Graduate Design Competition 2026
Ryder is proud to present the two pro bono community projects selected for its annual graduate design competition – a two day collaboration bringing together colleagues from different locations.
This year, for the first time, we ran two pro bono competitions hosted in London and Newcastle. We partnered with Peterlee Cricket Club, who looked to create a new sustainable clubhouse to replace their temporary facilities, and Lakeside Shopping Centre who focussed on reinvigorating a disused site to create a local community gardening hub, known as ‘The Peoples’ Patch’.
Ryder’s annual graduate design competition gathers young professionals from various disciplines. Working on a live brief, the teams are able to apply new skills, lead a collaborative design process, and connect with colleagues, all while contributing to a community focused project.
A total of eight teams participated, with four teams working on the respective briefs over one and a half days. Peterlee Cricket Club and Lakeside Community Centre were both very impressed by the quality of entries and enjoyed being part of the competition judging.
The winning team of Peterlee Cricket Club comprised Aaron Selkirk, Alexander McCall, Roypim Sakuncharoenkij, and Molly Kenwright. The winning team for Lakeside’s The Peoples’ Patch comprised Georgia Winter, Isabelle Mearns, Joshua Kantor, and Jason Crummie.
James Campbell, architectural technologist at Ryder, who coordinated this year’s competition, added: “Working alongside Peterlee Cricket Club and Lakeside Shopping Centre has been a rewarding experience from start to finish. Their involvement helped create two engaging live briefs that encouraged teams to test concepts, stay realistic and deliver on time. Despite the condensed timeframe, the quality of submissions and presentations was really impressive, and it’s been brilliant to see the level of creativity and teamwork demonstrated throughout the competition.”
