Dignity in Design: The Circle's Accessible Toilet

Aim

We are raising funds to allow us to carry out vital repairs to our only accessible toilet to make our hub inclusive for our whole community.

Our story

The Circle is an award-winning social enterprise with a More Than Profit® ethos which was first launched in 2016.  

The Circle was founded by Kirsty Thomson with a vision to create a vibrant, enterprising and sustainable community with improved quality of life, allowing the whole community to fulfil their social aspirations through upskilling, work, volunteering, social, educational, and leisure opportunities. After more than 20 years working with charities, social enterprises, community groups and grassroots community leaders, Kirsty had seen them running into the same problems; there was a lack of affordable space for these organisations, people were often working in silos and organisations were competing for funding instead of collaborating. Kirsty wanted to change this.

Since launching, The Circle has built a community made up of like-minded organisations and individuals who share The Circle Workspaces, access business advice through The Circle Consultancy and develop skills and confidence through The Circle Volunteering.

The Circle is now home to 33 charities, social enterprises and socially conscious businesses in Dundee and Glasgow. Last year in Dundee alone over 12,000 people visited us. Our tenants at Dudhope Castle include:

• Uppertunity - a charity offering mental wellbeing and skill development services to adults.
• Partners in Advocacy – A charity providing independent advocacy to help children, young people, adults and older people have their voices heard and rights respected.
• St Andrew’s First Aid - Scotland’s dedicated first aid charity and leading first aid training provider.
• Dundee Bairns – A children’s charity set up to reduce the damaging impact of child poverty in Dundee children.
• Cornerstone – A charity which provides tailored, individual packages of care which focus on enabling people with a variety of needs, including learning disabilities, physical disabilities, autism and complex care needs, to live the best possible life.

"The atmosphere here is great and [The Circle team] help us connect with other businesses within the building. Their pricing is affordable, and they make the whole thing very simple." – A tenant of The Circle

Through our hubs we also work with dozens of volunteers and work placements every year, supporting them to learn new skills, gain confidence and feel part of a community. Last year we worked with 50 volunteers; 8 of them gained employment and 3 attained Saltire Awards.

“What truly sets The Circle apart is their genuine care and support for their volunteers. They allow you to progress at your own pace and view mistakes as part of the learning process, which encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and challenge myself instead of being overly conscious of my performance.” – Jo Chong Zhuo Yan, Volunteer at The Circle in Dundee

Why we’re fundraising

We have come back after winter break to find our disabled toilet at Dudhope Castle is now unsafe to be used.

The toilet is currently falling through the floor and the floor is disintegrating and it needs urgent work. The way the toilet was designed is also not compliant for wheelchair users to access it with ease.

We have had to close off the toilet and it is now out of use. We do not want this to continue a day longer than it has to.

As a community hub, creating a safe and inclusive environment is so important to us. Many of our tenants serve clients with disabilities, or work with staff and volunteers with disabilities. One of our busiest tenants is Uppertunity, which runs various social, therapeutic and educational groups for adults with learning disabilities, autism, mental health barriers and other additional support needs. Uppertunity is one of their main and sometimes only sources of socialisation, and many of their members require access to an accessible toilet. It is so vital to have access to a toilet, which for all of us, is a basic human right. Without this, many individuals cannot socialise.

Watch the video below to find out more about how this situation is impacting tenants like Uppertunity.

The cost we have been quoted varies from £5,000 to £6,500 for this work to be done and for the layout to be remedied.

We, like many third-sector organisations are struggling in terms of finance to do work like this as at present we simply do not have spare income.

We have launched this crowdfunding campaign to raise the funds needed for this vital piece of work.

Our goal is to raise £6500 for the costs of these repairs. Any surplus funds we raise will contribute to further repairs in the building to allow us to make our Dudhope Castle hub a safer and more welcoming space for everyone. 

This project successfully funded on 4th March 2024