Mayor of London & George Clarke Announce the Peoples’ Vote and Shortlist for the Design Future London Young Persons’ Challenge!
Entry 1 : 11-15 year old group
See the shortlist and cast your vote here!
The Mayor and MOBIE Founder George Clarke announced the shortlist of entries for the London-wide challenge for young people aged between 11 and 25. There are three age groups – 11-15, 16-18 and 19-24+.
The shortlisted entries will now be judged by panels of architecture, planning and construction professionals to find the finalists for each age group. The finalists will present their scheme and designs to a panel of judges, including George Clarke, on 5th July at an event at City Hall and the winners will be chosen and receive their prize from the Mayor and George Clarke.
All the shortlisted entries are now open for the public to view and to vote for their personal favourite - a People’s Vote. The winner of the People’s vote will also receive a prize on 5th July.
The challenge, created by MOBIE and the Mayor, asked young people to let their imaginations run free by designing an innovative and inspirational green home and to masterplan an urban neighbourhood in the Royal Docks, East London close to the new City Hall.
The young designers were challenged to create a home and neighbourhood that addresses four key priorities for London’s recovery from COVID-19: making places, sustainable transport, building housing, and addressing climate change and providing green energy for London. The designs and plan needed to meet the changing needs of future generations of Londoners, including promoting wellbeing, quality of life and healthy living.
“All these elements of design come together to enable us to build a better London for everyone – a safer, fairer, greener and more prosperous city for all Londoner”
Deputy Mayor Jules Pipe said:
“The Mayor and I are committed to making sure that the people who plan and design our city are representative of London’s diversity. Unfortunately, that’s not currently the case, with too many communities underrepresented in the built environment industries. With this design challenge we hope to inspire more young Londoners to pursue the amazing career opportunities that there are in the built environment sector and play an important role in shaping our city’s future”.
“I hope that this challenge has stimulated young people to have ideas about how we can create our great city’s future - from the types of housing we need to plan and design, the transport links we need, what our public areas and open spaces should look like, to how we plan for a future of climate challenges. All these elements of design come together to enable us to build a better London for everyone – a safer, fairer, greener and more prosperous city for all Londoners".
"I have been overwhelmed by the quality of entries to the Design Future London challenge and I am delighted to now be able to share these with teachers, parents, industry professionals, friends and the public, all of whom can make their own choice of the best design and plan by voting in the People’s Choice”.
George Clarke, MOBIE founder, said:
“Home is the most important piece of architecture in our lives. It crafts the way we live, and how we grow as families and communities. A well-designed home and neighbourhood can enhance the way we live and promote good health and wellbeing”.
Clarke added:
“London’s homes and neighbourhoods of the future will be lived in and created by today’s young people. That is why I am so excited to be announcing the shortlist for the Design Future London young persons’ challenge with the Mayor. We asked young people, aged between 11 and 25, to design a home and community of the future in the Royal Docks - sustainable, adaptable, green homes and places that promote wellbeing, quality of life and healthy living".
“From past experience I expected to see amazing design talent and imagination come forward, and I was not disappointed. I am genuinely wowed by the standard of the work that these young people have produced, it is nothing short of amazing! I really hope taking part in the challenge will inspire many young Londoners to pursue careers in the built environment that will help shape the future of this great city. The entrants have created some incredible and inspirational, future thinking designs and plans. It will be hard for the judges to narrow the shortlist to the finalists for each age group from which we will decide the winners and the runners up. I can't wait to see the designs they choose and, of course, to see the result of the People’s choice”.
The free to enter challenge aimed to inspire a new generation of Londoners to learn about the built environment and help bring learning in subjects like geography, history and design and technology to life. The challenge introduced young people to the built environment sector and the variety of jobs – from planning and architecture to engineering and construction – that exist and employ nearly 10% of the UK workforce.
The challenge was open to young people aged 11 to 25, including those in Further and Higher Education, and they created their entries from November 2021 to May 2022. There were three age categories: 11-15, 16-18 and 19- 24. Over 110 teams and individual students entered with 50% in the 11-15 age group.
The challenge brief, resource library and more information about the design challenge can be found at https://consult.london.gov.uk/hub-page/design-future-london and http://www.mobie.org.uk