George Clarke returns to Washington to launch design challenge as part of town's 60th birthday celebrations

Sunderland Echo

TV presenter and architect George Clarke describes his excitement at returning to his hometown to launch a design project for local children.

Transcript

00:00 I'm more than fully educated on terrorism, which is all very much about hoaxes and hoax

00:05 innovation and hoaxes on everything that they find.

00:07 For us to be part of that celebration and have the challenge off the ground is fantastic

00:12 as well.

00:13 I want to say thank you to all the young people that have come along today for keeping us

00:17 part of the challenge.

00:19 Because that's what we all have.

00:21 Okay then George, what's it like to be back in Washington today and be part of this event?

00:26 Well it's always great to come back home.

00:28 You know I love Washington, it's where I grew up.

00:31 This place, the galleries, was basically my playground to be honest with you.

00:36 To be here today with so many young passionate people who want to be part of the Mobi Design

00:39 Challenge is brilliant.

00:40 And what's the Design Challenge all about and what's the rationale behind it?

00:44 Well Mobi's all about home design, home innovation and creating better homes, not just for the

00:49 future but for today to be honest with you.

00:51 So we're always trying to inspire young people to think about homes differently and how to

00:54 make them better, more beautiful, more sustainable, net zero carbon ideally.

01:01 And also healthier and happier places to live.

01:03 And Washington was an innovative place when it was built back in the 1960s.

01:08 The house that I grew up in is not too far from here, my mum's still there.

01:11 And it was a fantastic place to live, a great place to grow up.

01:15 We had some of the greatest thinkers actually working on the design of the new town from

01:19 master planners, landscape designers, all the way through to highways, building schools

01:24 and villages and shops.

01:26 But more importantly beautiful houses to live in.

01:28 And my mum's house still today is fantastic.

01:30 You know it might be like 50 odd, nearly 60 years old but for me it was a really innovative

01:36 piece of home design.

01:37 Okay it wasn't as sustainable as the stuff we want today.

01:41 So the whole point of this challenge is to get people to start designing, if you like,

01:46 a new mini area for Washington to put fantastic housing at the forefront of it.

01:51 So I'm really looking forward to seeing what they come up with.

01:54 I see lots of young people here today, I'm guessing you're excited to see the quality

01:57 of the designs that the kids come up with here?

01:58 I mean I'm buzzing about it.

02:00 I mean honestly for me to be standing here today in my hometown talking about a Moby

02:05 Design Challenge, engaging with young kids and launching this amazing project is, I mean

02:09 it's off the scale brilliant.

02:10 Honestly I never imagined in a million years I'd be doing this in my hometown so I'm chuffed

02:15 to bits.

02:16 But seeing what they come up with is the most important thing.

02:18 It's not about me, it's not about the charity really, it's about young people really being

02:22 inspired to think about doing beautiful housing.

02:25 And not just for Washington but for Southern London and throughout the North East to be

02:28 honest with you.

02:30 This is our 15th design challenge, we've done them all over the UK and I'm always blown

02:34 away by the standard of the submissions and the work that people put in.

02:38 So yeah I can't wait for next year to see what they do.

02:41 Thanks to Councillor Jonathan Chairman and Mayor and Councillor Laws as well for their

02:48 warm welcome.

02:49 And I believe Southern City Council for being able to take this matter to the Washington

02:52 area community for funding the mobile challenge without the people who wouldn't be able to

02:57 do it.

02:58 OK then Councillor Laws, how pleased are you to have George come along today to launch

03:01 his initiative?

03:02 I'm delighted to have George here and part of the Washington 60 celebrations, it's brilliant

03:06 that he's come along today to launch his project which I think is a real opportunity

03:10 for young people in Washington to gain skills and ultimately develop a career.

03:17 Real life changing opportunities for our young people here in Washington.

03:20 Obviously 60th anniversary coming up, a lot of young people here today, how important

03:24 is it to get them involved both in this initiative and also the wider celebrations?

03:27 It's vitally important to have young people from Washington involved.

03:32 We are obviously here to celebrate 60 years that have gone before in the history and heritage

03:36 of Washington over those past 60 years but it's really very important to me that we use

03:42 this as an opportunity to get young people involved and really prepare for the 60 years

03:48 that we have coming ahead.

Category

Transcript

Recommended