Dr Kershaw’s Hospice has a long-standing commitment to providing compassionate, dignified care in an environment that supports the wellbeing of patients, families, and staff. Over recent years, the hospice has embarked on a series of transformative building and landscape projects designed to ensure that its facilities reflect the highest standards of modern hospice care.
Urban Green have designed and delivered an ambitious garden redevelopment project that reimagines the outdoor environment as a therapeutic, inclusive, and restorative space. The vision is to transform the existing grounds into an accessible and welcoming haven for patients, their loved ones, and staff—supporting physical, emotional, and social wellbeing during some of life’s most challenging moments.
Working in close collaboration with hospice staff, the landscape team undertook a detailed assessment of the existing garden spaces. While valued and well used, the gardens presented several challenges, including limited accessibility, insufficient privacy for patient rooms, and a lack of defined spaces for different types of activity and reflection. Through a collaborative design process, the team developed a comprehensive and multi-faceted proposal to enhance and extend the gardens, ensuring the landscape is fit for purpose and better aligned with the needs of patients.
At the heart of the transformation is the redesign of the central garden, which has become a vibrant yet tranquil hub for the hospice community. Sensory planting has been carefully selected to stimulate the senses through colour, texture, fragrance, and seasonal change, offering therapeutic benefits for patients, including those living with cognitive impairment. A new social and events patio space provides an appropriate setting for gatherings, small celebrations, and community activities—important opportunities for connection and normality within the hospice environment.
Privacy for patients has been a key design priority, with timber screening structures and thoughtfully positioned planting used to create soft, natural buffers between shared garden areas and the private patient patios. These elements allow patients to enjoy outdoor views and fresh air while maintaining dignity and seclusion.
A new productive garden and workshop area will introduce opportunities for gardening and creative activities – a valuable mechanism for physical interaction and mental wellbeing. Dedicated wheelchair accessible plots will allow all abilities to grow vegetables and herbs, encouraging participation, a sense of accomplishment, and meaningful connection with nature. This area will also feature an outdoor garden room designed for flexible uses, including therapy sessions, small group activities, and educational workshops.
Accessibility and inclusivity underpin the entire scheme. A dementia-friendly looped pathway enables safe and intuitive movement throughout the gardens, allowing patients and visitors to explore the landscape confidently. Additional seating areas provide quiet places for respite, reflection, and conversation, while a carefully integrated children’s play space helps create a welcoming, family-centred atmosphere for visitors of all ages.
The final garden transformation and interventions demonstrate how thoughtful healthcare landscape design can profoundly enhance quality of life, creating spaces that offer comfort, dignity, and moments of peace for patients, their families, and the staff who work here.
