A CARDIFF hospice is set for major improvements after council planners gave the go-ahead to a new cafe, community space, and more.
City Hospice has been granted permission by Cardiff Council for a series of refurbishments and extensions to its site at Ty Hosbis in Whitchurch.
Planning documents state: “Increasing demand for the hospice’s services has now created the need to significantly expand both the capacity and range of facilities offered at Tŷ Hosbis.”
“The project seeks to transform and extend the existing hospice to deliver a contemporary, supportive environment that reflects the organisation’s ethos of compassionate care.”
The “principal objectives” of the redevelopment are increasing the number of families supported and broadening the range of services, enhancing the overall experience, strengthening engagement with the local community, and to “raise awareness of the hospice and its role within the wider area”.
Improvements include a cafe, a community space, two large activity rooms, more therapy rooms, office space, areas for “families to relax together”, a library, “a series of highly accessible therapeutic gardens”, and more.
Regarding the cafe planning documents read: “The introduction of a café within the eastern end of the existing barn forms a central part of the hospice’s vision to open its doors more fully to the wider community.
It continues: “”Designed to feel warm, inviting, and familiar, the café serves as a social hub for visitors. It provides a relaxed, informal setting where patients, families, staff, and the public can come together over coffee, a light meal, or conversation — fostering a sense of shared belonging and normality within a compassionate environment.”
The cafe is also called “more than a place to eat or drink” and said it represents a “shift in perception”.
The application reads: “The brief is to maximise the functional capacity of the existing hospice building while extending it where necessary to provide more services to more people in the most sustainable way possible, socially, economically, and environmentally.”
According to the application the “connection to nature” is a “central element” of the design as landscape views and natural materials can “reduce stress, support cognitive restoration, and enhance overall wellbeing for patients, staff, and visitors”.
