Golden Key Academy graduate Nikky Catto discusses her experience learning to become a London built environment tour guide

Why did you apply for the Golden Key Academy, and what were you hoping to achieve in terms of personal and professional development?

After running an event as part of the Open House Festival in September 2024, I realised how much I valued the combination of research, guided tours and the sense of community that emerges through exploring the built environment. I found it especially rewarding to share lesser-known stories about people and places and to see how this deepened visitors’ connection to the city.

Following that experience I wanted to engage more closely with Open City’s ethos, which led me to apply for the Golden Key Academy. I hoped to build on my professional development in tour guiding and placemaking by deepening my understanding of architecture and by connecting with new people.

I feel I’ve genuinely achieved these aims. The Academy was a perfectly timed next step and helped me strengthen both my knowledge and my confidence in this field.

People join the Golden Key Academy with a range of personal aims. Was there anything that surprised you once you started? Did you achieve anything you hadn’t expected?

Although I had previously completed another tour-guiding course, I applied to the Golden Key Academy precisely because it isn’t like other courses - I was still surprised by just how different the experience was. It took me some time to adjust to the Academy’s approach, especially the expectation to take the course content and translate it into self-directed work. Open City’s self-guided maps were an important bridge for me; they helped the two sides of the course finally ‘click’.

I initially expected something more traditional: a set curriculum to follow step by step. Instead, the Academy encouraged us to shape our own routes through the material and our own tours. That meant digging deeper, thinking more creatively and stretching myself in ways I hadn’t anticipated. At times this felt challenging, particularly as someone without a formal academic background, but the human warmth and encouragement within the Golden Key community helped me build confidence and resilience - skills I didn’t realise I was developing until I needed them.

I also achieved far more than I ever expected. I discovered a genuine appreciation for post-modernist architecture thanks to my mentor Jon Wright’s enthusiasm and expertise. I launched my own tour-guiding business. I even connected with several of the architects whose work shaped my tour – fortunately after the tour itself or it might have lasted all day – and I hope to collaborate with them further. On a personal level, the experience contributed to a significant improvement in my health following a serious illness. Walking is undeniably good for you, but finding your passion – and finding ‘your people’ – can be truly life-changing.

Part of the course is developing your own unique tour, exploring a neighbourhood or theme of your choice. What inspired the focus of your Golden Key Academy tour?

My tour focus actually emerged by accident. I’ve only ever lived in South London since moving from Belfast, and at first I felt strongly that I should push myself to explore somewhere new – either outside south London altogether or at least away from the area I’ve lived in for twenty years. My estate often sparks strong reactions from people, so I assumed a tour centred on my own neighbourhood simply wouldn’t work.

But then Open City shared a short video reel on social media featuring a glimpse of my estate and it completely shifted my perspective. I had wanted to explore the work of a particular architect – and as it happens, I live in one of his buildings. Yet my own unconscious bias initially led me to focus on his projects elsewhere, instead of recognising the privilege of seeing his work from the inside out.

I enjoyed researching the other area, but once I turned my attention back to my neighbourhood, the theme of the tour almost wrote itself. It suddenly felt right, like that feeling of doing something you love where the work becomes effortless.

I did laugh when friends told me they weren’t at all surprised I stayed in South London. They wondered what took me so long to realise just how unique and meaningful my own area would be as the heart of a tour.