10 SEPTEMBER 2025
Giving young people a say in placemaking
By Nicola Rochfort
Head of Insights and Community Engagement, Grosvenor
September is an important month in the redesign of Grosvenor Square, with the first plantings taking place on Wednesday 3rd. This exciting project will transform the space into a beautiful urban oasis with more than 40 new trees, 80,000 bulbs and 70,000 new plants.
This is an extraordinary project for many reasons. For starters, it is a private investment in a public space, a huge demonstration of our commitment to Mayfair and its varied communities. It is extraordinary for its biodiversity, with planting set to increase by more than 50 times (from 140 to 8,000sqm) to provide a haven for local wildlife. Ultimately exemplifying our People Planet Positive approach by prioritising nature alongside positive social outcomes. It is also historically significant, as only the fourth redesign of the square in 300 years – marking a new chapter in the landmark’s rich heritage.
Personally, I’m proudest of how closely we’ve worked with the community to develop the plans. Driven by our belief that better engagement makes better places, we wanted to invite all voices to shape Grosvenor Square’s future. That ambition was rooted in the principles of our Community Engagement Charter, Positive Space, which launched in 2020 to define a higher standard of engagement and help improve trust in the sector. Read more about Grosvenor’s Trust research here. Later this year, we’ll be launching an updated charter to ensure we continue to set high standards, and shape and manage places that create lasting social outcomes. Our work at Grosvenor Square and the role of engagement in delivering positive local impact will feed into this next iteration; we hope that sharing what worked for us encourages others to do something similar.
Putting the toolkit into practice – the Mayfair Youth Forum
Working closely with the local social enterprise, 2-3 Degrees, we recruited 25 Westminster students to join the Mayfair Youth Forum. We took this group through a structured program of workshops, site visits, and design reviews, complemented by a professional skills program to develop confidence and capabilities in key areas.
Voice.Opportunity.Power helped us move from early conversations to direct input on our emerging proposals. A ‘Manifesto for Mayfair’, written by Mayfair Youth Forum members, became a strategic touchpoint and criteria against which design ideas were tested and debated.
As part of our work with the youth forum, we included a hands-on meanwhile project run in partnership with another social enterprise, Matt + Fiona. The project enabled the youth forum to co-design and install something tangible – a temporary seating installation in the square – and experience community responses to their ideas in real time. The project culminated in a public celebration, where forum members presented their designs and gathered feedback.
Forum members ultimately spoke in support of the project at the planning committee. The Chair commented that it was the first time they had heard from a young person at such an occasion, and it was clear to see how much of the submission had been shaped by their input.
What's next?
We’ve built strong relationships with the Mayfair Youth Forum and, five years on, we are continuing to involve them as they move from school to college, university or employment. Earlier this year, members joined us for an archaeological dig in the square to uncover historic artefacts and they will continue to be involved as we move towards the square re-opening next summer.