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We are excited to announce a collaboration with Beyond the Box Consultants, Here East and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) to launch The People’s Pavilion – a competition to create London’s first community space designed entirely by young people.

The People’s Pavilion seeks to flip the script on who gets a say in the design of public space. It invites young people to work in partnership with professionals from the design, construction and creative arts industries, to design and build their own temporary Pavilion at Here East. They will also curate and host a programme of cultural activities to take place within the new space.

Neil Onions, Founder of Beyond the Box Consultants, says “The People’s Pavilion will establish a framework for co-design with young people and set the benchmark for genuine youth engagement in the design and development of public space.”

“Young people are not just the future users of the city; they are the current users. If we want our built environment to thrive, young people must have a role and a voice in shaping it.”

“The word ‘co-design’ has been somewhat overused in recent years, but it remains largely undefined and unmeasurable. The People’s Pavilion seeks to change this. It will deliver a tangible model for true co-design with young people, capturing the impact and importantly, sharing the learnings.”

Here East committed to host the Pavilion on its campus after Neil presented to the Hackney Wick, Fish Island Cultural Interest Group, a group established to work toward a permanent, sustainable creative economy in Hackney and Fish island.

If you're between 14 and 19 years of age and live in one of the East London boroughs, then we invite you to take part in this groundbreaking new project, The People’s Pavilion. You will gain access to a full programme of free skills workshops lead by industry professionals and creatives from across the Capital. Visit Beyond The Box website for further information on how to get involved.

The project is a fantastic opportunity to test a new approach to co-design with local young people, engaging them in placemaking, arts and cultural activities. This collaboration will develop skills, build networks, and introduce young people to new careers in the design, built environment, technology and the creative sector.

Jasel Nandha, Community & Partnerships Manager at Here East

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