Grid Thirteen fits out two family rooms free of charge at Overgate Hospice

Leeds design studio Grid Thirteen has designed and installed two family rooms free of charge in the new inpatient wing at Overgate Hospice, completing the first phase of its support for the hospice's Big Build Appeal.

The Society of British & International Interior Design (SBID), which published the announcement, said the rooms, a Family Lounge and a Family Snug, were provided to assist the appeal, through which the hospice asked the community and local businesses to fund and partner on its expansion.

Grid Thirteen worked with the hospice and appointed interior designer Elaine Lewis Designs on the design of both spaces, according to the SBID release. The hospice has said the studio is supporting the appeal through both the design and fit-out stages.

Natalie Fry, Founder & Creative Director of Grid Thirteen, said: "As a studio, this project is deeply personal to us. It's about giving back to our home community and supporting the extraordinary, compassionate work the hospice delivers every day."

The rooms

The Family Lounge has a kitchen fitted with SieMatic SLC furniture in Agate Grey and Cottage Oak cabinetry, the release said. Quooker supplied Nordic Twin boiling water taps in a chrome finish with matching soap dispensers, giving visitors instant hot drinks and filtered cold water.

The lounge also has a round dining table and chairs so families can prepare and eat meals together, and a framed media wall with a large screen for films, video calls and photographs linked from a personal device.

The Family Snug is a private room within the Inpatient Unit with its own kitchen and seating area. The release said it gives families somewhere to hold discussions with clinical teams, spend time alone or sit together in quiet reflection.

In a separate announcement on its own website, the hospice quoted Fry as saying the aim was to create environments that feel supportive rather than clinical.

Laura Golding, Director of Income Generation at Overgate Hospice, said: "To have the design and fitting of these important spaces provided completely free of charge is truly amazing and will make a real difference to what we are able to deliver for patients and families in our new hospice."

The Big Build Appeal

The rooms sit within a wider redevelopment of the hospice. According to Overgate Hospice, its previous Inpatient Unit had only 12 beds, most of them in shared rooms, which it said often restricted admissions. The Big Build Appeal set out to build a purpose-built 16-bed unit.

Inpatient Unit	Beds
Previous unit	12
New unit	16

The hospice said the new Inpatient Unit welcomed its first patients on 3 August 2026. It has 16 private en-suite bedrooms, each with a private outdoor terrace and a sofa bed for families.

The appeal also covers a significant expansion and upgrade of the Day Hospice, whose facilities the hospice said were last updated in 2011. The hospice describes the Day Hospice as the next part of the redevelopment.

Overgate Hospice says it has been at the heart of the Calderdale community since 1981 and supports a population of more than 210,000 people. The SBID release places the hospice in Halifax.

The studio

Grid Thirteen describes itself as an independent luxury interior design studio based in North Leeds, specialising in bespoke kitchens, bedrooms and living spaces across the UK. Fry founded the studio in 2013 to create a practice reflecting her own approach to design, according to an SBID profile, and it initially specialised in kitchen design before broadening into furniture design across the home.

What happens next

Phase 2 of Grid Thirteen's support is a Wellbeing Room in the new Day Hospice Wing, due in January 2027, the release said. The room will have comfortable seating, a hair washing facility with a backwash sink and a dedicated Nail Station for manicures and pedicures.

The hospice said the hair washing facility is aimed at patients whose illness or mobility challenges mean they have not been able to wash their hair for some time.