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A guide for built environment professionals on creating an accessible and inclusive environment has been launched by the Construction Industry Council.

The guide was launched this week by Tony Burton, deputy chair of the CIC and partner at Gardiner & Theobald, and endorsed by Penny Mordant MP, minister for disabled people.

The guide, which has been endorsed by many professional institutions, contains six principles suggested by the government’s Office for Disability Issues.

It will “guide, support and motivate professionals when making decisions for clients, employers and society which affect the achievement of an inclusive environment”.

The six principles are to:

• Contribute to building an inclusive society now and in the future
• Apply professional and responsible judgement and take a leadership role
• Apply and integrate the principles of inclusive design from the outset of a project
• Do more than just comply with legislation and codes
• Seek multiple views to solve accessibility and inclusivity challenges
• Acquire the skills, knowledge, understanding and confidence to make inclusion the norm, not the exception

The guide is an initiative that emerged from the Built Environment Professional Education Project – a government project being taken forward by the CIC and into industry.

The aim is to build on the legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games by helping to generate a shift change in how inclusive design skills are taught in the UK.

The aim is that all built environment professionals will receive mandatory, quality teaching about inclusive design so that they can help create inclusive building, places and spaces for future generations.

The guide can be downloaded from here.

This article first appeared in FM-Worldon 14th March 2017.