As organisations consider how workplaces will look in a post-pandemic world, it’s possible to design spaces that support the needs of neurodiverse employees and make the working day more welcoming for everyone, says Ed Warner.
Designing more inclusive buildings and workspaces can help to reduce exclusion and foster equity for all employees and visitors to an organisation.
In the UK, there are more than 14 million disabled people, meaning that in equal opportunities workplaces, one fifth of the workforce could have additional access needs.
However, just 8% of disabled people use a wheelchair, and with World Autism Acceptance Week coming up between 28 March and 3 April 2022, providing equal opportunities and access for all previously marginalised groups should be high on the agenda.
Beyond physical accessibility
We firmly believe that accessibility is so much more than ramps and wheelchair accessible toilets, as while these are an important start to making offices more accessible, other considerations are required to meet the needs of the 92% of disabled people who are not wheelchair users.
Neurodiversity
Supporting neurodivergent staff in the post-lockdown workplaceÂ
What about all the non-disabled people you may wonder? Inclusive design produces universally appealing environments, helps organisations to hire and retain the best demographically, experientially, and cognitively diverse talent, improves satisfaction at work and provides long term cost savings by avoiding the need for expensive and environmentally damaging retrofits and adaptations in the future.
By engaging all of the stakeholders using the buildings in a co-design process, including disability groups and other underrepresented minorities, designers can push beyond minimum access standards to create truly inclusive workspaces and buildings.
We have worked with Barclays on its new Glasgow campus, centred around creating a built environment that responds to people with physical, cognitive and sensory impairments. This includes designing for neurodiversity, with a particular focus on autism.
Small changes, big impact
The resulting workspaces in the Glasgow campus have raised the bar significantly beyond design for physical access by focusing on features and small details which make the building genuinely inclusive.
These include recalibration rooms for employees with sensory needs in response to the fact that many autistic people have developed workplace strategies that include sensory recalibration.
These rooms have an emphasis on the sensory experience, for example intuitive environmental controls for light and heat, as well as the presence of sensory equipment.
Totally private, these rooms can help to ‘reset’ the mind if a person is experiencing sensory overload. Not just for autistic people, these spaces are also hugely valuable for anyone experiencing anxiety about returning to the office now that working from home measures have been lifted.
Quiet spaces, warm-desking zones and implementing noise control measures can help minimise workplace anxiety.”
In addition to wheelchair accessible and ambulant accessible toilets, there are Changing Places rooms, which have space for assistants to accompany people to the toilet, plus specialist equipment including ceiling track hoists and height-adjustable changing benches. These are in every building on Barclays’ Glasgow campus.
Other implementations include:
- reducing the decibel levels of washroom hand dryers to make the experience less jarring for autistic people;
- specifying door handles for people with limited dexterity;
- choosing floor and wall finishes that give the necessary contrast for visitors and employees with a cognitive or visual disability;
- a focus on the design of lighting and acoustics for building users with visual and/or hearing impairments; and
- the use of biophilic design and natural materials (connecting humans to the natural environment) to help reduce anxiety.
We are now working with Barclays to roll out these inclusive design standards for all of its offices across the globe.
Inclusive design principles
Other organisations can follow this inclusive example, considering facilities such as toilets for all genders, private faith rooms and kitchen areas that allow for different foods to be stored separately to ensure that people of all cultures are catered for.
Quiet spaces, warm-desking zones and implementing noise control measures can help minimise workplace anxiety; while improving visual, sensory and auditory wayfinding across the whole building in a step free environment can help people with a range of physical conditions to better navigate the space.
Inclusive design principles should span a six-step process, we believe.
- Connecting with stakeholders to build understanding
- Investigating reasons behind design challenges and identifying points of exclusion
- Creating an inclusive design strategy
- Improving by collecting feedback
- Measuring the impact of the changes on building occupants
- Implementing the design through inclusive design audits of existing buildings against the inclusive design strategy.
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When businesses embrace inclusive design, they will see significant benefits for their workforce and visitors.
Not only will inclusive businesses be able to attract and retain the best talent, but by investing time and engaging expertise at the start of the design process, inclusive design principles will help encourage staff back into the workplace and have a positive impact on team collaboration and productivity.
