In 2020 HTA Manchester in partnership with BLACC@hta and Trinity High developed a series of workshops for schools which aims to give pupils a chance to learn about careers in the built environment where they might not have known such careers exist. The first series of workshops was held at Trinity High in Hulme, Manchester, in 2021, and refined and repeated in 2022. The workshops are available as a toolkit to deliver at other studios. Feedback from pupils and participants has been very positive.
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We developed the workshops after the Black Lives Matter movement and BLACC@hta’s manifesto highlighted the lack of representation of people from non-white and in particular Black backgrounds in the built environment professions and raised the question ‘what can HTA do about it?’.
In Manchester significant amounts of development take place in areas with mixed communities yet most professional designers are white. We were aware of a social engagement organisation called Placed which runs an inclusive built-environment summer academy for 10-14 year olds and wondered if we could deliver something similar in an area undergoing change in Manchester. The aim was to inspire pupils with the idea that the built environment is something they can influence, and to encourage them to see themselves on a route to success in the built environment professions by connecting them with professionals and particularly Black professionals. The workshops have been a success with very positive feedback both from the pupils and the professionals involved who have been enthused by the positive engagement and optimism of the pupils.