For many women, deciding whether to walk home after dark, which route to take to a train station or how comfortable they feel in an isolated parking lot is part of the daily calculation of getting to and from work. Office security systems can control who enters a building, but they cannot address every risk an employee encounters on the way there.
This consideration has recently been added to England’s National Planning Policy Framework. An updated framework now explicitly names the safety of women and girls in guidance for designing public spaces, transport routes and new developments. The rules could potentially influence how future office projects are planned as well — particularly where buildings connect to streets, transit stops and shared outdoor spaces.
The policy could give office developers and planners a clearer basis for considering how women experience the spaces surrounding workplaces. Its practical implications will depend on how planning authorities apply the guidance to individual projects.
Why Office Safety Starts Outside the Building
Office security is often associated with what happens inside a building: controlled access, reception desks, CCTV and restrictions on who can enter. But for employees arriving early, leaving after dark or walking alone from a transit stop, the experience of safety starts much farther away.
A poorly lit path, a concealed entrance or an isolated stretch of a business park can affect whether someone feels comfortable working after hours — arriving early or leaving after dark. These concerns are particularly relevant to office developments where employees depend on walking routes, public transport or large parking areas to reach the building.
England’s revised framework addresses some of these conditions through its design policies by calling for public spaces to be safe, inclusive and accessible. Examples include clear pedestrian and cycling routes, integrated lighting, and entrances and windows facing public spaces to provide natural surveillance.
The framework also asks development proposals to identify potential safety risks to occupants and users and consider proportionate ways to address them through design. It specifically references groups that may be vulnerable to crime or the fear of crime, including women and girls.
What Could Change in Office Development?
The most direct implications concern new projects going through the planning process. Developers may face greater scrutiny of site layouts, entrances, public-facing ground floors, pedestrian connections and shared outdoor areas. That could mean reviewing whether walking routes are easy to follow, whether entrances are visible from public areas and whether people must pass through isolated spaces to reach an office.
In mixed-use developments, the placement of active ground-floor uses and the connections between workplaces, amenities and transit may also become more relevant.
These choices will vary by site. An office beside a busy railway station presents different challenges from a suburban campus surrounded by parking lots. The policy does not prescribe one design for every building, and it does not automatically require existing offices to be renovated or dictate a universal set of interior-design rules.
A Global Debate With Local Consequences
The implications reach beyond England’s property market. Urban designers and international organizations have spent years arguing that cities need to account for women’s experiences. England’s policy gives that argument a more explicit place in national planning decisions, raising the question of whether other countries will follow.
The World Bank’s Handbook for Gender-Inclusive Urban Planning and Design argues that urban environments have often failed to account for women’s needs in areas including mobility, access and personal safety. The United Nations Development Program, Arup and the University of Liverpool have also called for cities to better address women’s experiences through planning and design.
For multinational developers and office operators, the issue is relevant even without new laws in every market. Designing workplaces with clearer safety standards can be applied across projects, although the legal requirements will differ by location.
Will Better Design Make Workplaces Safer?
Design can reduce some vulnerabilities and make routes easier to use, but it cannot eliminate harassment or guarantee that a public space is safe. Lighting alone, for example, will not solve a problem if a route remains isolated or poorly connected to surrounding activity.
The challenge for developers is to understand how people actually use a place, including at different times of day. Consulting prospective users and local communities can help identify concerns that may be missed when a site is assessed only through its plans and technical specifications.
England’s updated framework gives planners a clearer basis for considering those experiences when assessing new development. For the office sector, the question is increasingly difficult to separate from the wider design of the places where people work. A building can have sophisticated security measures, but employees still have to get to its entrance. The policy puts that journey more firmly on the planning agenda.
