Ebbsfleet Design Group builds on our pioneering three-year creative placemaking programme This Must Be The Place to continue our work collaborating with local young people on the development of the new Ebbsfleet Garden City, supported by artists, academics, architects, and designers.
Following our 24/25 Community Researchers programme led by researcher Rana Khazbak and RESOLVE Collective, 25/26’s Design Group centres around the theme of ‘reciprocity’.
Facilitated by Flimsy Works, the programme builds upon the notion of the circular economy and the re-use/re-purposing of materials, but takes it a step further and encourages the young people who form the Design Group to think about how the movement of materials impacts the landscapes they are extracted, stored on, or grown from, too.
Together with the young people, Flimsy Works will use the sessions throughout the programme to explore ‘reciprocal spaces’ as a way of demonstrating how architecture and engineering principles can change what we think is needed to make new spaces. Drawing from reclaimed, natural materials and redistribution initiatives, the programme will prototype a series of reciprocal spaces that are sourced and constructed in ways which think differently about the landscape of Ebbsfleet.
As part of this exploration, the Design Group will meet over the course of three ‘labs’ in the October half term, the February half term, and April Easter holidays. Sessions are free to attend with refreshments and travel costs provided.
Ebbsfleet Design Group is delivered in partnership with the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation.
If you’re aged 15–21 and live in or near Ebbsfleet (including Dartford, Greenhithe, Swanscombe, Northfleet & Gravesend), you can join Ebbsfleet Design Group. As part of the group, you will:
- Learn new design and practical skills using recycled and re-purposed materials.
- Take part in creative workshops with professional artists and designers who put sustainability at the heart of their practice.
- Meet and collaborate with other young people interested in sustainable art and design.
- Help design the new garden city in Ebbsfleet. Sessions are free to attend with refreshments and travel costs provided.
The programme is free to attend, with travel expenses paid at £10 per session.
Sign up here – no experience necessary! We will continue to accept new sign ups after sessions have begun.
The full dates and times of the programme are:
October Half Term Lab
- Tuesday 21 October, 11am-4pm
- Wednesday 22 October, 9am-4pm
- Thursday 23 October, 11am-4pm
February Half Term Lab
- Tuesday 17 February, 11am-4pm
- Wednesday 18 February, 11am-4pm
- Thursday 19 February, 11am-4pm
April Lab
- Tuesday 14 April, 11am-4pm
- Wednesday 15 April, 11am-4pm
- Thursday 16 April, 11am-4pm
- Friday 17 April, 11am-4pm
Flimsy Works
Flimsy make spaces that connect communities to the natural environment, developing designs closely with end-users and for self-builders. Their projects make the most of existing or readily-available materials, arranging these with care to make playful structures that touch the earth lightly and tell stories about places and the people who use them.
Find our more here.