Over many years confusion has often arisen regarding the role of various organisations involved with new buildings designed for delivery of care.  

 Chaired by the Dementia Services Development Centre at Stirling University a group of regulators and other stakeholders working in partnership assisted in the development of this report.  

Although the report is focused on design for people with dementia many aspects of the overview are applicable to other types of care services, for example, information relating to toilets applies to nurseries, care homes and other care settings.

The purpose of this report is to:

 - provide a briefing on key legislation, regulation, standards and guidance, with associated inspection and enforcement powers, relating to building design matters, including external spaces, for people with dementia – both those designed for them and those where they form a large proportion of the user group (e.g. they form 70% of the population of care homes and 40% of the population of general hospitals)

 - consider where the legislation, regulation, standards and guidance seem to be at variance with optimal building and external space design guidance for people with dementia

 - seek to find a constructive way forward once variances have been clarified 

The report will be useful to potential service providers, developers, architects, builders, local authority/NHS commissioners, Care Inspectorate staff and other interested.

Visit the Dementia Services Development Centre website to view the publication.