Designing for Inclusivity, Equality and Diversity
Lucy Plumridge, Associate Director ‑ Education, HLM Architects

Gone are the days of including level thresholds, a lift and accessible toilets and thinking that you have designed an inclusive building. Todays education environments need to support a wide range of students of different faiths, genders and with a variety of neurodiverse conditions to make them truly inclusive learning environments.

While 18% of the population have a disability only 6% of these are wheelchair users, the other 94% have other physical, cognitive or sensory impairments, in particular neurodiversity. So how do we design buildings that support their needs? The presentation will cover aspects of design from external areas and approaches to buildings through to the detailed design of interiors, looking at how we can support students with mental health conditions including social anxiety, communication difficulties and autistic spectrum disorders.                                             

Jennifer Stirling, Senior Inclusive Design Consultant, Buro Happold