Inclusive design delivers spaces and places for everyone.
When inclusive design is achieved in our spaces and places – such as stations and footbridges – it means everyone can benefit from our full range of services and opportunities. It:
- puts people at the heart of the design process, ensuring they can use the railway safely, easily and with dignity
- acknowledges diversity and difference, and is responsive to people’s needs
- offers choice where a single design solution may not work for everyone
- provides for flexibility in use, offering more than one solution to help balance everyone’s needs; and
- provides buildings and environments that are convenient and enjoyable for everyone.
We work with our Built Environment Accessibility Panel – an independent, voluntary panel of experts – to help us plan accessible, inclusive designs that follow these principles. The panel meets every month at venues across the country.
Diversity Impact Assessments mean we can measure the impact of our designs, which helps us to create the most accessible spaces. It’s how we demonstrate that we are meeting our Public Sector Equality Duty.
A Diversity Impact Assessment considers the likely effects of projects, spaces and services on the characteristics protected by the Equality Act: age; disability; gender; gender reassignment; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sexual orientation; and marriage and civil partnerships – in short, everyone.
Our inclusive design strategy
Spaces and Places for Everyone, Network Rail’s inclusive design strategy, has been developed in consultation with a range of internal and external parties, and describes how we will get better every day at offering more inclusive environments, from railways to workplaces.
Access for All
We make accessibility improvements to stations nationwide as part of the Access for All programme. The Department for Transport funds the improvements we manage and deliver as part of this programme and selects the stations. In Scotland, Ministers recommend stations to the Secretary of State for Transport.