The new charitable arm of Grimshaw Architects has been announced by its founder at an event held last week at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

The newly-formed Grimshaw Foundation is aimed at promoting inclusivity and will serve a broader purpose to “engage and encourage young people to discover the value of creativity and the inspiration of art.”

Its genesis is the product of more than a year’s worth of coordination between Grimshaw founder Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, the firm’s leadership, and an advisory committee that includes Bartlett honorary professor Neil Pinder. 

Speaking in a press release last week, the 82-year-old Grimshaw outlined his goals for the new entity, saying “what the Foundation will do is enable young people, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds, to experience the art of making and the making of art and introduce more opportunities and different career paths — opening up the world of the creative industries.”

The establishment of the foundation allows Grimshaw to address a variety of matters that include issues of diversity, gender and pay equity, and socioeconomic opportunity to an interconnected global network of institutions and communities as overseen by a board that includes trustees like Tate+Co Architects' Jerry Tate and BBC commentator Jon Snow.

Besides London, the group has already begun its operations abroad in such places as New York City, Sydney, and Melbourne, Australia. Grimshaw says its London component will spearhead the engagement effort globally with help from Sarah Wigglesworth Architects (SWA), Scale Rule, LionHeart, and Sir Antony Gormley (also of the Bartlett School of Architecture).

“Meeting people working in the industry and who work in different ways and environments creates a new platform of learning for our students,”  Charlie Welch, Head of the Art & Design Technology Faculty, Regent High School, London said finally, speaking of the program's intended benefits. “These opportunities are key to their understanding of what they could achieve in their futures and opens them up to thinking about new careers.”