Design Council allocates grants

The Design Council has allocated ú200 000 in grants to ten design projects. The money is the first annual distribution by the council of Government funding for design-related schemes, part of the council’s new role.

Sixty eight bids requesting a total of more than ú1.5m were lodged for the limited funds. Design Council chief executive Andrew Summers says it is “frustrating” that many good projects failed to secure money.

Summers will not know until later in the year how much the council will have to allocate in 1996, but expects “a similar amount”. He adds that the method of application and assessment, including the brief, will be reviewed.

The council is not releasing how much of the ú200 000 each project has secured, but the figures given below are believed to be correct.

London’s Design Museum has two successful projects. One is to extend the museum’s in-service teacher training (ú16 400), while the other is to produce a collection of educational resources, including posters (ú25 000).

Design Dimension Education Trust, based at Dean Clough, Yorkshire, also secured cash for two projects. The Sheffield Forging Futures Project will promote collaboration between business, the community and schools to use design to improve the environment. The Northern Design Group, a consortium of design-related bodies, will also promote design to business and the public.

The Royal Society for the Arts gets two allocations related to its Student Design Awards, which will be widened to bring in engineering design (ú23 000), and more seminars will be held to raise student awareness (ú13 000).

The Design Business Association and the Chartered Society of Designers will collaborate on producing careers advice on design. Both submitted similar bids on the theme and are being asked to work together.

The Institution of Mechanical Engineers is to survey the needs of design engineers and the perception of their work by their employers (ú13 000). The Institute of Materials is to run a series of workshops to promote the innovative use of new materials (ú24 000).

And Cardiff Institute of Higher Education, home of the Welsh Design Advisory Service, is to monitor the effect of introducing a designer into small firms (ú19 000).