DMA

We are delighted to have got planning approval for our client, Claire House Children’s Hospice, to transform a Gothic Revival monastery into a state-of-the-art facility that will serve as a beacon of compassionate care, innovation, and sustainability in West Derby, Liverpool. Claire House provides end-of-life care and support for seriously and terminally ill children and their families and has operated for over 25 years on the Wirral. This second site, close to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, is hugely important as it means that they can widen their impact. Claire House’s chief executive officer, David Pastor, said,

“Distance should never stand in the way of families getting the support they need at the hardest moments of their lives.”

The site was previously occupied by Carmelite nuns, and the existing building, with its patterned brick interiors, pointed arches and ribbed vaults, is set within a large and beautiful walled garden. The design takes the existing monastery as its starting point with the idea of secret gardens and courtyard spaces running through it, balanced with a very specific set of specialist accommodation that includes an end-of-life care unit, respite care and a “butterfly suite” where children are laid to rest.

A new clinical care pavilion is carefully integrated into the landscape and designed around a curved courtyard to preserve existing mature trees and form a gentle, organic glass enclosure with an undulating roof to accommodate the trees and allow light in. Circulation wraps around the courtyard as a playful path, described by the planners as ‘dancing with the trees’, with pockets where families and staff can sit and socialise. Bedrooms face out into the wider gardens and open out onto individual private terraces. Richard Lunt, Head of Estates at Claire House said,

“From the very beginning, David Miller Architects understood that this project needed to be far more than a building. They have approached the transformation of this remarkable space with extraordinary care, imagination and sensitivity, creating a vision that honours the site’s history while giving our children and families a place filled with warmth, light, dignity and joy.”

This is a long-term project that combines a highly technical brief with historic buildings, fundraising, and a hugely important purpose for Liverpool’s communities, where the stakeholders are the children, their families and the people who look after them. It has been a truly collaborative design process with Liverpool’s planners involved from the start, encouraging the team to make the most of the site. The planners commented,

“This is a spectacularly endearing design response to the most difficult and challenging script, solving tragedy and complexity with beauty and harmony.”

This planning permission is an exciting step forward in the journey for everyone involved. Anna Davies, DMA’s Liverpool director, said,

“This project is very special to us. Not only is it a hugely important project because of the work that Claire House does, but we also have this wonderful monastic site, with its long history of care, contemplation and retreat. The project has been a catalyst for developing our practice in Liverpool, and we feel very privileged to be involved.”

See the project case study here.