Competition winner sees their design come to life in new show home

A new show home, featuring interiors designed by a young competition winner, has launched this week as part of the Winstanley and York Road Regeneration project.

As part of the council’s commitment to genuine engagement with our residents, interviews were held with people who had moved into new council homes at Mitchell House, Sphere Walk and Gideon Road to try to improve the moves process for future building completions.

One of the proposals put forward was to provide a ‘show home’ to allow future residents to view a typical new flat.

Wandsworth Council and HTA Design, the architects for the Winstanley and York Road regeneration, launched a design competition for young people to design and deliver a show flat in Mitchell House for residents who were to move into Block 5 of the regeneration.

The competition was structured as a live project enabling participants to gain real world experience in designing and pitching their interior design proposals for the flat. The participants had to respond to the set brief and produce a design based on their ideas to a restricted budget.

The competition winner, Ricky Le, has been presented with the chance to see his design brought to life in the Mitchell House show flat. 126 families who will be moving in to Block 5 will meet with the Council in the show flat to see what their new home will be like once completed on site early next year.

Ricky and runner up Norah Dankwah have both received prize money and both been offered work experience placements at HTA. Both finalists are Battersea locals and Ricky has recently started a degree at the University of Bath. Norah is studying architecture at Central St Martins College of Art and Design with a focus on interior design.

­­Ricky Le, Winstanley Estate Resident and Competition Winner, said:

“The reason I entered the competition was because it caught my interest due to its creative nature and my interest in this line of work. I thought it could be a great opportunity to meet amazing people in this field and could help me get closer to going into interior design and decor.

“Through this competition I’ve learnt directly how to manage my time and develop a cost plan, as well as designing the space in the apartment.”

The Winstanley and York Road masterplan will provide around 2,500 homes, 960 of which will be affordable, over a 20-year delivery timeline. The masterplan preserves the existing community with a detailed strategy for new homes for existing residents wishing to remain on the estate.