Cambridge City Council planning committee this week unanimously resolved to award consent for what will be the first dedicated children’s hospital in the east of England.

The design team for Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust comprises architects Hawkins\Brown and White Arkitekt, engineer Ramboll and healthcare specialist MJ Medical, with support from planning consultant Bidwells. The project manager is Turner & Townsend.

The £220m hospital already had outline planning permission to be built on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, opposite the Rosie Maternity Hospital on Robinson’s Way.

With an estimated total footprint of around 35,000 sq m, including 5,000 sq m of research space, the early designs show how the hospital might look and how it might develop in the future.

Work continues on developing the outline business case, which has to be approved by the Department of Health, and on a fundraising campaign.

Andrew Tollick, senior programme manager for design and construction, said: “We have taken another big step towards making Cambridge Children’s Hospital a reality. There is still a long way to go before building work can begin but planning approval for the early external designs is a rock-solid foundation. We are determined to realise our vision for ‘a whole new way’: one that integrates children’s mental and physical health services alongside world-class research to provide holistic, personalised care in a state-of-the-art facility.”

The hospital will include as many outdoors spaces as possible, including gardens, courtyards and terraces to provide access to nature and spaces for play that support wildlife.

Turner & Townsend director Clinton Green, the design team project director, said: “The new hospital is a trailblazer in how integrated children’s mental and physical care is delivered.  Its landmark design for a state-of-the-art healthcare facility, with its focus on sustainability and wellbeing, will set a new standard of paediatric care as an example for other hospitals across the UK and beyond to follow. The speed of reaching the major milestone of planning permission approval is testament to the expertise and collaborative efforts of the entire design team, working side by side with the Cambridge Children’s Hospital team on this important journey.”

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