Implemented on 2 March 2021, the London Plan sets out City Hall’s planning blueprint for the capital in the coming years. One of its most fundamental features is the new rules on accessibility, which mean developers must now include evacuation lifts in all new buildings – enabling all users such as those in a wheelchair to have an independent means of escape in emergency situations.

Describing the new rules as ‘long overdue’, Bureau Veritas is calling on developers and architects across the nation to ‘spearhead a new era for accessible and inclusive building design’ by following London’s example and enacting these new rules.

“The new rules for evacuation lifts contained in the London Plan are currently the most robust standards for progressing accessible and inclusive design of new buildings,” said Andy Lowe, technical director at Bureau Veritas Building Control UK.

“Currently the London Plan only applies to new construction projects in the capital. Yet, at a time when developers and architects are increasingly under pressure to demonstrate how they’re making the built environment more accessible for the most vulnerable groups in society – the construction industry should join this step-change now and in-doing so spearhead a new era for accessible and inclusive building design,” 

The London Plan’s new guidance coincides with recent changes to Part M, making it compulsory for many commercial buildings such as museums, shopping centres and zoos to design changing places toilets for severely disabled people. There are a series of specifications to follow when designing these ‘changing places’ toilets, such as the facility should be at least three metres wide and four metres long, with a ceiling height of 2.4 metres.