The charity The Proud Trust, has been awarded £800,000 from The Big Lottery Fund towards a £2mn project to re-develop the LGBT+ Centre on Sidney Street, with work planned to commence in early 2019. 
The current Centre is the only purpose-built Centre of its kind that is still open and flourishing. Built and owned by Manchester City Council, it is now in its 30th year and in desperate need of refurbishment. Demand for the space is higher than ever plus groups and services are expanding, hence the urgent need to re-develop the building so that it is fit for purpose for many more years to come.
Dr Ali Hanbury, Centre Manager, said:
“We are so excited to have been awarded this grant and to be one step closer to redeveloping the Centre in partnership Manchester City Council. We currently support 20 regular groups and services – that collectively support more than 12,000 people - and have very little availability for all of the other groups and services that want to use our space. Each week I am contacted by people from the LGBT+ communities of Greater Manchester who need an inclusive and accessible LGBT+ safe space, but at present we can’t always meet this need.
“We know that by re-building the Centre we will double our size so that we can more than double our impact. We have already raised over £1m of our £2m target so are actively looking for investors to help achieve this! If this could be you please get in touch with us.”
High profile supporters of the LGBT+ Centre’s work include the Lord Lieutenant of Greater Manchester, Warren Smith; former Lord Mayor Carl Austen-Behan; and TV stars Maxine Peake and Alicya Eyo.
Warren Smith said:
“The LGBT+ Centre does some incredible work for and on behalf of thousands of people across Greater Manchester and beyond, so I'm delighted that this funding has been secured. I'll be joining in with the Centre's 30th anniversary celebrations this year to help raise further support for the redevelopment project."
For information regarding the re-build project visit: http://urbed.coop/projects/lgbt-centre. To invest in the project and to help to reach the funding target, email: [email protected]
A celebration of the funding award and consultation of the redevelopment plans will be taking place on Tuesday 15 May 2018 3-6pm. For more information visit: www.theproudtrust.org/lgbt-centre/new-build/ or email: [email protected]