NEWS COVER STORY


Bespoke furniture for challenging environments NETWORK


Tough Furniture is a family-run business, and claims to be unique in having over 25 years’ experience in designing and manufacturing exclusively for the challenging behaviour furniture market, giving it ‘an unmatched level of evidence-based experience and track record’ in this field.


Journal of the Design in Mental Health Network


One of its hallmarks is its ‘track record of innovation and customisation in response to customer needs’. Some of its standard ‘off the shelf’ furniture was initially created after speaking to care providers, frontline staff, and their clients, and devising solutions to some of the practical problems these people were experiencing. Tough Furniture is constantly striving to invest in, and improve upon, the design and build of its furniture, and to support this, has recently appointed a Design Director, Stephen Physick.


www.dimhn.org FC Network Nov22.indd 1 An in-house design team allows Tough to offer ‘a uniquely


flexible level of bespoke design’. Sometimes the particular needs of an individual, or group of service- users, demand a bespoke solution. In other instances the unusual dimensions of a particular room might dictate the need for something different. Tough’s design service includes a full site survey, direct consultation with its in-house design team, and installation by its own highly experienced, specialist teams.


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With both its manufacturing and design teams based at its Shropshire headquarters, Tough Furniture offers ‘a uniquely flexible level of bespoke design, helping to bring genuinely therapeutic care environments to life’. Tough Furniture Ltd, Stokewood Road, Craven Arms Business Park, Shropshire SY7 8NR Tel: 01588 674340 E: sales@toughfurniture.com www.toughfurniture.com


November 2022 27/10/2022 12:50


Guidelines on building for neurodiversity released


National standards body, BSI, has launched ‘a first-of-its-kind-standard’ on the design of the built environment for a neurodiverse society. Neurodivergent conditions include autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, dyspraxia, neurodegenerative conditions such as dementia, and Parkinson’s. There are an estimated 700,000 autistic people, and around 1.5 million with ADHD, in the UK, and 900,000 living with dementia The BSI says that while building designers and public planners have long been responsible for ensuring that the built environment is accessible to people with physical disabilities, until now, the needs of neurodivergent people, and those with sensory and/or information processing differences, have not received the same attention. Recognising this, and following a research study into how neurodivergent people experience the built environment, BSI has developed and introduced the new PAS 6463 standard. Its guidance applies to buildings and external spaces for public and commercial use, and residential accommodation for independent or supported living. BSI says ‘a significant number of people’ find elements of the built environment ‘uncomfortable, distressing, or a barrier to their use’. For example, when interacting with the built environment, neurodivergent / neurodegenerative people can frequently experience ‘sensory overload’, potentially causing raised anxiety and fatigue and, in some cases, poor mental health. PAS 6463, Design for the mind – Neurodiversity and the built environment – Guide aims ‘to assist building designers in mitigating and eliminating these negative impacts’.


THE NETWORK | NOVEMBER 2022 Scott Steedman, Director-


General, Standards, at BSI, said: “The new guidance fills a gap in design practice by addressing the needs of people whose minds process information and experiences differently. With PAS 6463, designers can now benefit from guidance on lighting, décor, acoustics, and layout, to support neurodiverse users of buildings and infrastructure.” Jean Hewitt, a senior member of the Inclusive Design team at Buro Happold, and technical author of PAS 6463, added: “In addition to designing places to accommodate our diversity in form, size, and physical ability, there is a profound need to design for neurological difference. Since my first involvement in this field in 2009, I have hoped for some progress for the many neurodivergent colleagues, friends, and family, whose lives are unnecessarily blighted by places that don’t work for them. Some have a formal diagnosis, but many do not; there are also many neurotypical people more mildly, but regularly affected, by environments daily, perhaps triggering unsteadiness, migraines, or experiencing extra daily stress through elements that are not intuitive or comfortable for them. “My learning while developing this


standard leads me to believe that at least 30% of the population are negatively impacted by elements that could so easily be adjusted or eliminated during design, procurement, and management, without any cost implications.” PAS 6463 can be downloaded at: https://


www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/standards/pas- 6463/


DiMHN 2022 AGM Notice


Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of the Design in Mental Health Limited will be held on Wednesday, the 9th of November 2022. The meeting will convene at 12:30 pm, and will be held virtually. Under section 324 of the Companies


Act 2006, and article 19 of the Articles of Association of the Design in Mental Health Ltd., a member who may not be able to attend in person may appoint a proxy. To attend the meeting, please email admin@dimhn.org by 5pm on 8th November 2022, and an invitation to the meeting will be forwarded to you. AGM PAPERS 2022 – Please be advised that these papers are available via admin@dimhn.org


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Image courtesy of BSI


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