Standards Development

Scope

BS8300 gives recommendations for the design of an inclusive built environment, taking into account end user requirements of protected or personal characteristic groups who are potentially impacted by the design of the built environment, including but not limited to; disability, age, gender, personal identity, religion and belief and pregnancy and maternity.

BS8300 provides guidance applicable to:

a) places and spaces between buildings, parks, areas of public realm, and approaches to buildings, including; key external features, setting-down points, pedestrian routes, entrances to buildings, street design, landscaping, wayfinding and information, horizontal and vertical movement and public facilities.

b) a wide range of buildings such as; transport buildings, industrial buildings, administrative and commercial buildings, health and welfare buildings, refreshment, entertainment and recreation buildings, religious buildings and associated facilities, educational, cultural and scientific buildings, temporary structures usable by the general public, and residential buildings including care homes, nursing accommodation, student accommodation and common parts of blocks of flats, but does not provide guidance on individual dwellings.

To ensure the resultant built environment is as usable as possible for as many people as possible.

Purpose

Industry guidance is needed to help ensure developments and the built environment are welcoming, usable, relevant and future proofed, taking into account the requirements of any protected characteristic group potentially impacted by the design of the built environment, including but not limited to; age, disability, gender, personal identity, religion and belief and pregnancy and maternity.

The revised standard will also transpose learning from PAS 6463 Design for the Mind into built environment guidance, holistically, to ensure the mainstreaming of the requirements of people with neurodiverse conditions, minimising potential perceived conflicts for standard users.

No such guidance exists but the industry appetite does, in part due to; an increased focus on equality and diversity over recent years, the Equality Act 2010, and recent publications such as the RIBA Inclusive Design Overlay to the RIBA Plan of Work.