Inclusive Design Review - Heligan

The Sensory Trust team is working with the Lost Gardens of Heligan, near Mevagissey, Cornwall. Work kicked off with an Inclusive Design Review using tools that we are developing as part of a site evaluation toolbox. This study considered both the physical and human resources of Heligan and suggested how the gardens could provide an even richer and more widely accessible service to its wide range of visitors.

Welcoming the reports findings, Heligan grasped the initiative by asking Sensory Trust to design and run inclusive access briefings with its staff. The first two events were designed as an awareness raising exercise; exploring the key issues of inclusive design and disability from both an international context and in relation to Heligan itself. From this exercise Heligan have appointed twelve Access Advisors from staff showing particular interest in the subject.

The Access Advisors will work across all areas of Heligan's operation to develop and extend the recommendations of the Sensory Trusts original report. There is something particularly powerful in the way that this project has been connected to all employees at Heligan and will be developed by the staff themselves, fuelled by their own commitment to the subject of inclusivity and the wonderful opportunity presented by the Lost Gardens.