Pears Maudsley Centre
“There is no other place like this on our planet that is bringing together clinicians, researchers, young people and families with the education to support them and the latest technologies to move the field ahead. As well as serving the local community and our nation, the Centre will be a beacon in the world of young people’s mental health when it is needed most.”
Professor Shitij Kapur, President and Principal at King’s College London
Opening in 2026
The Pears Maudsley Centre for Children and Young People will change the story on mental health and transform the lives of children and young people. Based in south London at the heart of the world leading Maudsley Hospital site, it will be home to the King’s Maudsley Partnership, as well as many National and Specialist CAMHS services, the Maudsley and Bethlem Hospital School and state of the art clinical research facilities.
The pioneering new Centre will care for some of the UK’s most vulnerable young people experiencing anxiety, depression, OCD, self-harm, eating disorders, trauma and autism – work that will benefit the local community and be shared nationally and internationally.
More than a building
The new Pears Maudsley Centre is a vibrant and welcoming space for young people and our local community. By involving young service users and their families in its design, we have ensured the building provides age-appropriate, safes paces and works hard to ease anxiety.
It is a place that makes things feel brighter, welcomes visitors and meets their diverse needs. Its design maximises natural light and incorporates dimmable lighting, artwork and natural materials to create a calming environment. It has landscaped outdoor terraces with extensive planting on each of its eight floors — capped by a roof terrace for use by children and young people using the centre’s services. This provides the calming, relaxing spaces difficult to achieve in a traditional inner-city hospital building.
Alongside world-class inpatient and outpatient facilities, the centre houses informal areas for families and staff to meet and connect, as well as the outstanding Bethlem and Maudsley Hospital School to allow young people receiving care to continue their education.
Art rooms, spaces for cooking and horticulture therapy, external terraces with outdoor play and tailored learning spaces contribute to a modern, community-minded space, redefining what mental health services look and feel like.
Art Programme
The role of art has become part of wider discussions in relation to the design of healthcare environments as it can create an increased sense of calm, ambience and impact positively on staff and service users’ wellbeing.
A new Arts programme has been developed with the Bethlem Gallery, and will include new, site-specific artwork which will be displayed across the building. The Young People’s Art Group, a group of young people with lived experience of mental health conditions, was formed for this project and has taken a leading role in appointing the artists for each commission for the centre. The commissioned artists are Bethany Williams, Marcus Coates and Sahra Hersi.
There was also an open call, through the Bethlem Gallery, for local artists and artists with lived experience nationally to create new artwork for the staff areas.
Visionary Funders
“We are proud to have our family name associated with a superb new Centre which will deepen understanding of the challenges children face and how they can best be supported.”
Sir Trevor Pears CMG Executive Chair of the Pears Foundation
The centre has been funded by a combination of investments from South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, King’s College London, Maudsley Charity, and major donors including foundations and individuals.
We are delighted to have the support of leading philanthropists with a commitment to making the world a better place for young people. We have raised £ 29m towards our capital fundraising target of £27m and would like to warmly thank all our generous supporters for enabling the Centre to come to fruition.
The Rayne Foundation made a catalyst gift at the beginning of the campaign to encourage further philanthropic giving. This reflects the Foundation’s strong commitment to children’s mental health and enthusiasm for the wide-ranging work from mental health conditions that start early in life to those which emerge in adolescence.
Pears Foundation made our lead capital gift and shares naming rights. The Foundation is committed to building capability and capacity in the mental health sector with support for high quality research and training, together with clinical innovation and increasing access to care.
The Pears Maudsley Centre was also made possible due to the generous support of many, with the following donors playing an instrumental role in our capital appeal. (Their pivotal support is recognised with dedicated spaces across the building) :
Julia Rausing Trust
Garfield Weston
Wolfson Foundation
Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust
Kuok Group
Bernard Lewis Charitable Trust
Riady Foundation
Daniel and Elizabeth Peltz
Dorset Foundation
Prudence Trust
Dove
UKRI
Thank you to our incredible donors who made this world-leading facility a reality.
We now turn our funding attention to the pioneering work taking place within the Centre and across the Partnership. With philanthropic support, we want to give every child or young person who uses our services the chance to be part of pioneering research. From child-friendly brain imaging to deep genomic analysis, this will build a complete picture of the underlying drivers of mental health in children and young people – leading to targeted solutions that give each child effective care that meets their needs.
To find out more about the King’s Maudsley partnership for Children and Young People and how you can make a difference, please contact Jenny Pentecost, Associate Director for KMP: Jenny.Pentecost@kcl.ac.uk
“The Partnership represents an incredible opportunity to turn evidence into action — improving mental health support for children, young people and families today, while also driving forward transformative research for the future. By involving a diverse range of voices and lived experiences in this work, we will ensure that the discoveries we make truly reflect and benefit the communities we serve.”
Sarah Holloway, Chief Executive, Maudsley Charity