This forms part of The Crown Estate’s wider ambition to improve its physical environments and ensure its places are truly accessible for all. These guides will help move towards meeting this ambition, and will provide detailed information for disabled visitors, so they can come to The Crown Estate’s regional destinations knowing exactly what they can expect.
The Crown Estate’s diverse regional portfolio has some of the best places to work, shop and live and enjoy across the country. This includes Rushden Lakes, a unique shopping and leisure destination in Northamptonshire, set beside 200 acres of protected Nene Wetlands nature reserve and stunning lakes.
This also follows on from The Crown Estate’s partnership with AccessAble for its Central London portfolio, which has informed a number of the key designs for Regent Street’s new public realm.
AccessAble is one of the most popular sources of accessibility information, having surveyed 10,000s of venues across the UK and Ireland, and produced accessibility guides with information about accessible toilet facilities, parking, walking distances, door widths, colour contrast, seating, and public transport with all the relevant facts, figures, and photographs.
The guides for each of The Crown Estate’s assets are available for free on the AccessAble website, via the AccessAble app and on the destinations websites.
Hannah Milne, Director of Regional at The Crown Estate commented: “We want to give disabled visitors the confidence to come to our places and know exactly what they can expect, and these accessibility guides are the first step in our journey to achieving this.
“Our work with partners like AccessAble is also vital in understanding where we can make improvements, so we can continue making the necessary changes to ensure our places are as inclusive as possible.”
There are currently nine of The Crown Estate assets which have AccessAble guides, these includes Crowngate shopping centre, Coliseum shopping centre, Gallagher shopping centre, MK1 shopping and leisure park, Queensgate and Rushden Lakes. The remaining regional assets will have AccessAble guides completed after Christmas.
