News Beat
Beamish event sees George Clarke join pupils reimagining future homes
The students showcased their ideas at Beamish Museum, which marks the end of a project aimed at reimagining their communities.
The challenge encouraged young people to think creatively about housing, infrastructure, and sustainability.
Kim McGuinness, North East Mayor, and TV architect George Clarke met with 250 pupils from Cotsford, Yohden, Easington Colliery, Dene House, and Dame Dorothy primary schools at Beamish Museum.
The event marked the conclusion of a student challenge to imagine the future of their communities through design.
Pupils from Years 5 and 6 were asked to design a new masterplan for Horden, coming up with ideas for housing, community facilities, infrastructure, green transport and the use of green energy.
The project was led by Mobie North, the charity George Clarke is Patron of, with backing from the North East Combined Authority.
Mr Clarke said: “The ideas that the children came up with, across the board, were brilliant and it was great to see their pride in what they had put together and achieved.
“The whole reason I started Mobie North was because I wanted to give young people a voice when it came to the built environment.
“You hear adult voices all the time but not children, and for me, a very important part of public consultation is speaking to very young people.”
He said it was equally important to show them the wide range of career opportunities available in the built environment.
During the visit to Beamish, students presented scale models and videos explaining their visions for Horden.
They also took part in STEM activities, explored the invention of the safety lamp in the museum’s 1950s town cinema, and learned about historical changes in housing and community life.
Students heard how obsolete infrastructure—such as disused mineshafts—is now being used to power new geothermal heat networks for homes across the North East.
Mr Clarke said: “Beamish was a brilliant place to stage the final part of the project because the children were able to walk around and see all these different designs and environments from their own region.
“And, of course, if you’re interested in sustainability, then building houses like these—houses that last 200, 300 years—it’s the greenest thing you can ever do with a house.
“It’s the ultimate in sustainability.
“Communities should be built for the people who live within them, so having students who may eventually call these properties home help shape the design of Horden is fantastic, and their work will be passed on in the hope that it can help inform planning locally in the future.”
Ms McGuinness also spoke with pupils about the importance of regeneration reflecting the needs of future generations.
She said: “Every family deserves a home that is warm, affordable and part of a thriving community, with access to green spaces, good transport links and opportunities for the future.
“I’ve loved seeing kids from the North East excited to design what our future should look like.
“This is about putting our communities at the heart of regeneration, and I’m proud to see young voices shaping the homes of tomorrow with some brilliant ideas.”
Six teams submitted masterplan designs for a regenerated Horden, with more than 50 children presenting to Ms McGuinness and Mr Clarke in small teams.
Other pupils took part in hands-on workshops and activities throughout the museum.
The Community Welfare Hall was transformed for the day as pupils set up and displayed their models.
Mobie North aims to inspire future generations about green initiatives and infrastructure, social and affordable housing, and master planning and regeneration.
Mr Clarke said the children’s understanding of environmental issues was especially striking.
He said: “The next generation coming along, I think, are becoming much more informed, much sharper, much more aware about ecology and the environment than I was when I was a kid, and it’s fascinating to see how much they had thought about that when they were putting their designs together.”
