Internationally renowned screenwriter Russell T Davies will break ground to commence building works at Manchester’s new state-of-the-art LGBTQ+ centre at Sidney Street, Manchester on Thursday, August 6, 2020.
The old centre, which was the first of its kind to be built in Europe, was demolished in June to make way for the new three-story £2.4 million redevelopment that will help an additional 50,000 people each year.
Opened in 1988, the old Sidney Street centre served the LGBTQ+ community for over 30 years but was built at a time when safety and discretion were the biggest concerns for many of its users. Extra security features, including high windows, mirrors on reception and no post-box were incorporated to make people accessing the building feel protected against hate crime. Nowadays, the same features unfortunately have the opposite effect. In recent years, the building had also fallen into a state of disrepair and last year it was deemed to be no longer fit for purpose.
The new centre, which will be triple the size, open, airy and a facility that the LGBTQ+ community can be proud of, is managed by The Proud Trust, the LGBTQ+ charity for young people.
Russell T Davies is one of the leading writers of his generation. His 2005 revival of the BBC’s Dr Who won him international recognitions and amongst his other works are Casanova, Queer as Folk, Years and Years, and The Second Coming. After he finished work on Dr Who, he famously pledged to work solely on gay scripts in a bid to bring more equal representation of LGBTq+ people on screen.
Dr Ali Hanbury, centre manager at The Proud Trust, said: ‘We’re extremely excited that Russell T Davies has lent us his support to mark the beginning of building works at our Sidney Street site. Not only is he an internationally acclaimed writer and somebody I have the utmost respect for, he has also been instrumental in bringing the LBGTQ+ issues to the mainstream through his work.
‘Building work was due to start earlier this year but was put on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic so we’re delighted that we can finally get underway.
‘So many people rely on our centre – including those with addictions, people fleeing from abuse, those at risk of becoming homeless and many people who suffer from acute loneliness. We have been continuing our good work with a virtual LGBTQ+ centre in the meantime, but to have a physical building again will be brilliant, especially now we will be able to help so many more people and create a thriving hub for LGBTQ+ people in Manchester.’
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