Resources

Find published information on toilet design. Our resource bank includes guidance, standards, regulation, toolkits, websites and research.  Resources can be filtered by type or subject area, using the keywords shown.

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Author/s:
Around the Toilet (Sheffield Hallam University)
Summary:
This quirky animation weaves together personal accounts from transgender, disabled and Muslim people, who share the trials and tribulations of accessing and using public toilets in a society where some are made to feel welcome and others are not.
Web link:
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Publication date:
2017
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Keywods:
AccessibilityDisabilityGender
Type:
Film

Author/s:
Susan Cunningham
Summary:
Public In-Conveniences is a brief and easy-to-use guide for organisations which have a special interest in the provision of “away from home” toilets.
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Publication date:
2015
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Keywods:
DesignPublic Toilets
Type:
Design Guide

Author/s:
Nowhere to Go (University of Newcastle)
Summary:
Nowhere to Go worked with disabled people and carers, Carers Northumberland and local community film company Little Big Butterfly toe a film that documents some of the experiences of disabled people and their ideas for what would make a difference.
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Publication date:
2018
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Keywods:
AccessibilityDesignDisability
Type:
Film

Author/s:
Nowhere to Go (University of Newcastle)
Summary:
A best practice guide to ‘Improving Access to Toilets in Northumberland’. The guide seeks to highlight to people, but particularly organisations such as galleries, cafes, pubs, supermarkets, ways they can easily and cheaply make their toilets more accessible well as the importance of Changing Places toilets. Available in accessible formats.
Web link:
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Publication date:
2018
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Keywods:
AccessibilityDesignDisability
Type:
Design Guide

Author/s:
Stonewall
Summary:
LGBT in Britain - Trans Report is Stonewall's new research, based on research with 871 trans and non-binary people by YouGov and highlighting the profound levels of discrimination and hate crime faced by trans people in Britain today. It includes findings and experiences around public toilets.
Web link:
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Publication date:
2017
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Keywods:
Gender
Type:
Report

Author/s:
Clara Greed
Summary:
In this paper, it is argued that public toilets policy is a town planning issue, crucial to creating sustainable, efficient, accessible and equitable cities. Ways of integrating toilet provision into city-wide strategic planning policy and local urban design are discussed. The paper first reviews global sanitation issues, and makes comparisons with inadequate public toilet provision in the UK.
Web link:
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Publication date:
2016
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Keywods:
Built EnvironmentDesignGender
Type:
Academic Paper

Author/s:
International Code Council
Summary:
The purpose of the guideline is to assist in providing clean, convenient, hygienic, and safe public toilet facilities of appropriate design and quality, and to give guidance on the basic care and maintenance of such facilities. It is targeted to those responsible for providing public toilets throughout the global community.
Web link:
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Publication date:
2011
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Keywods:
DesignPublic Toilets
Type:
Standards and Guidance

Author/s:
Jen Slater, Charlotte Jones, Lisa Procter
Summary:
In this paper (published in Gender and Education) we argue that school toilets function as one civilising site [Elias, 1978. The Civilising Process. Oxford: Blackwell] in which children learn that disabled and queer bodies are out of place. This paper is the first to offer queer and crip perspectives on school toilets.
Web link:
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Publication date:
2016
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Keywods:
DisabilityGenderSchool Toilets
Type:
Academic Paper

Author/s:
Barbara Penner
Summary:
This paper, published in Journal of Design History, considers the following two points: first, how the design and siting of a women's lavatory is not a neutral act but one that is shaped by historically and culturally specific notions; and second, how an everyday space such as a public lavatory actively positions (and re-positions) its users in relation to the existing power structure, providing an opportunity for small resistances to the status quo to occur.
Web link:
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Publication date:
2001
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Keywods:
GenderHistoryPublic Toilets
Type:
Academic Paper