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Inclusive design
Inclusive Design is a way of designing products and environments so that they are usable and appealing to everyone regardless of age, ability or circumstance by working with users to remove barriers in the social, technical, political and economic processes underpinning building and design.
Guidance note
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A message from the Disability Rights Commission "The Disability Rights Commission sees the creation of a fully inclusive built environment as fundamental to achieving its goal of a society in which all disabled people can participate fully as equal citizens. "If they are to be truly sustainable, communities must be planned, designed, managed and maintained to enable everyone to live, work, learn and participate in the activities they choose without being confronted by barriers that prevent them from doing so. "Currently, it is too often the case that the access needs of people are not fully considered until too late in the process and as an after thought. By which time many fundamental decisions that impact upon a developments accessibility have already been taken. Not only will this situation compromise the quality of access achievable, it is also likely to result in the developer incurring additional costs through having to employ more expensive design or planning gain solutions than would have been the case if the issues had been considered from the outset. "This English Partnerships design note places a very welcome emphasis on the need to consider Inclusive Design at a strategic level, as far upstream as possible in the development process. The DRC would urge English Partnerships to publicise it widely and encourage their partners and stakeholders to pay close heed to it in the future. Andrew Shipley |
A Guidance Note on Inclusive Design has been developed for English Partnerships by the SURFACE Inclusive Design Research Centre at the University of Salford. The Note seeks to guide in the development of environments that will promote social inclusion through the use of Inclusive Design principles and so serve the widest range of users and customers of the built environment. Through the application of inclusive design principles liability under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) as a service provider will be minimised and an audit trail provided in order to defend the design methodology adopted on particular projects.
This Note covers the following:
- A summary of inclusive design and accessibility
- Legal aspects relating to the DDA and the built environment
- Application of the revised Part M of the Building Regulations
- Relationship of Inclusive Design to project implementation
- Inclusive Design strategies
- Access Statements and Inclusive Design criteria
- The role of Inclusive Design Champion and Access Consultant
- Useful resources and information
By publishing the Guidance Note English Partnerships wishes to encourage others to consider the benefits of an Inclusive Design approach in their developments.
Pilot projects
English Partnerships recognises the importance of creating environments that all people can use and encouraging user participation in the design process. The potential of Inclusive Design in working towards these goals is seen by English Partnerships to be a way forward. Currently English Partnerships is undertaking Inclusive Design pilot projects. As these projects develop the results and effects of an Inclusive Design approach will be analysed.
