George Clarke Announces Young Winners of Capability Scotland Design Challenge
George Clarke has crowned the winners of a creative young persons' design challenge that will inform the design of a new £28 million complex-needs facility in Perth, Scotland.
Capability Scotland, the charity behind the ‘Our Inclusive Community Project’, partnered with MOBIE to encourage co-production and influence the creation of this nationally significant development. Capability Scotland is a charity delivering care, support, and education for disabled children and adults across Scotland.
Joint winners Isla Bethune, of Bertha Park High School, and Tassi Forbes, Perth Modern High School, both wowed the judges with their innovative designs. As well as winning category awards for Design and Sustainability they were the joint overall winners.
George Clarke said: “Inspiring young talent to help define the communities of the future is a real passion of mine. Creating communities that are innovative, beautiful, genuinely sustainable, and transform the quality of people’s lives is why we run these challenges"
Clarke added:
“I was blown away by the quality of submissions. Each was incredibly well thought out and took into account the varied and complex needs of those who will use the spaces".
Amazing trophies created by Capability Scotland customers were presented to each winner. Challenge sponsors, Springfield Properties PLC, Allia C&C, and Sigma Capital Group Limited Group, awarded £250 technology vouchers to each of the category winners, which included customers from local care facilities and Corseford College students, and to the overall winners.
The judges included Mark Southgate, CEO MOBIE, Caroline Dearden, Anderson Bell + Christie architects, Niamh Waldron, Sigma Capital Group, accessible Travel & Disability Blogger, Simply Emma, wheelchair athlete and disability sport advocate, Gemma Lumsdaine, Mark Hamilton, Springfield Properties and Dr Lynn Wilson FRSA Architecture and Design Scotland.
- Inclusive Design (joint winners) - Annaty and Studio, Upper Springland
- Placemaking - Coresford College
- Design - Isla Bethune, Bertha Park High School
- Sustainability - Tassi Forbes, Perth High School
Brian Logan, Chief Executive of Capability Scotland, said:
"Co-production is central to our vision of creating exemplar facilities for people with diverse and complex needs. Involving talented young people of Scotland in the design of this critical project is extremely exciting. We were overwhelmed with the quality of the submissions and the creativity used to develop such incredible and thoughtful designs.”
The creative designs will feed into the new Bertha Park development which will consist of 60 self-contained studio flats for individuals with complex needs, a new primary school and high quality, energy efficient housing.
Caroline Dearden, Director at Anderson, Bell + Christie, project architects, said:
"As lead architect for the project we were delighted to get involved with this design challenge. The brief Capability Scotland set for the challenge was intended to inspire creative minds, and embed the importance of inclusive communities and accessibility through the design process – part of Capability Scotland’s core mission. The entries we received show that it has done just that and has ignited a passion for design, creativity, and innovation in so many young designers from across Scotland.”
The design challenge was open to young people in Scotland, aged 9-24 years plus.