AHMM has been awarded a Thornton Education Trust Inspiring Future Generations Award in the Social Value category for our work connected to Tower Hamlets Town Hall over the past seven years. Our project for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets has transformed the Georgian listed former Royal London Hospital into a publicly accessible town hall with space for the council’s community, democratic and administrative services and our work on it has included social value commitments. We created a social value programme engaging young people with the building and its purposes throughout the design process. As part of this, we ‘adopted a school’ in 2016 working with the Design Technology department at Swanlea secondary school in Whitechapel, and supporting Key Stage 3, 4 and 5 school students aged 11-18.

The resources and knowledge we have shared with the school have changed and adapted in response to teacher requirements, student feedback and curriculum changes. The school’s first request was for support on their Super Learning Days which introduced high achieving Year 8 girls to architecture and encouraged them to choose Design Technology as a GCSE option. From 2018, the school asked us to provide GCSE Design Technology coursework mentoring. We have also provided activities including one week work experience; careers fair attendance and routes into the profession talks; building and workplace visits; architectural drawing and modelmaking workshops; portfolio reviews and design brief challenges; and places on our annual Summer School and Open studio afternoons for young people.

We aim to create innovative, responsive social value that is specific to communities, location and contexts where our projects are sited. AHMM is delighted to received this award from Thornton Education Trust celebrating initiatives, organisations, and individuals who are bridging the gap between architecture and young people.