The Crown Estate and Grosvenor have launched a new report that sheds light on the challenges faced by people with physical and hidden disabilities when accessing and working within buildings and public spaces across the UK.

Purple Tuesday is an annual awareness day focused on highlighting the difficulties disabled citizens experience when navigating our public spaces, and the urgent need for more accessible shopping and service environments. As an official Purple Tuesday supporter, The Crown Estate is helping drive this important conversation.

The joint report, Inclusive Spaces and Places: A collaborative approach to inclusive design, highlights the urgent need for inclusive design in the built environment, emphasising the barriers that prevent millions from fully engaging with public and commercial spaces as well as the potential societal and economic losses this results in.

Limited accessibility impacts a staggering portion of the population, with one in four of the UK’s 67 million people living with a disability, and thousands more facing temporary mobility challenges each year. When combined with an aging population, the scale of the challenge becomes clear.

In response, The Crown Estate and Grosvenor, in conjunction with other major property owners, are urging the industry to unite in addressing this issue. Newly launched open-source tools created by the two organisations alongside those with lived experience offer the industry the opportunity to collaborate and drive real, practical change.

The first of these is an inclusive design brief which includes technical guidance and a set of prompts for design teams to embed inclusive design throughout the lifecycle of a project.

They have also developed a template for creating an inclusive design panel of people with lived experience which will be used across all new developments within their respective portfolios.

The organisations have founded a new working group – the Accessible and Inclusive Places Industry Group – to drive collaboration and change across the sector. Alongside Grosvenor and The Crown Estate, several of the founding members, British Land, Lendlease, Cadogan, Landsec and Heathrow, have already committed to the recommendations in the report.

Simon Harding-Roots, Managing Director for London at The Crown Estate, said: “This report highlights the barriers that millions of people face daily across the UK – ranging from those who live with disabilities right through to those with everyday accessibility concerns, like ensuring that parents with young children are catered for in our spaces.  By launching a range of tools that businesses can implement within their own design remits, we are calling on the property industry to work together to create inclusive, welcoming spaces for all. This is a process that takes time, but with collective action and clear commitments, it is a true step in the right direction.

This important work, the calls to action and tools are relevant for all buildings and places across the UK. However, in London we have a specific opportunity given the historic buildings we look after. Creating an inclusive, accessible and welcoming offering is at the heart of our London strategic vision and we are focused on supporting London’s renewal, to provide a diverse offering to a wider range of people and businesses.”

Read the full report, recommendations and access the tools here.

 

Visit: purpletuesday.co