Maggie's Lanarkshire receives planning permission

Neil Gillespie, of Reiach and Hall Architects, has designed the unique, purpose-built centre which will be located at Monklands Hospital in Lanarkshire.

Maggie's has been working in partnership with the Elizabeth Montgomerie Foundation in the region to raise the £3million pounds needed to build a permanent centre. The foundation was established by Colin Montgomerie, who set-up it up in memory of his mother, who died of cancer. “The opening of the first Maggie’s Centre to be built in my mother’s name will be a very proud moment for me and my family and I know that this iconic building will provide a sanctuary for the people of Lanarkshire affected by cancer, who will now have a place to go where they can get support at a very difficult time.”

Lorrie Forsyth, who is the Centre Head at the interim Maggie's Lanarkshire centre in Wishaw, was delighted with the news: "The permanent centre will allow us to open our doors to thousands more people and will also allow us to provide our programme of support within an inspiring and uplifting building. The design by Neil Gillespie is truly wonderful. It is now a case of continuing with our fundraising and with providing support at our interim facility before breaking ground on the centre in the near future.” The interim centre, which opened in April 2008, received over 2,500 visits in 2010.

Architect Neil Gillespie, known for his designs for buildings such as The Pier Arts Centre in Stromness and the Collective Gallery in Edinburgh, said: “The entire team is delighted that we have reached this exciting stage in the project. We have thoroughly enjoyed what has been an enlightening and measured design process, we are now eager to move ahead and experience the building for real.”

For further details, please read the full press release.