HEATON Mersey-based architectural practice BTP have won a design competition to restore the former Manchester home of suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst.
...there’s much work to be done to reinstate the site’s historical original features, which have been lost over time
Subject to a successful Heritage Lottery Fund bid, the £2.6m project at 60-62 Nelson Street – the birthplace of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) – will see the Grade II listed heritage centre extensively repaired and renovated before the centenary of The Representation of People Act 1918 (when women first won the right to vote).
Selected by the Pankhurst Trust, BTP Architects' proposal ‘balances sensitive restoration with modern functionality and building performance’. Features of the design will include a fully working museum telling the story of the Pankhursts, a flexible events space, community facilities and commercial offices for rent.
READ: WoManchester: Birthplace of Female Suffrage
Plans for the dining roomCommenting on the design proposal, Vicky Saunders, Director at BTP and Lead Architect on the project, said: “The Pankhurst Centre is a challenging scheme, with the proposed site needing to be multi-use but also capture the essence of the Pankhursts' plight. What’s more, there’s much work to be done to reinstate the site’s historical original features, which have been lost over time.
Gail Heath of the Pankhurst Trust said BTP has been “extremely supportive with our Heritage Lottery bid, which, if successful, will mean we can celebrate and continue the Pankhursts’ work with a new generation.”
Earlier this year, Emmeline Pankhurst won a public vote to be the subject of the first female statue in Manchester in over a century - read more here.
For more information on the Pankhurst Trust, visit www.thepankhurstcentre.org.uk
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