Shawlands Academy announced winners of Buchanan Galleries and Ahead Partnership Made in Glasgow 2025 Challenge

Team 'BamBrew' from Shawlands Academy have been announced as the winners of the 2025 'Made in Glasgow' enterprise challenge.

Article Source: Buchanan Galleries
Last Updated: 19 March 2025 15:02

Made in Glasgow is a cross-school competition, hosted by Buchanan Galleries and Ahead Partnership, where 30 students were tasked to imagine and design an exciting community space for the city before going head-to-head in Dragons’ Den-style pitches. Centred around the theme ‘reimagining their local retail space’, the project challenged Glasgow pupils to present their ideas and vision for retail in the future, while considering the broader impact retail space has on the local area.

Year 10 students from St Mungo’s Academy and Shawlands Academy took part in three workshops at Buchanan Galleries which replicated real-life design processes. This included creative placemaking, community and customer insights, and environmental sustainability hosted by professionals at Buchanan Galleries, before the students developed their own ideas for a retail space to best serve their community in Glasgow.

The final allowed the teams to present their ideas to an expert panel, showcasing the principles learned during the workshops. The pitches addressed all aspects of creating a sustainable retail space, including establishing their concept, understanding their key audience, and shared how they would design and market the space. The final presentations included concept diagrams, mood boards and branding, survey questions for customer research, example social media content and key points on sustainability.

The winning team professionally pitched an innovating café specialising in Matcha Teas. Their concept aimed to tap into the growing popularity of Matcha as a trendy and health-conscious beverage to attract a fresh demographic to Buchanan Galleries – specifically teenagers and students.

‘Made in Glasgow’ aims to showcase the vital role young people can play in transforming the retail landscape into a dynamic force for positive change within their communities. In recent years, physical retail has shifted towards creating experiences, with shopping centres evolving into social hubs that foster and strengthen community connections.

The school engagement project is delivered by Buchanan Galleries, its parent company Landsec, and Ahead Partnership, and is funded by the Landsec Futures Fund. The £20m social impact fund is dedicated to enhancing social value to the communities it serves.

Kathy Murdoch, Centre Director at Buchanan Galleries, said: “Made In Glasgow is a wonderful initiative that encourages students to explore their creativity within the retail sector. Listening to the perspectives of the younger generation offers fresh inspiration for creating retail experiences that resonate with their needs and interests.

“This year, we have been really impressed by the creativity and innovative thinking shown by all the students – and would like to congratulate Team ‘BamBrew’ from Shawlands Academy, who after much deliberation from the judging panel emerged as well-deserving winners.”

“This is the second time the competition has run in Glasgow and helps individuals learn everything they need to know about taking an idea from its first draft to its design and pitch, whilst building self-confidence and skills to further develop their own career paths.”

Georgina Johnson, Programme Manager at Ahead Partnership said: “We have been so impressed by the quality and presentation of the students’ ideas for the second time delivering the Made In Glasgow challenge. Their concepts put community at the heart of the future of retail and incorporated innovative sustainability features that are so important to our places and spaces.

“It has been brilliant to see the Buchanan Galleries and Landsec teams come together to nurture the next generation of talent through employability skills development and role modelling, helping to engage more young people with the careers and opportunities available in the retail sector.”

The winning team will now progress through to the national virtual semi-finals where they’ll compete against teams from other Made In Challenges happening across the UK. The three winning teams from the semi-final will then head to Landsec HQ in London for the national final in-person in June 2025.

For more information, please visit buchanangalleries.co.uk

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