A major new hospital that will transform cancer care in a region that is one of the worst affected nationally by the disease has opened in the heart of Liverpool.

The 11-storey Clatterbridge Cancer Centre – Liverpool (CCC-L) will deliver highly-specialist care including pioneering immunotherapy and the most advanced forms of radiotherapy to the 2.4 million people in Cheshire and Merseyside, and those in surrounding areas.

The new hospital is part of a £162m investment in expanding and transforming cancer services across Cheshire and Merseyside that also includes significant upgrades and refurbishment at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre’s Wirral site, and has achieved a BREEAM Excellent rating for sustainability.  

It was designed by global architects BDP, who also designed Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. The main contractor was Laing O’Rourke and the building was design engineered by AECOM.

The opening of the new hospital is the culmination of plans that have been eight years in the making. Until now, Cheshire and Merseyside’s main cancer centre has been located at its southernmost point on a site with no acute medical and surgical specialties, and that is also some distance away from key research partners.

The new hospital in Liverpool is centrally located for people across Cheshire & Merseyside, significantly reducing journey times for the 65% of patients who live north of the Mersey.

Sitting in the heart of Liverpool’s thriving Knowledge Quarter – on a site adjacent to Royal Liverpool University Hospital and the University of Liverpool – it will also will ensure the most complex and unwell patients benefit from rapid on-site access to key medical and surgical specialties. 

Bringing cancer experts from the NHS and the University of Liverpool together on the same site will also significantly enhance opportunities for leading-edge cancer research, including early-phase clinical trials of new treatments.

Dr Liz Bishop, chief executive of The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Clatterbridge Cancer Centre – Liverpool is the culmination of an eight-year project for transforming cancer care in a region with one of the highest rates of cancer in the country. It brings state-of-the-art facilities, novel treatments and research together to improve outcomes and save lives in Cheshire and Merseyside at a time when one in two of us will get cancer in our lifetime.

“We are tremendously excited about opening Clatterbridge Cancer Centre – Liverpool. It has been a huge labour of love and I would like to pay tribute to our staff, the Laing O’Rourke site team, our suppliers, subcontractors and all the partners who by working together have made this happen.”

Paul McNerney, director of UK Building at Laing O’Rourke, said: “The hospital is a world-class facility that will enable our remarkable NHS to provide cancer patients from Liverpool and across the North West with the best possible care for many years to come. I am incredibly proud of the workforce, sub-contractors and partners who delivered the final stages of it in challenging circumstances.”

Ged Couser, architect principal at BDP, who was lead architect for the project, said: “This highly glazed building will become a beacon for cancer care in Liverpool and the wider region. Its modern sophisticated external skin is a clear expression of the cutting-edge research and care taking place within. Even in its tight urban context the internal spaces will have access to high quality external landscape, recognising the therapeutic value this brings to patients.”

Richard Mann, AECOM UK & Ireland Healthcare and Science Sector Leader, who was project director for design engineering, said: “The AECOM building engineering team is proud to have worked with the Trust from the initial design stage through to handover. The result of our work is a light and airy, energy-efficient and sustainable building, designed to put the wellbeing of patients and NHS staff first.”