Bristol South Labour Party

Working hard all year round for South Bristol

Launching The Station

Young people from The Station, the city’s new £5million city centre youth project, spent the day with Bristol South MP and government minister Dawn Primarolo yesterday celebrating their success.

Hundreds of people attended the event in central London including six of the eleven teenagers who are working with top architects and designers to transform the former Old Fire Station in Broadmead into a state-of-the-art performance, media, café and cycle centre for the city’s young people. 

Joel Rundle, 17, is one of The Station group and co-hosted the event with BBC 1 Extra presenter Ras Kwame.

“I feel proud to be part of such a big investment in young people in Bristol,” Joel said. “And it’s really exciting to see our plans starting to take shape.”

Bristol’s young people were applauded for ‘raising the bar’ for the 62 MyPlace projects across the UK after presenting their plans to local people last month.

The Centre is going ahead thanks to funding from the Government’s MyPlace scheme, which gives groups across the country a chance to build high quality youth projects that set new standards of excellence.  Dawn Primarolo MP, is Minister for Children and Young People at the Department for Children, Schools and Families, the department responsible for the MyPlace initiative.

“Young people will have the chance to take part in exciting activities, offering a real alternative to hanging around on the street,” said Dawn. “It will mean young people can socialise with each other in a safe environment, gain new skills, and get support and advice they need on issues that are important to them.”

Services for young people including health, training and employment will also be available at The Station, which is on target to open in the summer of 2011.

The event was organised by the Sorrell Foundation, who bring top international architects and designers and young people together to develop high quality buildings for young people.