Katie Kershaw- Looking back on 25 years of BYPY
Photo credit: Birmingham Post
This year, we are celebrating 25 years of the iconic BYPY Awards. The awards highlight the exceptional talent and skills of young professionals across Greater Birmingham, while also giving the overall winners the chance to open doors in their careers that they might not otherwise have been able to open.
As part of these celebrations, we spoke to the overall winners of the awards, dating right back to the very first winner in 2001 to last year's winner.
Meet Katie Kershaw, our BYPY winner from 2015.
Katie Kershaw is a director of Node, an award-winning urban design, landscape and heritage practice. Katie is an accredited member of the Institute for Historic Building Conservation and was awarded 'recognised practitioner in urban design' status in 2010 by the Urban Design Group.
Katie's broad ranging professional experience includes masterplanning, heritage strategies and assessments, design guidance, public realm enhancement and town and city centre regeneration; all geared around a central theme of improving the standards of design quality in development and delivering places for people.
Katie is an associate lecturer at the University of Birmingham, contributing to both undergraduate and postgraduate courses. She is also an experienced board member, having served a full term as non-executive director of Trident Social Investment Group, during which time she chaired the Matrix Housing Partnership for a two year term. Katie's wider board and committee roles have included trustee director of Birmingham Conservation Trust and as a member of Birmingham Civic Society’s planning committee.
Katie was highly commended as a ‘rising star’ by the British Property Federation in their annual awards in 2017.
Katie loves the outdoors and enjoys marathon running, travel, photography, climbing, swimming, cycling and yoga. She is a long time season ticket holder at her first love, Aston Villa FC.
Read below to find out how winning BYPY felt for Katie...
What category did you win?
I won the Property and Construction category and overall winner in 2015.
Tell us a bit about yourself…
I am a director at Node, an award-winning urban design, landscape and heritage practice based in Birmingham, where projects range from town and city centre regeneration right through to new community design. I am particularly interested in design in the historic environment. We work with public and private sector clients to create contextually nuanced and distinctive places that people can be proud to call home.
Away from my day job, I am a non-executive board member at whg, who provide social housing and wide-ranging support to communities across the Midlands. In early 2025 I was appointed as a panel member of the WMCA’s Mayoral Taskforce for Homes, which is seeking to drive up the delivery and quality of homes in the combined authority area. I am also an associate lecturer at the University of Birmingham at undergraduate and postgraduate level in urban design and placemaking.
In my spare time I love running, swimming, cycling - and generally being outdoors as much as possible. I am a long-time Villa season ticket holder and I couldn’t live without house music.
Where were you working for at the time of winning your award?
I was working at Node….
What does your career look like now?
…and I am delighted to say that I am still here! As a business we have gone from strength to strength in the 10 years since BYPY, with the growth of our fantastic team and the projects that we work on and the clients that we work with having become more interesting, diverse and impactful.
What did winning BYPY do for your career? Have you had any other big achievements or award wins since?
It created a huge opportunity for my career, and for Node as a business, opening doors across Birmingham and the wider region. On a personal level (after the shock wore off), it was also a huge confidence boost to be recognised in this way. That confidence led me to applying and being appointed for non-executive and panel roles, which have given me the opportunity to contribute in areas that I am passionate about – and broadened my skillset immeasurably. Finally, the role forced me to face down my fear of public speaking. I’ve since dealt with live TV and radio – although a lecture hall of students is still my most nerve wracking audience!
Why should people apply for GBYPY?
Put simply – it is a huge opportunity to celebrate the excellence of young people from across our city. Even the act of applying is a great reminder to yourself or your nominee of the contribution that you or they are making – so what is there to lose?
How did winning BYPY feel?
Total disbelief (and a dash of terror!) followed by immense gratitude and a sense of responsibility to live up to the accolade.
