A NEW LGBTQ+ Health and Wellbeing Centre has officially been opened.
The ribbon was cut at Birmingham LGBT’s purpose-built centre in Birmingham’s Gay Village by award-winning former Birmingham Poet Laureate Jasmine Gardosi and actor Annie Wallace, the first transgender performer to play a regular transgender character in a British soap.
The expanded centre on Hurst Street follows 12 years at the organisation’s previous Holloway Circus site and represents a major milestone in the charity’s growth and service delivery.
Located on Hurst Street, the new, fully accessible ground-floor centre includes clinical and consultation rooms, hireable meeting spaces and a large communal area designed to support events, activities and community connection.
Steph Keeble, director of Birmingham LGBT, said: “This new centre represents a major step forward for LGBTQ+ support in the city. We now have a purpose-built space that reflects the needs of our diverse community and provides room for services to grow.”
The centre has been delivered through Outpost Management’s joint venture with BlackRock Real Estate, in partnership with the Galliard Apsley Partnership, and forms part of Outpost’s Lower Essex Street development.
Laura-Jayne Canneman, operations director at Outpost Management, said: “Creating spaces where everyone feels respected and included is central to our mission. This new centre will be an important addition to the area’s vibrant community.”
Founded in 2002, Birmingham LGBT opened the UK’s first LGBTQ+ Health and Wellbeing Centre in 2013.
The organisation has grown from a team of two to 26, delivering services to thousands of people each year including sexual health testing, domestic abuse support, counselling, youth work, older-people’s programmes, substance-use services, outreach and peer groups alongside Shout, the charity’s popular arts and culture programme.
For more about services and opening times click here.
