WOW Barn Leeds 2023
Cinder Moor, Leeds
A spectacular 24 hours barn raising by 300 women, girls and non-binary people from across West Yorkshire.
WOW Barn Leeds 2023
Cinder Moor, Leeds
A spectacular 24 hours barn raising by 300 women, girls and non-binary people from across West Yorkshire.
From Sunday 30 April to Monday 1 May 2023, we ‘barn-raised’ the frame we had built with over 300 women and non-binary people. The Women of the World (WOW) Barn was a temporary pop-up space on Cinder Moor in Leeds and became a hub for creativity and community, hosting activities and gatherings at the WOW Barn Festival. The WOW Barn was built as part of the Leeds Year of Culture 2023 celebrations to “break down the barriers that remain to women and girls when contemplating a career in construction at every level.”
Careful coordination was essential to ensure seamless integration of the masonry and the oak for the building.
After three weeks in the workshop, we travelled up north to Leeds to build the barn over the spectacular, and deeply memorable, 24 hour period.
Building a barn in 24 hours isn’t easy, but we all did it!
I hope we demonstrated to women, girls, and non-binary folks everywhere that anything is possible. A 24-hour build and amazing LEEDS 2023 events took place inside. Great to be part of it! 40 hours of no sleep, but totally life-changing and life-affirming for many, including for us.
“I had the great pleasure to work with Rob Dawson of Castle Ring Oak Frame during a unique and ambitious project in 2022-2023.
My role at the time was Head of Production for LEEDS2023 Year of Culture and we were looking for specialist contractor support to design, manage, build, and raise a wooden barn frame in just 24 hours on a site with 300 volunteers. The project was adhering to both the strict CDM Regulations of an architectural construction site and Health and Safety Duty of Care to public and participants as a live event.
Throughout every step of this complicated, untested, and varied project Rob navigated every challenge and every nuanced request with open-mindedness, expertise, patience and remained solution-focused. He was a pleasure to work with and always a calm reassuring voice.
The project was an overwhelming success, with integral partners such as Leeds City Council and WOW Women of the World all immensely pleased with the outcome. All of which, I am certain would not have been possible without Rob”.
Carys Tavener – Head of Production for LEEDS2023 Year of Culture
Link to the Leeds 2023 The WOW Barn 24-hour build trailer here.
Link to the Leeds 2023 excellent short documentary produced by Opal Video From the Ground Up: The Inspiring Story of The WOW Barn Build here.
Image credits: The WOW Foundation, Leeds 2023 and Opal Video.
Project created with WOW – Women of the World and LEEDS 2023, as part of Leeds’ year of culture, supported by West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Leeds City Council and delivered in partnership with Civic Engineers and Leeds College of Building. Original concept commissioned by UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK with funding from the UK Government.