Making children’s safety a core principle of how places are designed, built and managed is the focus of a new toolkit published by the NSPCC this spring. Mott MacDonald’s Sarah Marshall, who co-authored the guidance, explains
NSPCC’s name is synonymous with protecting children from harm. A new report published by the charity this spring sets out the role designers working in the built environment must also play to achieve that. By presenting practical steps for the industry, the Building Safer Communities for Children toolkit puts children at the heart of places the sector designs, builds and operates.
The report aims to dispel the misconception that safeguarding for children is solely the responsibility of managing agents or local authorities, rather than an issue that can be addressed through design interventions and systemic collaboration. However, while these interventions don’t always require major design changes, failing to embrace child-inclusive objectives will lead to missed opportunities for safeguarding throughout the project.
The scale of the challenge
There are more than 16 million children and young people in the UK, but the places they live, travel through and play in are rarely designed or managed with them in mind, let alone with their involvement. This oversight can lead to environments that children find unwelcoming or that are poorly adapted to their needs, which often limits their independence.
This also underscores a simple truth: keeping children safe requires environments that actively protect and nurture them. By designing, maintaining and managing homes and neighbourhoods that prioritise children’s safety and wellbeing, they will contribute to healthier, more resilient communities in the future.
“Safeguarding requirements should be embedded throughout all project documentation, including contracts, KPIs and procurement.”
Research for this report made it clear that the responsibility for achieving child safety by default sits at every level.
Developers need to set the tone early and ensure safeguarding is written into the brief, not as a bolt-on but a core design principle. Safeguarding requirements should be embedded throughout all other project documentation and processes too, including contracts, KPIs and procurement, to ensure continuity despite value engineering or team changes.
Meanwhile, designers need to look beyond the playground when thinking about child-inclusive design and consider sightlines and walkable routes through public realm areas. During project delivery, everyone on site should have basic safeguarding awareness, and contractors should hand over clear, practical safety information so the operational team isn’t starting from scratch on day one.
Operational use is still critical, though. Owners and managing agents have a responsibility to keep spaces well cared for, as this can have a significant impact on whether children feel safe.
Six pathways for better outcomes
The report sets out a practical framework for embedding safeguarding across the development lifecycle and long-term management. It identifies six causal pathways through which everyday decisions shape children’s safety and wellbeing, as well as clarifying who is responsible at each stage of the development and management lifecycle.
- Housing quality and stability. Stable, good-quality homes reduce stress, improve health outcomes and lower safeguarding risk. Developers, housing providers, asset managers and local authorities should take responsibility for ensuring safe standards, secure tenure and long-term management.
- Operational practice. Day-to-day management of homes, streets and shared spaces can shape children’s lived experience of safety. Housing providers, asset managers, contractors and local authorities play a critical role in maintaining visible standards of care, rapid response and community trust.
- Child-friendly design. The layout of streets, public realm, play spaces and active frontages influences children’s independence and sense of belonging. Developers, design professionals and planning authorities collectively shape neighbourhood form and quality.
- Child participation and lived experience. Children and young people must be visible in decision-making processes. Developers, local authorities, youth services and community organisations are responsible for creating meaningful mechanisms for engagement.
- Evidence-led governance and accountability. Clear governance structures, measurable standards and shared data improve early risk identification and long-term resilience. Owners, boards, asset managers and public bodies must embed safeguarding into oversight and reporting frameworks.
- Contextual safeguarding. Children’s safety is not only shaped by individual homes, but by wider social and environmental factors. Collaboration between developers, local authorities, schools, health services, housing providers and the NSPCC strengthens protective systems around children.
Fragmented responsibilities
The report demonstrates that safeguarding failures are rarely the result of a single design flaw. Instead, they arise from fragmented responsibilities across these pathways. Stronger coordination between those shaping places, managing places, supporting children and shaping communities reduces risk and improves outcomes.
Aligned with the RIBA design cycle and the RIBA Inclusive Design Overlay, the report shows how child safety can be integrated from early strategy through to operation and stewardship. This needs to be supported by clear accountability and measurable standards, with eight measures of success with suggested steps to help organisations track progress and ensure safeguarding is embedded consistently.
The measures of success include child wellbeing metrics embedded into operations, reduction in systemic risks, visible safety signals, youth engagement, cross-sector collaboration, child-friendly standards, sustained stewardship and child wellbeing over time.
The toolkit in the report presents numerous UK case studies outlining steps to create designs that are inclusive for children, but one of the flagships is Brent Cross Town. The masterplan developed by Buro Happold for Related Argent and Barnet Council has child-focused design at its heart, and the report sets out how this was achieved.
The result of the work combines parks and play areas with a “car-lite” neighbourhood to encourage active travel and focus on the needs of pedestrians. This has created safe, legible routes and strong visual connections between homes and public spaces, enabling children to move independently without the risks associated with heavy traffic.
If the built environment sector fully embraces the approach advocated in the report, it will result in neighbourhoods where children feel confident to spend time independently, are comfortable in inclusive public spaces, and experience improved health and wellbeing. These changes will be visible to all through the use of more vibrant colours and social spaces where maintenance is not overlooked.
Nonetheless, these changes will only be realised if everyone working on planning, design, delivery and operation of public realm recognises their role in safeguarding. Everyone working in the built environment can make a difference by reviewing current and upcoming projects to consider what small, actionable changes could be made to better consider the inclusion of children.
Sarah Marshall is a senior principal consultant for social impact at Mott MacDonald.
