Plans approved for cancer treatment centre at Headingley Stadium
Leeds City Council has given the nod to convert vacant space at the sports venue into a specialist medical facility, with Caddick set to develop the scheme.
The Icon Cancer Centre will occupy former Leeds Beckett University classrooms across the ground, first, and second floors of the stadium.
Caddick Construction, which delivered the £44m redevelopment of Headingley Stadium in 2017-19, will convert the vacant space to provide cancer treatment services including radiotherapy, oncology imaging and CT scanning.
No external alterations are planned as part of the scheme, and council officers concluded that as such the development would not affect the character or appearance of the building.
Planning documents state that the development will expand access to cancer treatment for patients in Leeds and across Yorkshire, while supporting the city’s wider healthcare provision.
The site is also served by public transport links, including Headingley and Burley Park railway stations.
Figures from the Leeds Cancer Programme show that around 27,000 people in Leeds are living with cancer or receiving aftercare, while more than 4,100 new cases are diagnosed each year.
Icon Group chief executive, Mark Middleton OAM, said: “We will provide access for everyone and we fully expect that we will be treating private patients here, and we want to work very closely with the local trust on also providing access for public patients.
“We’re here to help patient by patient, family by family, community by community.”
Chairman of Caddick Group, and owner of Leeds Rhinos and AMT Headingley Stadium, Paul Caddick, commented: “The AMT Headingley Stadium is now at the heart of the community in Leeds and so it has been a natural progression to try and add a healthcare facility onto the site.”
Newly appointed strategic advisor to Icon and former chair of Leeds Hospitals NHS Trust, Dame Linda Pollard, said: “What you’ve got here at Headingley that doesn’t just have matches, whether it’s rugby or cricket, they’ve got a whole community input, and that is exactly the values that Icon bring.”
