We’re so excited to announce our entry for the Davidson Prize 2026 for Changing the Game: Building Play into Housing has been shortlisted.
This Is Not A Road will be developed with our fabulous team Artform, Civic and Social & Made it Together.
Working for this competition has already influenced how we think about play and access in our day to day, and the ideas and joy are bubbling over into our projects already.
Get in touch if you’re interested in working with us to bring play to a street near you!
#ThisIsNotARoad #ThisIsAPlaceForPlay #CWStudio #PlayStreets
@thedavidsonprize@artformarchitects@made.it.together@civicandsocial
Choose your favourite from the Davidson Prize longlist! Voting closes for the People’s Choice Prize on Tuesday 28th at 6pm. If you like our entry, please vote for us! See link in bio.
This Is Not A Road centres around a community toolkit for play that gives agency to local residents and allows them to reimagine their streets, alleyways and forgotten spaces into playful opportunities that can be shared by all.
Created in collaboration with @cw_studio_@made.it.together and @civicandsocial
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#davidsonprize #peoplesvote #playstreets #designforplay #manchester
Carolyn and Lucy are looking forward to being in Leeds at UKREiiF in May.
Get in touch, we love to chat with coffee!
#UKREiiF #UKREiiF26 #CWStudio #CoffeePlease @ukreiif@carolynwillitts@lucy_r_marshall
As part of our submission to the @thedavidsonprize all longlisted teams were invited to create a five-image carousel.
We went simple and bold. The typeface we chose is Old Road Sign which we thought was very apt for this project!
The vibe? Joy, Play and Collective Imagination.
#ThisIsAPlaceForPlay #TheDavidsonPrize #ThisIsNotARoad #ACommunityLedToolkitForPlay #BuildYourOwnPlayground
@artformarchitects@made.it.together@civicandsocial@architectsjournal
More images for our longlisted design for Changing the Game: Building Play into Housing - The Davidson Prize 2026.
This is the billboard showing our ideas for adaptable designs for play installations. Rather than prescribing a fixed outcome, it is designed to empower communities, enabling streets to evolve organically through collective action.
If we are selected for the next stage, we will partner with a real residential street in Manchester to co-create a working prototype of the toolkit! Through hands-on workshops residents will reimagine the space outside their own homes.
@thedavidinsonprize@architectsjournal@manchestercitycouncil
#ThisIsAPlaceForPlay #TheDavidsonPrize #ThisIsNotARoad #ACommunityLedToolkitForPlay #BuildYourOwnPlayground
@thedavidsonprize@architectsjournal@artformarchitects@made.it.together@civicandsocial
This Is Not A Road!
(Spoiler: we’ve been longlisted!)
We recently had the pleasure of entering the @thedavidsonprize with our brilliant Studio Nine colleagues @artformarchitects@made.it.together and our fabulous Stockport sister @civicandsocial
Together we designed a community-led toolkit for Play, inspired by Manchester’s 1979 playground protests.
In our vision, aunties, grandparents, activists and young people come together to say which homes, streets and neighbourhoods could support play, not suppress it.
Enter our toolkit: a document facilitated by a team of placemakers, which inspires and guides communities to build play opportunities into their streets in ways that reflect their specific needs.
It’s been so much fun. Lots more images to follow!
Check us out in the Architects Journal along with all the other longlisted teams.
@thedavidinsonprize@architectsjournal@manchestercitycouncil
#TheDavidsonPrize #ThisIsNotARoad #ACommunityLedToolkitForPlay #BuildYourOwnPlayground #CWStudio
Thank you @the_sgld for featuring us in the Garden Design Journal this month. It’s very exciting for us to see our Wythenshawe Civic Centre design in here!
Our design includes sociable seating and rain garden islands with playful walkways. The demolition in Wythenshawe is now complete and the work on site begins…
#GardenDesignJournal #SociableSeating #RainGardenIslands #CWStudio #GDJ
@wythenshawecivic@wythenshawetowncentre@manchestercitycouncil@archemporium@if_do@museplaces@kiergroup
💚 Today we’re recognising CW Studio as one of the first organisations to join the Part W Supporters’ Circle. 💚
By becoming a supporter, CW Studio is helping sustain the research, advocacy and campaigns pushing for gender equity in the built environment.
Backing this work sends an important message: equity isn’t just something to talk about — it’s something to support and invest in.
Thank you @cw_studio_ for standing with us as part of this inaugural year.
#WeArePartW #PartWSupportersCircle #IWD2026
On International Day we are proud to support #WeArePartW and gender equity in the built environment.
Thank you Part W for inviting organisations across the sector to make a shared commitment. At CW Studio, we are passionate about committing to social responsibility and gender justice in the sphere of design, place and space making.
Here we are in Moston digging in the plants that we funded to bring some extra colour and joy to this busy street.
#IWD2026 #DiggingAndGiving #WeArePartW #CWStudio #SpaceMaking #MoreJoy
@partwcollective
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Photo by the fabulous @fionafinchett
Planters by @vestre_furniture
A marvellous evening last night at the Greater Manchester Awards for the Building of the Year Awards 2025. The Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce announced the seven finalists highlighting projects with significant community, economic, and regeneration impact.
Stockroom was shortlisted, and although it didn’t win, we’re delighted to have received a Highly Commended, which still feels pretty brilliant!
Thank you @aew_architects for hosting, so much fun with the Stockroom team AND we got a certificate so not all was lost!
#Stockroom #CWStudio #GreeningThePublicRealm
@stockr__m@stockportcouncil@spaceinvader_design@kiergroup@cbre@cbre_uk@studio DBD
We had a colourful, fun and lively CWS strategy workshop yesterday with coffee and pens and sharing and laughter.
It’s the first of many… watch this space!
#SOSINeedCoffee #HeadingToTheIslandOfJoy #TellingStories #CWStudio
Amazing coffee and kindness from @gran.t.coffeehouse
Pocket Green Spaces... Over a few mornings we ventured out into the city in search of spots with potential to become green pocket spaces.
Could a bench fit here? A mural there? Would pollinator plants bring life and colour?
We scribbled ideas in the rain. Back at the studio, we shared our sketches in a fast-paced design game… 30 seconds to draw then pass it round to the next person to carry on!
It was a joyful mix of creativity, theory, and street-level discovery, imagining how activating small spaces can spark big change.
– Jess
#PocketGreenSpaces #ManchesterScribbles #HabitatsForPollinators #CWStudio
