First Maggie's Centre Opens in London

London's first Maggie's Centre, designed by architect Richard Rogers, has opened.

The £3.5m Maggie's Cancer Care Centre at Charing Cross Hospital was opened by UK celebrity chef Nigella Lawson and Prime Minister's wife Sarah Brown.

It is the sixth centre to be built and the first to be set up outside of Scotland, with seven more planned to be built around the UK by 2012.

The idea of the centres as a place of sanctuary, support and information for people affected by cancer was created by author and designer Maggie Keswick Jencks following her own cancer diagnosis.

Rogers follows the work of other high profile architects who have created for Maggie's such as Zaha Hadid, Richard Murphy, Page & Park and Frank Gehry.

By staff writer