RNIB building first in UK to meet neurodiversity standard

RNIB’s new London office is The Grimaldi Building, on Pentonville Road, which has been refurbished to designs by Buro Happold and Kay Elliott to meet the organisation’s needs.

According to Buro Happold, it is the first building in the UK incorporating innovations for those living with sight loss, alongside implementation of the British Standards Institution (BSI) PAS 6493 Design for the Mind – Neurodiversity and the Built Environment design guidance, while also meeting current good practice for wider accessibility and inclusion.

The building brings together several RNIB services, including: The Low Vision Service assessment clinics; Products for Life store; usability lab space designed to imitate an ordinary ‘living room’ showcasing adaptations; heritage area; ‘Talking Books’ recording studios; RNIB Connect Radio broadcast studio; a multi-faith room; serenity space for people experiencing sensory overload or stress; and amenities for guide dogs.

To make the building inclusive,  features include:

• Visually contrasting surfaces including floors, walls and furniture, including a clear, colour coded, tactile signage system with Braille and embossed text and symbols.
• NaviLens app points so that blind and partially sighted people can also access and locate information and interact with the environment around them. By scanning the code with a mobile phone camera through the app, visitors hear an audio description of the immediate or surrounding area, helping people locate information and points of interest and advising who is approaching them.
• An embossed vinyl flare path indicates the main circulation route around each floor. 
• Controllable lighting, for both intensity and colour temperature, on each bank of desks and in meeting rooms.
• Acoustics detailing to reduce unwanted noise.
• Ten Ecophon acoustic rafts suspended above the reception desk have incremental light reflectance values (LRV) to illustrate how visual contrast is measured.
• A passenger lift with voice annunciation, visual displays and tactile signage within the lift and on each landing.
• Kitchens with tactile and visual cues for cupboards and taps, and contrasting marine edge worktops.

The building also has a sensory garden outside, zoned areas inside for quieter and collaborative work, and a ‘serenity room’ for recovery from stress or sensory overload.

RNIB senior project manager Tricia Smikle said: “As a charity, we believe that the world should be accessible to all, and this important move and adopting the new BSI guidance for neurodiversity, represents RNIB’s values and our continued determination to build a more inclusive society.”

Jean Hewitt, inclusive environments specialist at Buro Happold, added: “Working closely together with RNIB and Kay Elliott architects, as well as Buro Happold colleagues in our lighting, acoustics and asset consultancy teams, we’ve introduced many new and innovative features specifically for people with sight loss that other organisations are already looking to adopt.

“As technical author of the new PAS 6463 design standard, it’s been a true joy and a privilege to work on the first building in the UK to interpret and apply the new guidance. It’s purposefully drafted to offer flexibility in the way is applied to meet different circumstances and user needs.

“With this building demonstrating what’s possible, I hope others will follow suit, to make places as inclusive as possible for everyone to enjoy and have the opportunity to flourish.”

Yuli Cadney-Toh, director and architect at Kay Elliot, said: “Stakeholders sharing their lived experiences with us and seeing how their previous facilities impeded their best work was an important start point for us.  Taking that brief, which lifted the project beyond mere compliance, and working with Buro Happold as experts in the field, we were able to transform the building with a legible layout that achieves a natural flow for all and an enriching place for each of the diverse activities brought together in one building.”

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