National cancer care charity Maggie’s has announced their planned support centre in Dumfries and Galloway, home of their founder Maggie Keswick Jencks, will be designed in collaboration between two exceptional designers.
The charity, which marks 30 years of providing free expert cancer support this year, has named Roz Barr Architects and Lily Jencks Studio as the designers who will work together on the building and landscape.
Roz Barr Architects is dedicated to producing high-quality and inventive designs to create innovative, sensitive and beautiful work aligned with the needs of the people who will use the buildings once completed.
Lily Jencks Studio integrates architecture and landscape to create expressive emotionally resonant environments that blend sculptural form, craftsmanship and a deep sensitivity to human experience.
Lily has previously designed gardens for Maggie’s centres in Glasgow and Hong Kong.
Roz and Lily, who is the daughter of Maggie Keswick and Charles Jencks, will work together to ensure the new centre and landscaping will reflect and harmonise with each other.
The Maggie’s centre, to be located at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, will provide free, tailored practical and psychological support for people at all stages of cancer, as well as their family and friends.
Dame Laura Lee DBE, Maggie’s Chief Executive, said: “It is an honour to have two incredibly talented architects and designers collaborating on our cancer support centre in Dumfries and Galloway – Roz and Lily bring a wealth of experience and expertise as well as being incredibly passionate about the new centre.
“This announcement feels particularly significant as it comes in our 30th anniversary year and to have Maggie’s daughter help continue her legacy is wonderful.
“Roz and Lily both understand what the building needs to do to give support to people with cancer as well as their family and friends and I am really looking forward to seeing how their designs turn our founder Maggie’s vision into a reality for people in her own home region. The impact of this new centre on the people living with cancer from across Dumfries and Galloway will be huge, providing vital support for the local community when they need it most.”
NHS Dumfries and Galloway gave the green light to plan a Maggie’s centre in the grounds of Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary last August.
The Dumfries and Galloway region sees approximately 1,200 new cancer diagnoses every year and the new centre is expected to be open in between three and five years.
Maggie’s and NHS Dumfries and Galloway are also exploring the best means of serving a region which is largely rural, with a population spread across a large geographic area.
Roz Barr said: “I am incredibly honoured to be working on the design of Dumfries and Galloway’s Maggie’s centre with Lily.
“To have Lily’s family connection with the region, and in particular to her mum’s extraordinary legacy, is very poignant. I know it will be a pleasure to work together, and I know we will create a thoughtful and beautiful design.
“We are excited to commence this project and build a special space for the people of Dumfries and Galloway living with cancer to be welcomed, decompress and find the crucial psychological and practical care Maggie’s offers.”
Lily Jencks said: “Being part of the design teams for the Maggie’s centres in Glasgow and Hong Kong was really important to me, but to be collaborating with Roz on the design of a centre in Dumfries and Galloway is particularly special.
“Not only do I greatly admire Roz’s work; Dumfries and Galloway means a lot to all our family, and I am always so touched by how fondly my parents are remembered there.
“There’s also something meaningful in our collaboration being announced 30 years after the first centre opened in Edinburgh. I am really excited to get to work and help bring Maggie’s vital expert cancer support to the people from across the whole region.”
Dr Kenneth Donaldson is Medical Director and Interim Chief Executive of NHS Dumfries and Galloway.
He said: “We are very excited to see the designs for the proposed Maggie’s centre at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary take shape. Choosing designers who can create a building and gardens that feel welcoming, restorative, and integrated with the hospital grounds is a critical part of making this centre a space where people affected by cancer feel truly supported.
“Each year, around 1200 people in our region are diagnosed with cancer. Having a thoughtfully designed space for free, expert support would make a real difference for patients, families, and friends across Dumfries and Galloway.
“We are also considering how the centre can best serve our largely rural communities. It is inspiring that the designers’ work will help turn Maggie Keswick Jencks’ vision of supportive spaces into a reality in her home region.”
Sarah McDiarmid, from Dumfries, is living with stage four cancer. She is delighted Dumfries and Galloway will have a Maggie’s centre.
The 43-year-old mum of two said: “I am absolutely delighted with the news that Maggie’s is coming to Dumfries and Galloway. I know what a profound impact Maggie’s expert psychological and practical support has on people living with cancer, as well as their family and friends, and the sooner we can make it happen here in Dumfries and Galloway the better.
“I visited Maggie’s Edinburgh whilst receiving radiotherapy, and was struck by the unique atmosphere of the gardens and the centre itself. Unlike the clinical hospital setting I had been used to, this space was so welcoming, and homely. I immediately felt more at ease despite the turmoil that I was going through. It seems frivolous but to be able to sit in a comfy sofa and have a coffee in a proper mug, whilst talking to someone who was able to really understand and support me, was such a turning point in coming to terms with my diagnosis.
“With 1200 new cancer diagnoses a year in Dumfries and Galloway, we have thousands of people living with cancer in their life, either as a person with a diagnosis or as a loved one, so to have a Maggie’s centre in the region where people can talk about their emotions, get practical information and support and even speak with others who understand will be nothing short of transformative.”
Maggie Keswick Jencks was a writer, gardener and designer from Holywood, Dumfriesshire. When she was 47, Maggie was diagnosed with breast cancer and five years later, in May 1993, she was told that it had returned.
Maggie and her husband, Charles Jencks, a renowned cultural theorist, landscape designer, and architectural historian, discussed the need for somewhere ‘better’ for people with cancer to go for information and support, outside of but near to hospitals.
Together they designed the blueprint for the centres. The first Maggie’s opened in Edinburgh in 1996.
Today, Maggie’s has 30 years of experience providing free cancer support and information. There are currently 27 centres across the UK and a growing international network.
Support includes sessions with cancer support specialists, psychologists and benefits advisors for people with cancer, as well as family and friends.
To mark the 30th anniversary of Maggie’s, a new exhibition will explore the organisation’s groundbreaking approach to design, bringing together the voices of centre visitors and staff, with the globally recognised architects who have designed these buildings.
Maggie’s: Architecture that Cares opens on March 6th at V&A Dundee.