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Open City and Corstorphine & Wright Inspiring Future Talent

By Karen Crowe – 10th June 2026

Open City’s Education programmes connect schools with built environment professionals in Birmingham and London, supporting 1477 young people in 2025/26.

These programmes build awareness of how cities are shaped and explore creative careers within the industry. Through our involvement, Corstorphine & Wright aims to widen participation for young people who may not traditionally see themselves represented within the industry, broadening access to creative careers.

Inequalities in access to creative and design-based education impact pipelines into the built environment sectors; 73% of architecture workers are classed as privileged and only 1.6% of architects are Black, compared to 4% of the population.

Open City

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Across Corstorphine & Wright, our Birmingham, Stourbridge and London studios have continued to build on our relationship with Open City, delivering hands-on workshops with local schools and students through the Young City Makers and Accelerate programmes.

This year, our Midlands studios partnered with Ladypool School in Sparkbrook on a nature-focused design brief centred on the viaduct near the Custard Factory in Digbeth. Inspired by New York’s High Line, students were challenged to reimagine the structure as a biodiverse urban space where people and nature could thrive together. Across five workshops, students investigated the relationship between cities and nature, explored the site, developed concepts and created a series of physical models and a collective collage.

The students’ work was recognised through the Young City Shapers Award, presented by Historic England at an awards ceremony held at EH Smith Design Centre, where judges praised the students’ creativity and thoughtful reimagining of a historic city landmark.

“Before the sessions, I thought architecture was just buildings. But after the session, I realised that it’s about making a better place for the community!”

Participating Student

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In London, the team also supported the Accelerate programme by hosting three students for a three-day mentoring workshop. Participants developed their own proposals for a bandstand in Red Lion Square, Holborn, taking their ideas from initial sketches through to modelling, rendering and 3D printing before presenting their work to the studio.

By connecting young people with industry professionals and real design challenges, these programmes help build confidence, develop new skills and inspire future careers in the built environment.

Our teams look forward to continuing to support Open City’s education programmes in the years ahead.