Have your say about Trinity Centre development

Trinity Community Arts has secured a £40,000 Development Grant from the Big Lottery Fund Reaching Communities Buildings Programme to investigate options for developing and renovating the Trinity Centre, Lawrence Hill. This will involve consulting with a wide range of individuals and organisations within the Bristol community.

Emma Harvey, Centre Manager for the Centre said, “Thanks to a Development Grant from the Big Lottery Fund we will, over the next six months, consult with as many people as possible from Easton, Ashley, Lawrence Hill and also the wider City, in order to canvas opinion about how people would like to see the Centre developed in order to better meet people's needs.”

Trinity has already secured a separate £80,000 grant from English Heritage to carry out a Roof Repair and Feasibility Study Project. The Big Lottery Fund Development Grant will compliment this and allow Trinity to carry out essential community consultation with a focus on the best way to develop the Centre to encourage a wider use.

The Centre, is already a highly used community centre and is famed as one of the few remaining independent live music venues in the country. Trinity was birthplace of 'The Bristol Sound' and has a strong cultural heritage. The Centre has seen performances from Massive Attack and The Prodigy and U2 and, more recently, The Gorillaz, Duran Duran and the Horrors, to name but a few.

The Centre also hosts several of Bristol's favourite groups and classes - Hype Urban Dance Troupe, Bristol Samba Band, Zumba, Awaz Utoah, the Misfits and Link Age. Trinity also runs a range of community activities, functions and projects, including a training programme for young people not in education or employment.

Originally a popular church, the building was converted into a community centre in 1987. The conversion has many shortcomings in the internal layout that need to be addressed to allow for greater usage. The building is set in generous grounds that need extensive work to improve access and visibility. The roof is in urgent need of repair and will be addressed with the upcoming works funded by English Heritage.

Emma said, “Despite the size of the building, the poor appearance mean people often don't even know we're here offering space for the community.”

Trinity will be working closely with Bristol City Council and the Ethical Property Foundation as part of the project, and Bristol based gcp Chartered Architects will lead on the project from design through to any capital work.

Emma said, “We want to hear from anyone with an opinion about Trinity - good, bad or indifferent - so that we can ensure any development of the building is in line with what people want.”

This is an amazing opportunity for the people of Bristol to get behind one of the City's most loved venues and create a real focal point for the locality.

Emma said, “We want the opportunity to provide better quality space to the people of Bristol – to do that we need people to get involved and tell us what they think. We will be able to invest in people's ideas for the Centre, through securing further funding, if this part of the project is successful.”

If you are interested in having your say about this project please contact info@3ca.org.uk.

About the Trinity Centre - Trinity Community Arts is a charity formed to manage the Trinity Centre in Lawrence Hill Bristol. Our mission is to engage the local community of all ages in imaginative and socially inclusive projects. The Trinity Centre was built between 1829-1832 by architects Thomas Rickman and Henry Hutchinson and is a Grade II* Listed converted church, deconsecrated in 1976. The building has remained in community use till this day, and has a restrictive covenant placed on it by the Church ensuring it is only used for Youth, Arts, Community and Education purposes.