Design West

Hundreds of applications came in from across Bristol & the surrounding areas, & this academic year a wonderful new cohort of bright, eager learners has joined #ShapeMyCity. Over the next year, these young people will be on a journey to become the change-makers of the future, thanks to our amazing partner organisations. 🔶 Shape My City  📆 Session 1 Hayhurst and Co. & Allford Hall Monaghan Morris  🏙️ Architecture In our first session students were asked to design a community space and to consider what makes a space where a community can successfully come together. They explored:  🔸 Sketching, designing and modelling  🔸 Scale, and building at proportions true to what would be built  🔸 Function and adjacencies of spaces, and how architects represent them  🔸 Accessibility, sustainable technology and green infrastructure  🔸 Working as a team  🔸 Presenting their design ideas to the room This year we are also teaming up with University of the West of England past alumni students for Shape My City and UWE students to support the session and inspire the young people. Huge thanks to all the inspirers from Hayhurst and Co. & Allford Hall Monaghan Morris for Shaping Future Generations:  Fany Kotzeva Josh George Rosy Jones Christina Agoston-Vas Claire Pollock Hon FRIBA Jonathan Nicholls Nick Hayhurst Simon Allford Paul Monaghan cormac farrelly Ceri Davies Peter Morris Steve Taylor Dan Hayes #ShapeMyCity is an award-winning, year-long, free-to-access programme for 15–18 year olds, made possible by the support of our brilliant and inspiring Built Environment partners. Shankari Raj (Shanks) Anna Rutherford Pippa Goldfinger Hon FRIBA Hilary Cuddy 📸 Photo credit: Melanie Chitty To find out more about partnering with #ShapeMyCity, contact pippa.goldfinger@designwest.org.uk  #Architecture #Community #Nature #Placemaking #Landscape #LandscapeArchitecture #Design #ClimateChange #PeopleAndPlanet

From all of us at Design West, congratulations to Coralie McKeivor on this well-deserved win!🎉 We’re incredibly grateful for her continued support as a trustee on our board and for the work she has done across the city of Bristol. It’s brilliant to see her work recognised in such a diverse and evolving role, and we’re delighted to celebrate her achievement and the contribution women continue to make across our industry. 👏

🌱 Have you got an idea that could make Bristol greener?🌱 We're looking for simple, imaginative ideas to bring more nature, water, biodiversity and climate resilience into the heart of Bristol. The competition, run by Bristol BID in partnership with Design West, is open to professionals, students and emerging designers. Winning entries will help shape Bristol BID's Green and Blue Infrastructure Vision, with a £500 Love Bristol Gift Card awarded to each winner. How would you transform three Harbourside spaces? 📍 Bathurst Basin 📍 Hanover Place 📍 The Grove ⏰ Deadline: Midnight, Sunday 1 November 2026 👥 One entry per individual or team #DesignWest #BristolBID #ClimateResilience #UrbanNature #SustainableCities #DesignForChange #Placemaking https://lnkd.in/eDSUrgUE

The new NPPF marks a significant shift for design. The principles of well-designed places are now embedded in national planning policy, not confined to guidance. This gives decision-makers a clearer basis for demanding better development and, where necessary, refusing proposals that fail to meet national and local design expectations. Local authorities are also expected to ensure access to appropriate design tools and processes, including design review. This strengthens the mandate for independent design expertise, particularly as more applications are expected to be determined by officers under the forthcoming National Scheme of Delegation. But good design is not a hurdle to clear at the start of a scheme. It is a continuous process - one that must protect quality and design intent from the earliest vision through planning, delivery and occupation. Design West provides independent design review and tailored support to local authorities, developers and design teams across the South West, throughout the development cycle. If you are considering what the new policy means for your plans, projects or decision-making processes, get in touch with Hilary Cuddy or Pippa Goldfinger Hon FRIBA Anna Rutherford Mariana Aguiar Alexa James Shankari Raj (Shanks) Julie Tanner Nick Fairham Cora Kwiatkowski Prof. Matthew Jones #NPPF #Placemaking #DesignReview #Planning #SouthWest

Fascinated by cities, ideas and people? Not every built environment career leads into practice. We're looking for someone at the start of their career who wants more than a traditional built environment path. At Design West, you’ll create brilliant content, help grow our membership community, and work with some of the best architects, thinkers, designers, and placemaking professionals from across the UK. If you're curious, analytical and excited by ideas, we’d love to hear from you. 📅 Applications close Monday 10 August. Application Pack >> https://lnkd.in/eAEKgyUy #BuiltEnvironment #Placemaking #UrbanDesign #EarlyCareers #BristolJobs

That's a wrap for Shape My City! 🎉 Another year, another wonderful cohort of students from across Bristol inspired by our incredible Built Environment professionals. 🟠 To close the year, we invited teachers & families to hear what the students have achieved over the past 10 months, celebrating with an awards ceremony & completion certificates for every student. 🌎 A huge thank you to Matt Jones, Dean & Head of the School of Architecture & Environment at University of the West of England, for his inspiring speech on what the next generation could achieve — for people and for planet. 🌳 🟠 We were also delighted to welcome back two Shape My City alumni, who came to share how the programme shaped their own paths & what they're doing now, a brilliant reminder of the real, lasting impact this course has on young people's futures. Here's to another cohort of young people who now see themselves in this profession. 🌍🏗️ And a big thank you to Paul Blakemore for the wonderful photography, capturing the day so beautifully. & the amazing partners & inspirers this year - AWW, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, Hayhurst & Co., Bristol City Council, Buro Happold, Vattenfall, Purcell, BDP, Avison Young, Ramboll, CampbellReith, Churchman Thornhill Finch, Muse Shankari Raj (Shanks) Hilary Cuddy, Pippa Goldfinger Hon FRIBA, Anna Rutherford #ShapeMyCity #BuiltEnvironment #NextGeneration #SouthWest #DesignWest

#StPhillipsMarsh, #Bristol - How would Young People like to see development emerge - On one of the largest regeneration opportunity sites in #Europe?  🔶 Shape My City   📆 Session 10 – Muse    🏙️ Sustainable Development            Session 10 - The last one of the year - The culmination of a whole year's learning, drawn from a host of professionals across the Built Environment. For this final Shape My City session, we gave our students a stack of foam building typology blocks. No lectures, no PowerPoints. Just a site & a problem, read the site, mark-up its features & conditions, & respond with how to develop the space.  Then came the plot twist: reduced budgets, & partner organisations wanting changes to the site constraints. Exactly what happens in real placemaking.  Discussions got heated over what earned a space on the site. That's real urban design, the debate that shapes real cities & places. This is what Shape My City exists for: Giving young people a voice on the future of their places, in rooms they'd otherwise have no way into, planning committee meetings, construction sites, the decisions being made about the city they'll inherit. #ShapeMyCity is an award-winning, year-long, free-to-access programme for 15-18 year olds, made possible by the support of our brilliant and inspiring Built Environment partners. Here's to the next cohort. Huge thanks to all the inspirers for Shaping Future Generations from Muse:  Rhea Stephenson  William Collomosse  Iona MacRury  Simon Harding-Roots  Duncan Cumberland  Tom Jackson  Temple University/ Bristol Temple Quarter/ Karen Mercer   Shankari Raj (Shanks), Anna Rutherford, Pippa Goldfinger Hon FRIBA       Photo credit to Paul Blakemore      To find out more about partnering with #ShapeMyCity contact pippa.goldfinger@designwest.org.uk      #SustainableDevelopment #Landscape #UrbanDesign #Bristol #ShapeMyCity #PublicRealm #CoDesign #WalkableCities #StreetDesign #YoungPeople #Placemaking #SustainableCities #ActiveTravel #Architecture  #UrbanGreening #Biodiversity #PublicSpace #YouthDesign #Bristol #DesignWest #RegenerativeUrbanism

Join us for a jaw-dropping story of reinvention: how Germany turned its industrial heartland into a thriving green region with new housing, culture and community at its heart. 🌱 Don't miss Grey to Green, 23 July: