The Enriqueta Villavecchia Foundation has promoted the Paediatric Palliative Care Network of Catalonia.

Now, we want to create the first children's hospice, a pioneering centre to provide comprehensive support for children and young people with deseases that cannot be cured.

How will do this? By rehabilitating a unique building that will offer family respite services, activities, complementary therapies, end-of-life care, and bereavement support.

Tracy Leonard-Warner
Executive director of Ryan House hospice. Phoenix, Arizona

“A children's hospice is a precious place where families can be together with their children in those last moments, creating precious memories that will last them a lifetime.”

Dra. Carolina Pérez
Palliative care specialist at the Evelina London Children's Hospital

“Hospices bring light in the darkness, and they are a place where families can access various resources: music therapy, hydrotherapy and respite care.”

Jana Krákorová
Vlček Family Foundation, Czech Republic

“It is going to offer comprehensive services for families with seriously ill children. These families really need these services, it is very important to them.”

The centre will be located in the current Saint Victoria Pavilion, within the historic and modernist site of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau.

The Saint Victoria Pavilion was built 100 years ago, thanks to the contribution of a family of a little girl,Victoria, who died of an illness. The building was dedicated to the care of sick children.

The building was designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner. It is located within the historic and modernist site of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

That’s how it will be:

Playroom and common areas.

Family apartments for the last days of life, with comprehensive care and support for the family.

Water area, a space for multisensory stimulation, support therapies and well-being.

6 respite rooms, to facilitate for family rest and care for carers.

Spaces for the attention of professionals and schools.

The architect in charge of the project wil be the “Estudi Carme Pinós”, of recognised prestige and international background.

Direct beneficiaries 400 families per year

The center will be available to the entire "Xarxa d’atenció Pal·liativa Pediàtrica Integral” de Cataluña (Xappi)"

Expected opening 2026

The center will be managed by the Hospital de Santa Creu i Sant Pau, as a part of the public services portfolio.

Built area1.380 m²
Garden area1.300 m²

Impact

With the centre at full capacity.

400 families served annually
1.600 direct beneficiaries
12.000 indirect beneficiaries

	Activity
600	Respite stays
40	End of life stays
3.000	Sessions of complementary therapy
250	Interventions in educational centres
30	Family leisure and respite activities
200	Care sessions, training and supervision, meetings with professionals
25.000	Accompaniments with volunteers, respite, entertainment, and activities sessions.

Children’s hospices are a common in other countries. There are more than 50 in UK alone, and over 130 in Europe.

Victoria Pavilion will be a center devoted to the care of life and respect for dignity. It's a resource for all children with illnesses that can not be cured, who are being treated in any of the hospitals integrated in the Comprehensive Paediatric Care Network of Catalonia.

It will provide continuous and comprenhensive support to families: during life, at the time of death, in bereavement and in remembrance. We are not building a hospital, but a home away from home, a complementary support center.

It is also a centre to support and care for professionals. Open to the community to foster a more compassionate and caring society.

Ambassadors

Luis Enrique Martínez Former footballer and current football coach

"Children with serious illnesses that cannot be cured need special care, accompaniment, and above all, they need to be able to continue being children. We also care to take care of the families, during the illness and afterwards. Creating a centre to care for their lives is a victory for everyone."

Pilar Caballé “Volunteering, one of the driving forces of my life”

“Those of us who know what Villavecchia Foundation does, know how fragile life is. Fragile and precious. That is why it is worthwhile to live it with the utmost dignity until the last moment. This is what this project is aimed for: respect and union.”

Prof. Dr. Sergi X. TrillaTrifermed founder, President and CEO

“Humans have the capacity to imagine the future. When this virtue is used to achieve the common good, great projects are born, such as Victoria Pavilion. We need everyone's commitment to build a magical place, where life's most difficult moments can be faced, and remembered with the peace and harmony of the one who has made everything possible.”

Imma Ollé Lawyer and volunteer since 2009

“The scale of the project is enormous and requires us as a society to get involved in order to achieve, thanks of our solidarity, that the first Children's Hospice in the country, can begin to function as soon as possible.”

Required investment

Investment	2024	2025	2026
1st phase - Envelope Kick off - October 2024	1.700.000 € 100% accomplished	-	-
2nd phase - Interior Kick off - March 2025	-	3.000.000 € 70% accomplished	1.800.000 € Work in progress