Inclusive Spaces and Places – Communicate

On Tuesday 10th June 2025, we hosted a deep dive into the ‘Communicate’ pillar of Grosvenor and The Crown Estate’s Inclusive Spaces and Places strategy, launched in October 2024.

For those who missed out, you can rewatch the webinar here on the Inclusive Places and Spaces website (scroll to bottom)

Hosted by Sociability, in partnership with Grosvenor and The Crown Estate, this session explored the vital role of clear, open, and authentic communication between organisations and disabled stakeholders in improving accessibility.

We were privileged to be joined by expert panellists:

for a wide-ranging discussion that was chaired by Matt Pierri, Founder and CEO of Sociability.

Across the webinar, we discussed three key themes:

  1. Why Communicate? We discussed the ethical and business cases behind clear, proactive, authentic communication, as well as the importance of building trust and confidence with customers and staff, and moving beyond compliance to an approach focused on best serving customer and staff needs;

  2. How to Communicate? We discussed the need to avoid stereotypes and assumptions around disability and the importance of communicating in a way that reflects the diversity and intersectionality of disabled lived experience – both about the built environment, and within it;

  3. What to Communicate? And, finally, we discussed the importance of communicating a wide-ranging set of accessibility information that caters for mobility, visual, hearing and sensory needs, as well as the importance of ensuring that information is communicated accurately, in real-time and in a range of accessible formats.

In terms of key learnings and takeaways, we were reminded that:

  • 16 million people in the UK live with some form of disability (almost 1 in 4 people);

  • 90% of disabled people seek accessibility information before visiting new spaces, but only 14% find the information they need;

  • Of that 14%, 80% report the information is problematic;

  • Disabled households in the UK have £274 billion in annual spending power; and

  • There is a 28.6% gap in employment rates between disabled and non-disabled people.

And took away the following key recommendations:

  1. We shouldn't wait for perfection - We should start communicating about accessibility now;

  2. We must include disabled people in our design processes and organisational decision-making from day one;

  3. We need to think holistically - accessibility encompasses physical, sensory, cognitive, and cultural elements;

  4. We should be proactive rather than reactive in our communication – take the burden off the disabled person;

  5. We must provide multiple communication channels to accommodate different needs and accessibility requirements;

  6. We should focus on user experience over regulatory compliance; and

  7. We need to embed accessibility in our organisational culture, not just physical infrastructure.

Ultimately, it was a pleasure to host this deep dive into such an important topic. We left understanding that small changes can snowball into significant improvements, and that early engagement with disabled communities produces the best outcomes for both users and businesses. We were inspired by the practical examples shared and motivated to implement these learnings in our own work and organisations and this session reinforced our belief that inclusive design isn't just about compliance—it's about creating better experiences for everyone while unlocking significant commercial opportunities.

For those keen to learn more – sign up to our newsletter, Beyond Compliance, for practical advice, quick wins and suggested next steps to make your places and space more inclusive and accessible.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to get in touch via email to business@sociability.app or set up a quick consultation if you’d prefer to chat 1:1. We’d love to continue the conversation!