Purpose-built bereavement centre providing compassionate spaces within Alder Hey campus.
KEY FEATURES
Whitfield & Brown constructed a purpose-built bereavement centre within the Alder Hey Children’s Hospital campus in Liverpool, delivering a highly sensitive healthcare facility designed to support families through compassionate and carefully considered spaces for counselling and open-access services.
The single-storey building, with a gross internal floor area of approximately 320m², provides a calm, welcoming and supportive environment tailored to the specialist needs of bereavement care and therapeutic support. Delivered on a live hospital site, the project demonstrates Whitfield & Brown’s ability to combine technical excellence with a sensitive, people-focused approach.
The Alder Centre has been developed to support families, parents and siblings affected by the death of a child, offering a comprehensive range of counselling, therapeutic and holistic services within a dedicated, purpose-built setting.
The design promotes an open-access approach, allowing families to drop in and receive support in a non-clinical, welcoming environment. Internally, the building centres around a large communal space, described as the heart of the facility, complemented by therapy rooms, flexible spaces and private areas for reflection and support.
Each counselling space has been designed with direct access to landscaped gardens, creating a strong connection to nature and contributing to a calm, therapeutic atmosphere. The overall concept reflects a “big house” approach, prioritising comfort, dignity and wellbeing.
The building was constructed using stressed brick loadbearing walls on a reinforced concrete raft slab, with a timber roof structure finished in clay tiles, ensuring a durable and high-quality finish.
A key innovation within the scheme was the use of timber frames to support 14 individual pitched roofs. These were assembled off site and lifted into position in a single operation, delivering significant benefits:
This approach demonstrates Whitfield & Brown’s commitment to innovation, efficient delivery and safe construction practices. The scheme was completed ahead of programme and under budget, highlighting the effectiveness of collaborative planning and value engineering with the project team.
The project included comprehensive external works, with carefully designed landscaping and new brick boundary walls creating a private and tranquil environment within the hospital campus.
The external setting plays an important role in the therapeutic experience, providing privacy and access to outdoor space for users while integrating seamlessly into Alder Hey’s wider health campus.
Delivering the scheme within a live hospital environment required careful coordination, strict adherence to operational constraints and close collaboration with stakeholders to ensure minimal disruption to ongoing healthcare services.
The Alder Centre has received multiple prestigious national and international awards, recognising its architectural quality, design excellence and contribution to healthcare environments.
Designed by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM), the facility has been widely acknowledged for its sensitive, user-focused approach and the creation of a calm, therapeutic environment.
Awards for the scheme include:
These accolades reflect the success of the project in combining architectural excellence, innovative construction and a deeply considered response to user needs.
“The Alder Centre is unique within the NHS so our brief was appropriately to create a place like no other”
David Powell, Development Director, Alder Hey
The Alder Centre represents a vital facility within Alder Hey’s healthcare provision, delivering a dedicated environment for bereavement care and emotional support for families experiencing loss.
By combining thoughtful design, innovative construction methods and a sensitive delivery approach, the project provides a space that supports families at the most challenging times while enhancing the wider hospital campus.
The scheme showcases Whitfield & Brown’s expertise in delivering complex healthcare projects, particularly those requiring a balance of technical precision and empathy, within live clinical environments.
