The Manchester Cancer Research Centre...

There’s a building I’ve been wanting to photograph for a while now but, every time I pass, I’m on my way somewhere and in a hurry. On Wilmslow Road, just south of Withington village where it merges into Didsbury, is the Christie Hospital. It is a world famous institution that deals with the care of cancer patients. If you are referred to this hospital, things are not looking good for you. On the plus side you will get the best care possible and people are cured in here, or, at least, the progress of the disease can be held at bay and they will help you come to terms with it. We are lucky to have it in the city. It’s a huge site of higgledy-piggledy buildings stretching from Wilmslow Road to Palatine Road.

The building I wanted to photograph is on the other side of Wilmslow Road from the main entrance. The hospital owned a rather imposing Victorian villa that it used as offices and the gardens had been paved over to create parking. The villa was grand and must have been the home to a very wealthy family but, surrounded by the car park, it wasn’t a thing of beauty.

What they have Don e is build a state of the art cancer research centre, The Manchester Cancer Research Centre. Of course the hospital has been doing research for years but this new facility, with all the latest bangs and whistles, will help us find ways of dealing with this dreadful disease that, as we have found in 2016, is no respecter of talent and fame.

I like all the leaning walls that remind me of the Lowry Theatre in Salford Quays. And I like the patterned white cladding. And they have retained the mature trees that look a lot better now than they did surrounding the car park. They are putting the finishing touches to the landscaping at the moment but the building is up and running.