The Construction Industry Council (CIC) has unveiled its ‘Essential Principles Guide’ for Built Environment Professionals on creating an accessible and inclusive environment. 

It was launched by Tony Burton, deputy chair of CIC and partner at Gardiner and Theobald, and endorsed by Penny Mordaunt MP, Minister for Disabled People during an evening reception.

The guide, which has been endorsed by many Professional Institutions, contains six principals as suggested by the Office for Disability Issues. These six essential principles will guide, support and motivate when making decisions for clients, employers and society, which affect the achievement of an inclusive environment.  They will help people to meet their professional obligations to seek to achieve inclusion and ensure that this goal is integrated into all professional activity.

The six essential principals are:

1.         Contribute to building an inclusive society now and in the future

2.         Apply professional and responsible judgement and take a leadership role

3.         Apply and integrate the principles of inclusive design from the outset of a project

4.         Do more than just comply with legislation and codes

5.         Seek multiple views to solve accessibility and inclusivity challenges

6.         Acquire the skills, knowledge, understanding and confidence to make inclusion the norm not the exception

The guide is an initiative that emerged from the Built Environment Professional Education Project – a government project now being taken forward by the CIC and into industry. The aim is to build on the legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games by helping to generate a shift change in how inclusive design skills are taught in the UK. The aim is that all built environment professionals will receive mandatory, quality teaching about inclusive design so that they can help create inclusive building, places and spaces for future generations.

Tony Burton, partner of Gardiner & Theobald which sponsored the publication, said: “G&T is delighted to support this important initiative which has the potential to positively influence the built environment for many years to come. By embracing these six principles for achieving an inclusive environment the construction and property industry can achieve the same impressive levels of accessibility we saw in London 2012.”

The guide can be downloaded for free from CIC’s website at www.cic.org.uk