Midland Metro Alliance mark Birmingham Pride with Victoria Square hoarding.

Hoarding panels in Victoria Square became even more colourful as the Midland Metro Alliance marked the Birmingham Pride celebrations with a rainbow design. The hoarding in Victoria Square was part of the Birmingham Westside Extension site, which is one of the five extensions that make up the ambitious metro extension programme. The Metro expansion is being planned, designed and built by the Midland Metro Alliance on behalf of Transport for West Midlands and will see the Metro network triple in size by 2026.

The pride hoarding was designed by the organisation to celebrate Birmingham Pride, which hosted its21st celebration for the local LGBTQ community between Saturday 26and Sunday 27 May 2018.The rainbow design was in pride of place for the “Be You” Birmingham Pride Carnival Parade which set off from Victoria Square at noon on Saturday 26 May. The hoarding was also designed to make more LGBTQ individuals consider careers in the construction, civils and transport industries, which are often viewed as being less diverse than other sectors. For example, a report from2015 revealed that only 14 per cent of gay employees felt that they could be open about their sexuality in the workplace. Sonia Smith, Head of People for Midland Metro Alliance, said:

“The West Midlands is an incredibly diverse region and we’re very passionate that the work force helping to design, plan and build these new metro routes should be equally diverse. The construction industry is changing and the Midland Metro Alliance is very welcoming of LGBTQ individual sand we hope that our new rainbow hoarding is just one illustration of this during a very important weekend for the LGBTQ community in Birmingham”