

The Architect

"Maggie's Centres aim at a wonderful balance of the moral with the aesthetic. We are thrilled to be involved."

Ted Cullinan of Edward Cullinan Architects

Design

The RIBA Royal Gold Medallist, Ted Cullinan of Edward Cullinan Architects, has designed a highly sustainable Maggie’s Centre, located in the grounds of Newcastle's Freeman Hospital.

A vibrant landscape will surround the sheltered centre, which itself will partly enclose a courtyard. There are two wings of accommodation - one houses counselling rooms and a large living room space, the other leads to the all-important kettle and kitchen table. A central library incorporates stairs up to a mezzanine level, covered by an angled roof covered in photovoltaic panels. The mezzanine leads out onto the flat landscaped roof, screened by planting. A courtyard occupies the fourth quadrant, which visitors can see and walk out into from the kitchen and large meeting room.

The vibrantly planted embanked earth around the courtyard and building provides shelter and privacy, and a small pavilion creates an outdoor place for conversation or being alone in.

Allowing the building, roof and landscape to be fully accessible aims to provide the users with a sense of ownership and allows for exploration and discovery on a relatively small site. Maggie’s Centres are somewhat domestic in character, having many of the features of a biggish house, and it has been found that they attract more women than men. So as well as the housey things, Ted’s centre has further things that both sexes might enjoy like gardening, barbecuing, hedge clipping, and outdoor games and gym equipment.