The result of a multidisciplinary collaboration - including input from people with lived experience and experts from 25 built environment professions - the Inclusive Design Overlay to the RIBA Plan of Works is an important step towards RIBA’s commitment to making the built environment accessible and welcoming for everyone. The guidance, which is intended to be used by anyone involved in the built environment sector, assigns clear responsibilities and tasks to the different roles involved in a building project – including client, project management, design, construction, and asset management teams. Inclusive design seeks to create buildings and spaces that welcome everyone, regardless of age, sexual orientation, gender, health condition, disability, ethnicity, or religion. It means considering the needs of people with physical, cognitive, and sensory impairments, including neurodivergence and dementia. Says RIBA: “Inclusive design is about more than buildings and the space around them.

Enabling everyone to participate equally, confidently, and independently in everyday activities is a vital part of creating a sense of belonging and making society more equitable.” Inclusive Design Overlay Project Lead and Lead Overlay Author, Pareisse Wilson, said: “The biggest positive for me regarding this project is the fact it has been created in collaboration with industry, from landscape architects and engineers to project and facilities mangers. Together these collaborators helped decide which roles to include and contributed to defining the inclusive design tasks they would undertake at each Work Stage.

Throughout the journey over 100 built environment professionals have attended workshops or provided feedback on draft versions of the Overlay. This makes the Inclusive Design Overlay a truly inclusively designed framework.” RIBA President Simon Allford said: “The Inclusive Design Overlay will help not only our members but other design professionals to support wider communities, placemaking, and buildings, by designing for everyone.”