Riverside ECHG - Ex-homeless part of loving restoration of historic Manchester building

Former homeless people have become the loving custodians of a Grade II listed building in Manchester after its transformation into a housing, support and training centre.

Residents at Newbury House, run by housing association Riverside ECHG and owned by Manchester City Council, have opened their doors to the local community at the official reopening of the centre.

“The place was in desperate need of refurbishment having been untouched for years,” said Riverside ECHG’s regional manager, Karl Haslam. “The facilities needed upgrading so we could ensure residents had access to the right training and leisure facilities, but we didn’t want to lose the historic character of the building.”

The building, which accommodates fifteen people, provides specialist support to men and women who have experienced alcohol problems and now want to move forward with their lives in a stable, alcohol-free environment.

The scheme is the result of an important partnership between Riverside ECHG and Manchester City Council. Councillor Glynn Evans, Manchester City Council's Executive Member for Adult Services, said: “Newbury House is a crucial part of Manchester City Council’s strategy for tackling homelessness, alcohol abuse and anti social behaviour. By working with people to remain alcohol free, identifying their training and skills needs and then supporting them to move into independent living, it represents an effective approach to tackling some of the chronic homelessness issues that all major cities face.”

The refurbishment has been successfully achieved with £950k of funding from The Homes and Communities Agency (formerly the Housing Corporation), as well as £300k of funding from the National Treatment Agency. Additional support has also been provided by Church Housing Trust, EC Harris architects and Seddons contractors.

At the scheme Riverside ECHG works with agencies ranging from Withington Hospital, the community drug and alcohol team, through to Manchester education and resettlement centre and the local church.

One of the centre’s residents, Patrick, said: “Living here has given me a step up and something positive to focus on. I’m doing the cookery training in our new lifeskills kitchen and I’m going to literacy classes at the local college. I only aim to be here for the next year because then I want to get a job, move on and get on with my life.”

Newbury House carries a significant amount of local history with it. Having started off as an upper class gated community area for wealthy families, it was then used as a Red Cross hospital to house injured soldiers returning from the First World War after battles in France, Belgium and Gallipoli.

Now, Newbury House is part of a network of homelessness services provided by Riverside ECHG across Manchester. This includes outreach teams working with rough sleepers, homeless hostels specialising in drug and alcohol treatment, semi-independent move-on accommodation and an innovative drop-in café-style centre providing education and training opportunities.