Category: news

On Saturday, 28th February, we delivered our fourth Gold Sponsor design session of the 2025-26 Studio programme, which saw 49 young people from across the Northwest feed their ideas into the transformation of Liverpool’s historic waterfront.

In partnership with Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB), the workshop focused on the future of the Canning Quaysides and Dry Docks. Working in teams, participants were given a bespoke brief to design a series of public realm interventions and a community shelter that responds to the site’s unique maritime and social history, including its role in the transatlantic slave trade. Teams addressed five historically related themes to focus their creative responses, while also being challenged to propose accessible and inclusive solutions that transform the historic dockside into a thriving space for the people of Liverpool.

The design process included an initial site visit and analysis, where students used chalk to draw floor plans at a 1:1 scale directly onto the pavement to test the scale of their designs. Following this, students engaged in detailed design work and produced 3D models at a 1:10 scale using the measurements from their on-site sketches. Final outcomes involved producing drawings, models, and ranked public realm priorities, which were then presented directly to the team from RLB.

A huge thank you to RLB for sponsoring and supporting the session. Thank you to James Edwards, Tyrone Jackson, Dneay Wright-Phillips, and Megan Summerton (RLB) and Connie Edwards (PLACED Ambassador) for giving their time to support the design session, giving advice, support, and encouragement throughout!

This year, PLACED Academy attended the Thornton Educational Trust Future Generations Awards. We were honoured to be shortlisted in two categories, ‘Best Not-for-Profit’ and ‘Skills Development’, for our PLACED Academy programme.

Before the ceremony kicked off, we spent the afternoon working in Farringdon, getting stuck into our plans and aims for our 2026/27 Academy programmes. It felt like a really fitting way to spend the day, focusing on our goals for the next 12 months before taking a moment to reflect and celebrate in the evening.

The ceremony itself was at Crypt on the Green, a beautifully historic setting beneath St James’ Church. It was a great night, surrounded by organisations from across the UK and abroad who are all doing amazing work to support and empower the next generation.

We’re absolutely thrilled to share that PLACED Academy took home the “Skills Development” award.

This win is a huge nod to the hard work and creativity of our young people, and the dedication of the whole PLACED team in creating meaningful programmes and pathways of support into the built environment.

We’d like to thank the Thornton Education Trust team for hosting such a fantastic event and for continuing to champion work that puts young people first. Most importantly, a massive thank you to all the young people who take part in the Academy; this award is honestly for you.

Winning this at the very start of the year has given us a real boost of motivation. We’re ready to keep growing and strengthening our programmes throughout the rest of 2026.

In Liverpool on Tuesday 10th February, the young people were introduced to Project Management and Quantity Surveying in the construction industry, thanks to our sponsors, Walker Sime. The session saw the young people learn first-hand that Project Managers oversee all aspects of a project to ensure smooth operations, while Quantity Surveyors are responsible for managing finances, including costs, budgets, and contracts.

The heart of the skills session was a hands-on team challenge, ‘The Build’. Participants were divided into contractor teams and tasked with building a scale model of a house using card templates. The exercise mirrored real-world challenges of a real construction project.

Teams operated under a budget, facing costs for resource usage and penalties for errors or delays, with successful teams earning bonuses. The session highlighted the importance of teamwork, problem-solving and the importance of resource planning, schedule adherence, and quality control in project management and quantity surveying. The workshop provided valuable, practical insights into these key construction roles.

Huge thanks to Charlie Chu, Gavin Prothero, Aaron Fitton & Anthony Watson from the Walker Sime team for all the insights and support throughout the session.

Big thank you to the University of Liverpool for generously hosting the Liverpool workshop.