Future Palace
Programme
Project
Community Engagement, Youth Voice and Design Participation
Team
Local young people, Morgan Sindall, Mayor of London, Faulkner Brown Architects, Woo Architects, Turkington Martin, Alan Baxter, Max Fordham.
Location
Crystal Palace National Sports London
When
2025 - 2026
Shaping the Future of Crystal Palace National Sports Centre
The Future Palace Programme is a community-led initiative supporting local people, young people, athletes, creatives and community groups to take part in shaping the future of Crystal Palace National Sports Centre.
Through creative engagement, workshops, storytelling and public-facing activity, the programme created space for people to share their experiences of the site, explore what it means to them, and contribute ideas for its future.
Delivered by Beyond the Box CIC, the programme brings together sport, culture, heritage and community voice to support a more inclusive, accessible and locally rooted future for one of London’s most significant civic and sporting landmarks.
Why Future Palace Exists
Crystal Palace National Sports Centre holds deep meaning for many communities. It is a place connected to sporting excellence, local memory, youth opportunity and cultural identity. As plans for the future of the site develop, it is essential that local voices are part of the conversation.
Future Palace was created to ensure engagement was not only consultative, but creative, accessible and meaningful. The programme supported young people to understand the design process, contribute lived experience and explore how the centre can better serve future generations.
It also created opportunities for participants to build confidence, develop new skills and see themselves as active contributors to the future of the places around them.
Design Adviser
Design Adviser focused on opening up the conversation around the future of Crystal Palace National Sports Centre and creating accessible ways for people to share their views.
Through a series of creative workshops, participants explored their relationship with the site, what they value about it, and what changes they would like to see in the future. This strand helped build a stronger understanding of community priorities, barriers to access, and the role the centre plays in local life.
The process supported participants to engage with design ideas in a clear and approachable way, working directly with the design team, helping ensure that feedback was grounded in user experience and local knowledge.
Design Innovators
Design Innovators built on this engagement by supporting the youth community to explore design solutions, creativity and place-shaping in greater depth.
The strand created opportunities for participants to test ideas, develop creative responses via prototypes and think about how sport, culture, public space and community use could come together at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre.
Through hands-on weekly sessions and collaborative workshops, participants were encouraged to imagine new possibilities for the site and consider how their ideas could influence future plans.
Design Innovators also supported skills development, confidence building and youth leadership, helping participants understand how design decisions are made and how communities can play an active role in shaping them.
Creativity, Sport and Community Voice
The Future Palace Programme placed young people at the centre of shaping ideas for the future of Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. Over seven months, participants worked alongside designers, engineers and local stakeholders to develop and test real design interventions across the site.
The programme delivered:
8 live design prototypes
Engagement with 100+ members of the public
Paid opportunities for local young people
Hands-on experience in design, making and public engagement
Projects explored key issues including wayfinding, lighting, accessibility, seating, sustainability and user experience. Through onsite testing and public feedback, participants helped identify priorities for the future redevelopment of the centre, including safer navigation, stronger identity and more inclusive spaces.
The programme culminated in a City Hall showcase and presentation to the wider project team and representatives from the Greater London Authority, where participants presented their research, prototypes and design proposals developed throughout the programme.
Beyond physical prototypes, the programme supported participants to build confidence, communication skills and real-world experience across architecture, design and construction. The result was a creative, community-led approach demonstrating the value of embedding youth voice into regeneration and public space design.
