Barbican Centre plans to remove 18 women-only toilets as part of its Renewal project

[Imnobody4]

Saw this last night - info is a bit difficult to extract. Consultation end 2nd June.
Theresa Steele has written a thread. Sorry if you're not on X.

'The Barbican Centre plans to remove 18 women-only toilets as part of its Renewal project, replacing them with mixed-sex “universal” cubicles. This is not inclusion, it is erasure. There is still time to object (1/10)'

https://x.com/XXFemaleOnly/status/1927075027901399495?t=RMLBCTAHdWyeKkZlHoDayg&s=19

https://x.com/XXFemaleOnly/status/1927297439746179240?t=RMLBCTAHdWyeKkZlHoDayg&s=19

This is what
I finally find on Barbican site.
www.barbican.org.uk/exhibition-guides/barbican-renewal-may-2025-public-consultation
Inclusive design is non-negotiable: participants highlighted barriers in toilets, seating, lighting, signage and booking systems.
Suggestion: Non-gendered, family and accessible toilets were top priorities. Neurodiversity was thoughtfully raised with design suggestions for low-stimulation zones, choice-based environments and clear sensory cues.

This is the correct email to use.(from Theresa)

Please use the email address below, not the one above - sorry!

[email protected]

I have responded, pointing out that my daughters are traumatised from their early life experiences (they are adopted) and that people like them deserve consideration too, that the Barbican's concept of inclusivity actually excludes women who are anxious in public places like toilets. And the mess. Always filthy.

I was at a Barbican event a few months ago at a nearby building (possibly a music school) and the part of the venue we were in had 2 or 3 fully enclosed cubicles with sinks and accessible design (apart from an awkward folding door which you had to pull towards you to slide open) opening right out into the corridor. Everyone queued together, which got very long in the interval, but the toilets were clean and it was quite funny watching the men shuffling from one foot to the other having to queue for possibly the first time ever. Welcome to our world, lads!

I don't know if there were single sex cubicles with shared sinks elsewhere. The layout was fine, and didn't put me off the place.

I'm pretty sure that the gender neutral toilets I used there when I visited the art gallery a while back were illegal - i.e. with gaps around the door and shared handwashing facilities, not the fully-enclosed setup that they should be. More like a women's toilet where the only modification was to change the sign on the door. Is this what they are planning to do with the remaining women's toilets? It's not clear from the consultation.

I also think that fully-enclosed cubicles are not ideal for entertainment venues where hundreds of people will need to use the facilities in a 20-minute interval - the queue will move much more slowly when people have to wait for others to wash their hands, fix make-up, brush hair, etc.

Did I read that they're a mix of chickens and urinals? Toilets with urinals aren't non-gendered, or gender neutral, or whatever else they want to try and say. They're also potentially discriminatory in making unequal provision.

I was in a fully gender neutral toilet space recently. No sanitary towel bins, rather an unpleasant experience during my period.

They probably didn’t want to make men uncomfortable and we all know how accommodating women should be.

The absolutely excellent @keeptoiletssafe should see this thread; she always knows exactly all the reasons single sex toilets are the safest way to go. With door gaps etc.

As it is I'll put a complaint in about this. Just goes to prove how little theatres care about women.

There appear to be breaking building regs.
Document T (2024) says this:
‘Available space for toilet accommodation will vary from building to building; once reasonable provision is made for single-sex toilet facilities, any remaining space for toilet accommodation can be considered for universal toilet provision.’

I don’t know enough about what there are converting from and to but it sounds like they haven’t got enough single sex toilet provision before the unisex goes in. You can’t replace womens with unisex.

Thank you for this. I love the Barbican and I've been going for many years, but this is really putting me off visiting in the future.
I've responded, citing women who cannot/will not use unisex toilets for religious, cultural and personal-trauma reasons; fully enclosed cubicles being slower to use and less safe; breaching building regulations (I've asked for clarification on whether reasonable provision is being retained for single-sex facilities before adding universal ones); and the cinema toilets being excluded from this project.

Suggestion: Non-gendered, family and accessible toilets were top priorities.

It looks like we've gone from 'the law as TRAs would like it to be instead of The Law', to building design that TRA's would like it to be instead of what Building Regulations require.

Single sex toilets are top of the list in requirements. Accessible/disabled toilets are the third spaces. IF there is room after the single sex toilet requirement is met, buildings may also have unisex toilets as fourth spaces.

As far as I know, there are also regs about how many single-sex toilets are required, depending on the number of users in the building.

I wonder if what the Barbican proposes is compliant?

Even if it is, it feels like spitefulness against women - 'you think you've won because of the SC ruling? well we're going to rip out women's toilets, na na na na na!]

Building regs versus spite...

I don't want to pee on a chicken!
Autocorrect strikes again LOL! 😆

This is an excellent point. If the toilet, the sink, the hand dryer and the mirror are all in one enclosed space then only one of those things can be used at a time.

By having toilets as single sex then you can separate these things out and speed everyone up.

I love the Barbican. I feel as if the euphemisms and deceptions of gender ideology are in stark contrast to the concepts of brutalism tbh! (Not the point of the thread I know).

Whilst I love the design of the wedge shaped loos in the cafe, I've been learning a lot from keeptoiletssafe here and I think the doors are unsafe, coming down almost to the floor. Not sure if that was part of the original design or was it added when they made them mixed sex? (They're single sex again now).

It's bad enough that the poor things get chlorinated, but urinated😨
How did autocorrect get from - cubicle was it? to chicken? That's quite a leap!

I've never been to the Barbican, but am going for the first time on Thursday, and am very excited about it! I will check the loos out (those appropriate to my sex, obv).

Have responded emphasising the greater needs of the sex group women because of menstruation, pregnancy and their greater need for safety due to their average smaller size. Women should have greater provision for single sex toileting spaces, not mixed sex provision that actively reduces their access.

Their collection of statistical information was rather overfocused on particular groups.

I had to self declare as trans, because according to their definition (and stonewall) I must be because I don't fit the gender stereotypes of my 'sex at birth'

I have responded similarly to @Arran2024. I have informed them we would cancel our membership and not donate again. Inclusion means the consideration of everyone's needs. I love the Barbican, but we would not longer be able to go if they get rid of single-sex toilets.

I have responded too, as single sex toilets are vital for so many women and it's awful to see the Barbican's contempt for 51% of the population who are female -who will be excluded or face longer queues & have to risk hidden cameras/ voyeurism / seats that men have urinated on and the lack of privacy etc! I still find it shocking that in 2025 organisations just ignore the basic needs/ human rights to dignity of women as a sex- SS toilet provision is such a basic!

Until @Keeptoiletssafe arrives to help , here are some other useful links if you are responding:

https://sex-matters.org/toilets-matter/

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/toilet-accommodation-approved-document-t

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/30/gender-neutral-lavatories-more-germs-than-single-sex-ones/

Just a warning if you plan to respond- it's worth using the email address as the form requires a belief in 'gender' and lies that there are more than 3 sexual orientations- clearly they are so caught up in trans fantasies the Barbican have lost touch with reality and the need for accurate equality monitoring/ facts, and the fact that not believing in 'gender identities' is a protected belief.

and this from @maltravers on a different thread:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/may/27/secret-spy-cameras-voyeurism-uk

I’ve written to the Barbican too. I go quite often and the profile is definitely older people, who will not like this one bit. It’s fine to have some GN loos, but it’s so disrespectful to women to ignore our issues, safety and preferences in favour of virtue signalling and fashion. Remember your customers Barbican!

Maybe they are remembering their funders, rather than their customers?

Why would their funders want GN loos, are you suggesting some sort of DEI edict with no one interested in real world impact? Genuine question btw!

Perhaps you’re referring to Edward Lord, possibly on the relevant barbican team for the CoL and he certainly doesn’t seem a big fan of women having single sex spaces.

I responded to a customer satisfaction survey a few years ago (post-Covid reopening I think, so when they really needed customer satisfaction!) telling them I wasn’t renewing my membership, having encountered their new unisex loo policy at the end of an event, when there was a long queue of bewildered men & women. It may come as no surprise in light of their doubling down now that they couldn’t give a stuff.

I also think that fully-enclosed cubicles are not ideal for entertainment venues where hundreds of people will need to use the facilities in a 20-minute interval - the queue will move much more slowly when people have to wait for others to wash their hands, fix make-up, brush hair, etc.

That's a very good point.