Lennox Estate Youth Engagement
Involving young people in the future of Lennox Estate
Tibbalds were appointed by Wandsworth Council as planning and engagement consultants for their project to build new homes on Lennox Estate, as part of the Homes for Wandsworth programme.
- Project Deliverables:
- 81 new affordable homes and associated open space and play, including improvements to the wider estate
- Client:
- Wandsworth Council
- Collaborators:
- PTE Architects, Farrer Huxley
- Location:
- Wandsworth, London
"We like all the beautiful trees, the parakeets and squirrels burying their nuts. It’s very green. It’s fun to live here. I like cycling round it and playing on the grass with all my friends."
As part of the engagement strategy, which included multiple stages of online and in-person events, Tibbalds designed and delivered youth engagement activities with the aim of hearing from young people on the estate, and involving them in the future of its development, specifically on open space and play.
The events were held in the school summer holidays, split over two occasions so as to capture as many views as possible. Newsletters were distributed which to invite young people and publicise the events to all residents on the estate two weeks beforehand and sent via Royal Mail. The event was also publicised via the project specific engagement platform and the Council’s website.
A series of activities were planned to help young people of varying ages express their opinions and thoughts on outdoor areas and play space. The activities were designed to be adaptable based on the number and ages of participants. Across the two days the following activities took place:
- An interactive plan of the Estate was taped out on the MUGA so that young people could interact with the current form of the estate by drawing on the map with chalk and writing notes.
- A set of ‘quick fire’ questions were developed to ask older children to gain an understanding of how they currently use outdoor space.
- A multi-media art competition was set up to encourage young people to think about their environment and how the Lennox Estate could change in the future.
- A set of images of example outdoor spaces were provided and children could sit down and rank the images to inform the project team about young people’s priorities and interests when it comes to outdoor spaces.
The multi-media competition was launched via the newsletter and engagement platform also making it available to those who were unable to attend and participate in person. The competition remained open for residents to enter until the next resident’s exhibition that year, where the entries were exhibited and the winner announced.
The project team heard views from a range of young people aged 8-15 on many aspects of the estate, from what they current use the outdoor spaces for, to what they would like to see in future spaces. For example, half the young people attending said they would like would like to see more and improved play equipment on the Estate. The current play spaces were described as ‘small and boring’. Young people suggested swings, seesaws and big slides.
There was lots of interest, especially from boys, in improvements to the MUGA. And there was interest, especially from girls, for more trees, plants and flowers. This was also reflected in the drawings done for the multimedia competition with phrases like ‘I love nature’ incorporated into their drawings.
One young girl drew flowers on the map of the estate and another stated “We like all the beautiful trees, the parakeets and squirrels burying their nuts. It’s very green. It’s fun to live here. I like cycling round it and playing on the grass with all my friends.”
The project team fed in what we heard to the design development on the proposals. Tibbalds also prepared the planning application for the new homes on the estate in collaboration with the design team, which was submitted in November 2025.
Core Team
Below are some of the key people that worked on this project.
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Augusta GreySenior Urban Designer
Start the conversation...
Learn more about Lennox Estate Youth Engagement and other projects by contacting one of our team
Call Lizzie on 0207 089 2121 or email mail@tibbalds.co.uk