P&G architect Alla Elmahadi wins BCO NextGen Ideas Competition with Civic Stack

Alla Elmahadi, architect and design manager at Procter & Gamble, has won the British Council for Offices (BCO) NextGen Ideas Competition 2026 with The Civic Stack, a proposal to turn unused capacity in buildings into civic space.

The BCO said Elmahadi was one of six NextGen members who pitched in a Dragons' Den-style final at the NatWest conference centre in London on the evening of 22 October. An audience of more than 100 and a panel of seven industry judges chose her idea on delivery, innovation, impact and deliverability.

Under The Civic Stack, building owners or occupiers would pick from three levels of commitment to decide which space they open up, to whom and when. The BCO said the concept would give community groups accessible and affordable space while delivering measurable social value.

Elmahadi said: "The space is already there. The communities are already there. What's missing is the connection between them."

The prize

The BCO said this is the first year in the competition's history that the winning idea progresses into a newly launched BCO Incubator. The organisation will now gather a group of industry experts to form the Incubator team, which will work with Elmahadi to turn Civic Stack from an idea into a product.

The judges said: "This is an idea that could impact the industry in a really good way, especially with the BCO's help."

The BCO described the change for 2026 as a clear pathway from ideas to action. According to the BCO's finalists page, the competition attracted more than 20 submissions, which an expert team cut to six.

The other finalists

The remaining five finalists pitched ideas spanning AI, climate change, process management and circularity, the BCO said. They were:

• Ewan Howell of Arup, an electrical engineer based in Birmingham, with the Training Ground Charter
• Peter Joaki, a senior project manager in Knight Frank's project and building consultancy team, with the Living Brief
• Stephin Abraham of Gensler, a computational designer based in Birmingham, with Spaceloop
• Leelou Coppleman, a commercial manager at ODGroup who helps deliver Cat A and Cat B workplace fit-outs, with Re:source
• Ben Mead, a sustainability and building physics engineer at Cundall, with The Carbon Compass

The judging panel comprised Kathryn Cripps of Knight Frank, Benjamin Lesser of Derwent London, Jack Hawkins of GPE, Frederic Schwass of General Projects, Sophie Davies of WSP, Thomas Proctor of NCG Global and Nick Gaskell of Hawkins\Brown.

Knight Frank was platinum partner for the competition, with Hawkins\Brown and NCG Global as gold partners. NatWest hosted the final at its headquarters at 250 Bishopsgate, and Ginger Leadership Communications provided public speaking training to the finalists.

Background

The BCO said Elmahadi recently joined Procter & Gamble as Europe architect and design manager and is a co-founding board member of Article 25's NextGen Board.

In 2025 the showcase included for the first time a winner chosen live on the night, according to the BCO, with the prize going to a chartered senior quantity surveyor at AECOM.

The BCO, founded in 1990, describes itself as a membership organisation devoted to research and discussion, with more than 4,000 members.

The BCO has not yet said when the Incubator team will be assembled or when work on turning Civic Stack into a product will start.