Golden Key Academy graduate Shuang Karen Hu discusses her experience learning to become a London built environment tour guide

People join the Golden Key Academy with a range of personal aims. Was there anything that surprised you most about the course once you started or did you achieve anything that you hadn’t expected from the Golden Key Academy?

I didn’t have a particularly ambitious goal when I signed up for the Golden Key Academy. I had moved to London about a year earlier and since I’ve always been interested in architecture I thought designing a tour to help me understand the area around me would be a fun project. I already knew of Open City and was drawn to its mission.

What surprised me most was just how enjoyable the course is. It isn’t lecture-based; it’s hands-on and project-driven with mentors and small-group collaboration. You learn by doing and receive timely, constructive feedback. It feels almost like an apprenticeship. I hadn’t really considered tour guiding as a potential career, but hearing from Golden Key Academy alumni opened my mind to the possibility - and now I’m excited to explore it further.

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

The biggest draw of the Golden Key Academy for me was the final graduation project: delivering a tour as part of the Open House Festival. It is such a well-known and prestigious event and I saw it as a chance to be part of something bigger than my own training. It’s exciting – though admittedly a bit nerve-racking to give a tour to 20 strangers for the very first time!

When I started the course, my goal was simply to create a tour showcasing the beautiful 1930s public buildings, factories, studios and residential architecture in Twickenham. But the course taught me very quickly that a tour can’t just be about pointing out buildings; it needs a narrative. I shifted my thinking from focusing on structures to developing a story that ties them together.

I chose to explore how Richmond transformed from a landscape of royal palaces and grand villas into a modern London suburb where people work and live. Once I found that narrative thread, planning the route and selecting the stops became much easier.  

The academy offers aspiring tour guides everything they need to deliver successful, insightful and engaging events exploring the built environment. What parts of the course did you find most useful in preparing your tour?

Before I talk about the practical benefits, I want to start with the fun. Two moments stand out as particularly exciting. The first was the ‘Day in the City’ mini-group collaborative project in March run by Alison Rae. Two weeks after we were given our theme we were out on the street presenting with her and the other groups – it was challenging, but incredibly energising!

The second highlight came in May when we met our mentor and mini-cohort for the first time. The anticipation around finding out our group and mentor allocations was genuinely fun and I was thrilled to discover we were matched perfectly.

Golden Key Academy also encourages us to attend as many Open City tours as possible. Being able to join some of these tours for free is a huge benefit and a valuable learning experience. I’ve attended most of them and each one taught me something new. They not only supported my coursework but also deepened my understanding of London and sparked even more curiosity about how the city has developed over time.

I also found presenting my tour to my mini-cohort and mentor incredibly useful. Their feedback helped me understand which parts of the tour were most engaging and it was reassuring to hear my mentor confirm that my theme and route worked well. I particularly benefited from Nick’s suggestion to research a development I hadn’t originally included as well as his practical advice to consider noise levels at one of my stops.

Finally, the ‘What’s Next’ session after we completed the course was extremely valuable. We had the chance to speak with another mentor and our conversation helped me think about how I might build on my tour and promote it in the future. Tour guiding develops so many highly transferable skills – including public speaking, research, analytical thinking and customer service – and it’s exciting to consider where those might lead.

Where else have your Golden Key Academy skills proved useful since completing the course/or has completing the course shaped your direction or opened new doors for you?

I really enjoyed the research side of the project and ended up spending a lot of time in the local history library (local history libraries are absolute treasures, full of maps, photographs, newspaper clippings and staffed by incredibly knowledgeable, helpful people!) I uncovered so many stories and details about the places on my tour route. Of course there’s never enough time to include everything and all those fascinating details can also be hard to remember. My mentor Nick kept reminding me to simplify, simplify, simplify. It took some discipline, but eventually I absorbed the message – however challenging it was to leave out all the exciting things I’d found.

Leading a public tour also helped me develop skills I wasn’t as confident in before, particularly engaging with groups and speaking to the general public. Those skills have already proved useful in my volunteering roles at National Trust houses and at sporting events. Completing the course has definitely broadened my confidence and opened up new opportunities to connect with people in different settings.

A key part of the course is learning together and socialising with a like-minded cohort of fellow course participants. What are your words of wisdom for all those signing up for the 2026 course?

What surprised me most about the course was how generous GKA is in creating opportunities for us to socialise and learn from one another and we often ended the learning days with drinks – a relaxed and friendly atmosphere where the cohort could talk about our tours, share tips or simply get to know each other better. People join the course from all kinds of backgrounds and a wide range of ages and that diversity makes the conversations even richer.

I also became a Friend of Open City which meant I was invited to Friends’ events – another wonderful way to meet GKA alumni and mentors who lead Open City tours. It genuinely feels like being part of a large, welcoming family where people are generous with their time and supportive of new students.

My advice to anyone joining the 2026 course is to treat it not just as a training programme but as a community. You can learn so much not only from the formal sessions, but also by going on Open City tours, chatting with classmates, alumni and mentors, and attending the social events. Go on each other’s tours as well – it's a great way to learn from one another and deepen your connections.

You can view Shuang’s tour here