New guidance aims to help sports facilities, including table tennis clubs, to ensure they are safe, welcoming and accessible to all.

Sport England’s Accessible and Inclusive Sports Facilities guidance is available online here.

It encourages the design of spaces that reduce or remove barriers to being more active, including creating and maintaining facilities that are accessible to Disabled People and meet the needs of vibrant and diverse communities.

The robust and diverse guidance covers a range of areas essential to the design and operation of accessible and inclusive sports facilities, including changing and toilet provision, wayfinding and signage and emergency evacuation. 

The document replaces the previous Accessible Sports Facilities Design Guidance, originally published in 2010.   

Sport England director of equality, diversity and inclusion in sport, Viveen Taylor, says: “The built environments where movement and physical activity take place can sometimes be a person’s biggest barrier to being more active.  

“This guidance provides the technical Information needed to ensure that our facilities are not just functionally accessible but intuitive, inviting, and capable of both attracting and meeting the needs of our increasingly diverse communities.”