Final call for ideas: how would you redesign Wimbledon town centre?

What will town centres look like in 2030? How will we shop, live and work? Don’t miss out on the chance to contribute your ideas for the design of a new Wimbledon.  

We've been working with Merton Council and Love Wimbledon Business Improvement District to call for ideas to help redesign Wimbledon’s town centre for 2030. The closing date is 15 September so this is our final call to say if you've got a good idea- now is the time to send it in.

It could be redesigning the streets, individual buildings, signage or furniture, creating a new identity, use of digital technology or entirely new ways of using the town centre.  Your ideas will go in front of a high profile panel including Paul Finch, Wayne Hemingway, Peter Murray, Alison Brooks and Morag Myerscough. Shortlisted entries will get shown in an exhibition at the New London Architecture (NLA) in central London and on the Design Council website.

There are cash prizes for two categories: designers and emerging stars in the built environment profession. This includes planners, urban designers, architects and landscape architects who have the opportunity to be design advisors for a future masterplan for Wimbledon. This competition is open to anyone who wants to have an impact on how Wimbledon town centre of 2030 takes shape. 

This competition is not just about everyday architecture or planning, but about ideas – we want people to exercise their creative juices thinking about how people live and what is special about Wimbledon.

Paul Finch OBE, Wimbledon panellist

Paul Finch OBE, programme director of the World Architecture Festival and deputy chair of the Design Council, is one of the architecture and design judges who will be reviewing the ideas presented, alongside Wayne Hemingway, Peter Murray, Alison Brooks and Morag Myerscough.

As Paul has hinted, ideas that are ambitious in how they deal with the digital age will be of great interest to panel: "Younger people don’t interact with a town centre in way our parents and grandparents did – at markets, shops, cafes and community centres. These days a new visitor to a town can use apps and augmented reality to become as knowledgeable as a local about the place’s heritage, culture and good places to eat. Maybe our town centres will become busier places for human interaction."

The competition is designed so that entrants can showcase their creativity via any format of preference, whether it be a poem, song, abstract sketches or the traditional scale plans and 3D animation. 

Read up on the background of Wimbledon and Enter your ideas for Wimbledon town centre 2030!