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.

We love hearing about other resources that you have found useful! Please send us details via this form.

The RCA is not responsible for the content of external websites.

Filter resources by:
Keyword
Type

Author/s:
Jen Slater, Charlotte Jones, Lisa Procter
Summary:
This paper, in Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, interrogates how school toilets and ‘school readiness’ are used to assess children against developmental milestones. Such developmental norms both inform school toilet design and practice, and perpetuate normative discourses of childhood as middle-class, white, ‘able’, heteronormative, cissexist and inferior to adulthood.
Web link:
Go to resource
Publication date:
2019
[et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default" background_color="rgba(229,229,229,0.52)" custom_margin="50px||50px||false|false" border_radii="on|15px|15px|15px|15px" box_shadow_style="preset4" box_shadow_spread="-3px" box_shadow_color="#f15a62" locked="off"][et_pb_row admin_label="Row" _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default" custom_margin="auto|50px|0px|50px|false|false"][et_pb_column type="4_4" admin_label="Column" _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default"]Troubling school toilets: resisting discourses of 'development' through a critical1
Keywods:
GenderInclusion
Type:
Academic Paper

Author/s:
Charlotte Jones, Jen Slater
Summary:
As one of the few explicitly gender-separated spaces, the toilet has become a prominent site of conflict and a focal point for ‘gender-critical’ feminism. In this article for The Sociological Review, we draw upon an AHRC-funded project, Around the Toilet, to reflect upon and critique trans-exclusionary and trans-hostile narratives of toilet spaces.
Web link:
Go to resource
Publication date:
2020
[et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default" background_color="rgba(229,229,229,0.52)" custom_margin="50px||50px||false|false" border_radii="on|15px|15px|15px|15px" box_shadow_style="preset4" box_shadow_spread="-3px" box_shadow_color="#f15a62" locked="off"][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default" custom_margin="auto|113px|0px|50px|false|false"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default"]The toilet debate: Stalling trans  possibilities and defending 'women's protected spaces'   Author/s:1
Keywods:
GenderInclusion
Type:
Academic Paper

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:
Go to resource
Publication date:
2017
[et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default" background_color="rgba(229,229,229,0.52)" custom_margin="50px||50px||false|false" border_radii="on|15px|15px|15px|15px" box_shadow_style="preset4" box_shadow_spread="-3px" box_shadow_color="#f15a62" locked="off"][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default" custom_margin="auto|50px|0px|50px|false|false"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default"]The Toilet Author/s: Around the Toilet (Sheffield Hallam University) File: Go to1
Keywods:
AccessibilityDisabilityGender
Type:
Film

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:
Go to resource
Publication date:
2017
[et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default" background_color="rgba(229,229,229,0.52)" custom_margin="50px||50px||false|false" border_radii="on|15px|15px|15px|15px" box_shadow_style="preset4" box_shadow_spread="-3px" box_shadow_color="#f15a62" locked="off"][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default" custom_margin="auto|50px|0px|50px|false|false"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default"]LGBT in Britain - Trans Report Author/s: Stonewall File: Go to resource  Publication1
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:
Go to resource
Publication date:
2016
[et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default" background_color="rgba(229,229,229,0.52)" custom_margin="50px||50px||false|false" border_radii="on|15px|15px|15px|15px" box_shadow_style="preset4" box_shadow_spread="-3px" box_shadow_color="#f15a62" locked="off"][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default" custom_margin="auto|50px|0px|50px|false|false"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default"]Taking women’s bodily functions into account in urban planning and policy: public1
Keywods:
Built EnvironmentDesignGender
Type:
Academic Paper

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:
Go to resource
Publication date:
2016
[et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default" background_color="rgba(229,229,229,0.52)" custom_margin="50px||50px||false|false" border_radii="on|15px|15px|15px|15px" box_shadow_style="preset4" box_shadow_spread="-3px" box_shadow_color="#f15a62" locked="off"][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default" custom_margin="auto|50px|0px|50px|false|false"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default"]School toilets: queer, disabled bodies and gendered lessons of embodiment Author/s: Jen1
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:
Go to resource
Publication date:
2001
[et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default" background_color="rgba(229,229,229,0.52)" custom_margin="50px||50px||false|false" border_radii="on|15px|15px|15px|15px" box_shadow_style="preset4" box_shadow_spread="-3px" box_shadow_color="#f15a62" locked="off"][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default" custom_margin="auto|50px|0px|50px|false|false"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default"]A World of Unmentionable Suffering: Women's Public Conveniences in Victorian London Author/s:1
Keywods:
GenderHistoryPublic Toilets
Type:
Academic Paper

Author/s:
Gail Ramster; Clara Greed; Jo-Anne Bichard
Summary:
This paper published in Built Environment explores how public toilet design for new and existing UK provision can be inclusive all genders and their rights to access, without excluding those socially and culturally dependent on a gender-segregated space.
Web link:
Go to resource
Publication date:
2018
[et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default" background_color="rgba(229,229,229,0.52)" custom_margin="50px||50px||false|false" border_radii="on|15px|15px|15px|15px" box_shadow_style="preset4" box_shadow_spread="-3px" box_shadow_color="#f15a62" locked="off"][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default" custom_margin="auto|50px|0px|50px|false|false"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default"]How Inclusion can Exclude: The Case of Public Toilet Provision for Women1
Keywods:
DesignGenderInclusion
Type:
Academic Paper

Author/s:
Jen Slater; Charlotte Jones
Summary:
This report summarises the key findings of a series of projects collectively known as Around the Toilet. Between April 2015 and February 2018 Around the Toilet used arts-based methods to ask what makes an accessible toilet space.
Web link:
Go to resource
Publication date:
2018
[et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default" background_color="rgba(229,229,229,0.52)" custom_margin="50px||50px||false|false" border_radii="on|15px|15px|15px|15px" box_shadow_style="preset4" box_shadow_spread="-3px" box_shadow_color="#f15a62" locked="off"][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default" custom_margin="auto|50px|0px|50px|false|false"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.8.2" _module_preset="default"]Around the Toilet: A Research Project Report Author/s: Jen Slater; Charlotte Jones1
Keywods:
DisabilityGenderInclusion
Type:
Report