Julia Davies, Healthcare director, and Ingo Braun, Design principal at NBBJ, discuss the design of the new Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital. They explain how architecture can integrate clinical care, research, and sustainability, creating a collaborative and human-centred environment for patients, staff, and researchers.
The design of healthcare facilities is undergoing a radical transformation. Our work on the new Cancer Research Hospital offers valuable insights into how we can design future medical spaces to be more collaborative and sustainable, in partnership with patients and other stakeholders.
The vision for the specialist hospital focuses on 'changing the story of cancer' through early detection and personalised medicine, by bringing together clinical expertise from Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) with world-class scientists from the University of Cambridge, Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre, and partners from industry, under one roof. This vision is embedded into every architectural and operational decision. The design fosters integration between university research, commercial innovation and frontline healthcare delivery. It seeks to blur the traditional boundaries between treatment and discovery, ultimately aiming to improve patient outcomes through a deeply collaborative model.
The start of the project dates back to 2012 when initial work on the site began, albeit for a different purpose. It wasn't until 2018, when cancer care became the defining priority, that the project gained renewed momentum.
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