St Ann’s Hospice was pleased to come together with people from the local community to celebrate the first spade in the ground for the building of their new hospice in Heald Green.

Rachel McMillan and members of the project team spoke about the exciting plans and just how important the new hospice is for the future of the charity.

It was a day of great celebration, not only to officially welcome people onto the new land, but the charity also reached an important milestone in fundraising as well.

Thanks to the generosity of the public the Build it Together Appeal has now raised £900,000 and at the event Rachel McMillan shared her ambition to reach £1 million by this Christmas – taking the appeal to the halfway point of the £2 million target.

Construction is set to start in January and the new purpose-built hospice will replace the current Victorian building. St Ann’s new hospice will be a complete care facility in Greater Manchester that local people can access, from diagnosis of a life-limiting illness to treatment and beyond. It will be located on land next door to the current Heald Green hospice on St Ann’s Road North.

The new building will house a 27-bed inpatient unit including individual en-suite rooms and access to private outdoor terraces. The development will also feature modern outpatient and day therapy services, dedicated bereavement and family support spaces, all surrounded by beautiful, landscaped gardens.

In attendance was Vice Lord Lieutenant of Greater Manchester, The Mayors of Stockport and Trafford, The Lord Mayor of Manchester, our local MP – Mary Robinson, and the leader of Stockport Council, who all celebrated with patients, staff, volunteers and local residents who came to see the exciting plans for the new build.

Jackie Oldham, Chair of the Board at St Ann’s hospice, began the event with a welcoming speech to attendees. Jackie said: “There have been many challenges and hurdles to overcome with this project, but the commitment from everyone who has helped us has been incredible. Thanks to everyone here today and those that have helped us to get this far, we are now able to bring to life our founder Moya Cole’s dream and develop the hospice of the future.”

Rachel McMillan said: “I work with amazing people every single day, and I know what this new build means for patient and staff to have the best environment for St Ann’s Hospice. We want to carry on the pioneering vision of our founders and make them proud, the building has served us well for 52 years but we are in desperate need of a new one now to get us through the next 50 years.”

To conclude the speeches at the event, Kev Le Voi, Project Manager at Genr8 Developments LLP, said: “It’s a privilege to be working on this project for St Ann’s Hospice, we’re so glad to be involved with the new build and are excited to start building at the start of next year.”

There are many companies that will be working with the hospice over the project with Caddick Construction selected as the main contractor for the building work.

Also part of the team is Genr8 Developments LLP – project managers for the new build, architects PRP – who has been working with St Ann’s for several years to design the building and get to this stage in the project.

The interior design of St Ann’s Hospice’s new build will be led by Axi, who is designing and bringing to life the purpose-built hospice that is much needed by patients and their families.

Also working on the project are cost consultants Gardner & Theobald, TRP as the structural engineers and TACE as the Mechanical and Engineering consultants.

Fundraising for the Build it Together Appeal continues and St Ann’s still needs your support to bring this project to life. To find out more about the project and how you can donate visit www.sah.org.uk/newhospice