Johan John is 19 years old and is a Trainee Architectural Technician at AEW Architects.

Johan’s journey started at St Ambrose Barlow RC High School in Swinton, Manchester. At the age of 13 he joined the Design Engineer Construct! (DEC), after-school club which sparked an interest in the construction industry. He designed a hotel inspired by a club field trip to Manchester’s Hotel Gotham.

He went on to study DEC as a GCSE option, achieving an A* grade for his design of a leisure centre. His university accommodation design entry in that year’s COYO national design challenge was ‘highly commended’. He was selected to present this design to the Mayor of Manchester and a delegation of visiting senior officials from Vietnam and enthused primary age pupils and teachers with lessons in digital building design.

When AEW Architects wanted to recruit an apprentice Architectural Technician, Johan came highly recommended. Entering the firm straight after his GCSEs, he spent a further two years studying Building Services Engineering at Trafford College achieving Distinction*. He progressed to a degree apprenticeship, studying Architectural Technology BSc (Hons) at the University of Central Lancashire.

Johan has worked on various retail projects at AEW, the highlight being involved in the design of McDonalds’ first restaurant built to the UKGBC net zero emissions standard in 2021 in Market Drayton. He also featured in the ‘Design a Net Zero McDonalds’ work experience, delivered to hundreds of young people at part of the COP26 education legacy programme.

Johan aspires to be a fully qualified (and potentially the youngest ever!) Chartered Architectural Technologist.