20 years and £20million for women in Hull

Staff and volunteers from the Preston Road Women’s Centre in Hull – also known locally as the Purple House and Winner – are today celebrating 20 years of offering services to women and children across Hull along with the incredible cumulative fundraising total of more than £20million brought into the city and into women’s services since it opened.

The first purpose-built women’s centre in the UK, the Purple House was opened in October 2018 with a design which enhances the organisation’s ability to support women effectively and grow services according to women’s needs

The building has a low environmental impact to minimise ongoing running costs and many different types of spaces to be able to support the different services available and operating from the premises.

This pioneering design and build is just one of the achievements of the organisation over the last twenty years – achievements which have included:

  • Establishing itself as a multi-purpose anchor organisation for the community on Preston Road
  • Working with the Local Authority to bring 56 Empty Homes back into use
  • Establishing a not for profit family law firm, Affordable Justice, in 2016, the first of its kind in the country
  • Offering more than 200 safe homes for women and children across the city
  • Offering the Safe as Houses scheme for private landlords to invest ethically and offer their properties for use by the women’s centre
  • Developing plans for new-build properties to house vulnerable women
  • Winning a range of national awards for the quality and innovation of its services
  • Developing innovative social investment products in partnership with Big Society Capital and Social and Sustainable Capital
  • Supporting Women’s Sector organisations all over the UK to develop their own services and sustainable ways of operating
  • Bringing more than £20million of external investment into the city to deliver services, create jobs and contribute to the economic wellbeing of Hull

Preston Road Women’s Centre plans to go from strength to strength in the coming years – continuing to expand its reach, its services and its staff numbers to promote opportunities for women locally and nationally and support them to change their lives for the better.