Leeds 2023 volunteers raise a barn in 24 hours

The volunteers began raising the structure on Sunday and completed it on Monday afternoon

A team of volunteers have built a barn in Leeds in 24 hours as part of the city's 2023 year of culture programme.

The 300-strong team, all of whom were women, girls or non-binary people, worked in shifts and through the night to raise the barn on Woodhouse Moor.

Once its roof and cladding are in place, the barn will be used as the base for a number of events in May.

It will also become a hub for the city's first WOW (Women of the World) Festival on 13 May.

Leeds 2023 creative director Kully Thiarai said: "There's nothing quite like building a barn with 300 women and non-binary people that says, 'this is something unique'."

She said seeing the structure go up had been an "emotional moment" for everyone involved.

"The extraordinary generosity and camaraderie of those woman has just been phenomenal," she said.

WOW Foundation chief executive Jude Kelly said the barn would be full of "dreams and ideas"

The barn WOW project aims to help break down barriers which remain to women and girls considering a career in construction.

It has been created by the WOW Foundation, Leeds 2023, Leeds City Council and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

Jude Kelly, WOW founder, said the barn idea came from the 1985 film Witness, in which an Amish community in the US erected a barn.

"We saw hundreds of men climbing over the structure and the women were at the bottom making sandwiches and lemonade and I thought wouldn't it be fantastic if you reversed that imagery?"

The volunteers included professionals in construction, building and engineering working alongside DIY enthusiasts and novices.

One of them, Zhainab Suleman, said it had been an experience she thought she would not have a chance to do.

"Coming together and seeing all the women here having the chance to learn new skills, its amazing," she said.

"I feel energised, I feel I could go out and do something."