We won!
We’re so pleased to announce that our work has won a Thornton Education Trust Inspire Future Generations Award 2025! The judges recognised our clear focus and far-reaching impact, noting the robust partnership model between Dwellbeing Shieldfield, Harper Perry, Newcastle University and Newcastle City Council.
Our spatial strategy for Shieldfield emerged out of community-led research which highlighted opportunities to improve public spaces to support health, wellbeing and inclusivity. It's a long-term process connecting our Shieling Programme with the Shieldfield Youth Programme (run with The NewBridge Project) and working closely with partners to develop residents’ skills, agency and knowledge through collaborative design.
The project’s success to date is driven by a small team of highly motivated people and we are incredibly grateful to Harper Perry, Newcastle University and Newcastle City Council in their continued support. The involvement of Dwellbeing members, especially Shieling Working Group, residents, volunteers, trainees and community-evaluators has been really important to this work. Thank you to everyone who has been involved.
The award brings a welcome boost of energy as we move into the implementation phase, when residents’ ideas and plans to improve their public spaces become a reality.
https://www.harperperry.co.uk/project/dwellbeing-shieldfield/
Background
The Thornton Awards are an annual celebration of built environment professionals who are committed to advancing participation and design with children and young people. The awards recognises projects that demonstrate excellence, creativity, care, and a genuine commitment to engaging young people in shaping the spaces around them. Over the past four years, the Awards have played a key role in growing a community of practice: connecting people, sharing knowledge, and fostering collaboration around inclusive and youth and children-centred design.