Shoppers of ideas and professionals are turning to a new RIBA-backed toolkit that helps architects, planners and designers build genuinely inclusive spaces for LGBTQIA+ people, offering stage-by-stage guidance from brief to post-occupancy and shifting inclusion from a tick-box to a practiced approach.

Essential Takeaways

  • Stage-by-stage: The toolkit maps LGBTQIA+ inclusion across the full RIBA Plan of Work, from strategic definition to use and post-occupancy.
  • Co‑produced: Developed with Queer Places and tested through a year of engagement with LGBTQIA+ communities and built environment professionals.
  • Practical not performative: Focuses on ongoing negotiation and maintenance rather than a one-off checklist, with tools for meaningful conversations and decisions.
  • Broad relevance: Guidance is aimed at housing, healthcare, public space, culture and education , and benefits people who aren’t publicly out or are questioning.
  • Downloadable resource: RIBA hosts a downloadable guidance pack and supporting documents to help embed inclusive thinking into project workflows.

Why this toolkit matters now

There’s a quietly powerful shift in how projects are being briefed: clients and public bodies increasingly ask for spaces that work for LGBTQIA+ people. According to RIBA, that demand spans housing, healthcare, public realm and cultural buildings, which means designers can no longer treat inclusion as optional. The toolkit responds to that call with hands‑on material you can use on real projects, and it feels practical , not preachy.

What’s in the kit and how it works with the RIBA Plan of Work

The toolkit is organised around seven sections that align with the RIBA Plan of Work stages. That means you get targeted prompts for strategic definition, brief preparation, concept design, spatial coordination, technical design, construction handover and post‑occupancy. Practically, this helps teams ask the right questions at the right time: privacy and safety in early briefs, detailed specification for sanitary provision in technical design, and feedback loops once people occupy the space.

How the toolkit was developed , communities, not assumptions

RIBA and Queer Places say the toolkit wasn’t dreamed up in isolation; it followed a year of engagement and research with LGBTQIA+ communities and built environment professionals. That process shaped practical measures , for instance, how to approach visibility without forcing disclosure, or how to balance safety with a sense of belonging. Luke Fawcett, an urban designer involved in the project, thanked participants for testing ideas and sharing experiences, which underlines the collaborative nature of the work.

Practical tips for teams using the toolkit

Start early: use the toolkit during strategic and brief stages to set project values and outcomes. Run targeted engagement sessions with local LGBTQIA+ stakeholders and keep them involved through design and post‑occupancy. Be specific in briefs , name the types of privacy, sanitary and circulation needs you’re designing for. Finally, build monitoring into handover so the space can be adapted if real‑world use highlights surprises.

What this means for clients and users

Designers and clients who adopt the toolkit shift responsibility from "let’s be inclusive" to "here’s how we prove it." That matters not only to people who openly identify as LGBTQIA+, but to anyone who needs privacy, safety or a sense of belonging , young people questioning identity, those not ready to be out, or visitors from environments where disclosure is risky. In short, inclusive design here improves experience for a wide range of users.

It's a small change in process that can make everyday places feel safer and more welcoming.

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