18 April 2025
OPEN LETTER TO PROFESSIONAL BODIES IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

To the leadership of:

The Landscape Institute (LI)

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)

The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB)

The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE)

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)

The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI)

We write to you as professionals working across the built environment, deeply concerned about the wellbeing and inclusion of trans and gender-diverse people in our professions.

The recent UK Supreme Court ruling, redefining “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 as “biological sex,” has left many of us fearful. While legal protections for trans people under “gender reassignment” remain, the ruling opens the door to exclusion — from spaces, services, and workplaces — at a time when hate and hostility are already rising.

This moment demands clarity and courage. Our institutions must act decisively to support the trans and gender-diverse professionals in our sector.

In 2022, you signed a joint Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Action Plan, committing to raise EDI standards, collect meaningful data, and improve transitions from education to practice. Two years on, we ask:

What protections exist for trans and gender-diverse members within your organization today?

What concrete actions have you taken to make your institution safer, more inclusive, and accountable to those communities?

How will you respond to the increased risk of exclusion and discrimination posed by this legal ruling?

This is not a hypothetical issue. According to the Architects Registration Board, one-third of professionals in architecture have faced insults or jokes related to protected characteristics, and 33% have experienced discrimination in their careers. We know from lived experience that trans and gender-diverse people are among those most at risk.

We ask that you respond not only with words, but with transparent, measurable action: 

Publish member data that includes trans representation, as promised in the EDI Action Plan.

Invest in CPD, policies, and complaint mechanisms that specifically address anti-trans discrimination.

Create space for trans voices to shape your institutions — visibly, audibly, and with influence.

Our sector helps shape society. This includes the responsibility to design and uphold professional spaces where all people — including trans people — feel safe, seen, and supported. That includes our own institutions. If we cannot create safe spaces within our own professional bodies, how can we claim to build inclusive, accessible places for the public?

This is an open letter, and will be published and shared across the sector. It is also a template for others to send to their own professional bodies. We will not be silent. We are watching, we are building — and we are the future of this industry.

In solidarity,

Queerscapes

49
signatures
46 verified
  1. Queerscapes, Landscape Architect, Queerscapes, London
  2. Luke Fawcett, Artist and Urban Designer, Queer Places, Liverpool
  3. Jordan Hau, MArch Sustainable Architecture Student, Centre for Alternative Technology, Bootle
  4. MR ROSS CORBEN, Traffic Engineer, Hertfordshire County Council, London
  5. Lara Rettondini, academic, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds
  6. Elena Palacios Carral, Lecturer / Director, Forms of Living, London
  7. Clea Sun, Part-time lecturer (Architecture), Leeds Beckett University, London
  8. Clea Sun, Part-time lecturer (architecture), Leeds Beckett University, London
  9. Iza Thomson, Architectural Designer, Freelance, Bristol
  10. Jared Campbell, Architectural Assistant, Nailsworth
  11. Scar Barclay, Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of the Arts London, London
  12. Mary Worthington, Architecture student, Manchester
  13. Satish Vaze, MArch Sustainable Architecture Student, Centre for Alternative Technology, Aberystwyth
  14. Samuel Lyons, Architect, Chetwoods Architects, London
  15. Alice Jones, Urbanist, The Green Estate, Sheffield
  16. Yat Shun Kei, Lecturer, University of Liverpool, Liverpool
  17. Rosie Frecker, London
  18. Andi Oyefuga-Katsimpardi, Apprentice Architectural Assistant, BDP, London
  19. Maia Rollo, Spatial Practitioner, Croydon Council, London
  20. Lucy Pickford, Consultant, Independent, London
  21. Juliette Scal, Urban design, Local authority, London
  22. Amy Grounsell, Associate Lecturer, London Metropolitan University, London
  23. Joe Elbourn, Architect, Gort Scott Architects, London
  24. Simeon Shtebunaev, Senior Researcher, Social Life, Birmingham
  25. Adrienne Lau, Architect, Heatherwick Studio, London
  26. Georgemma Hunt, PhD Researcher & Architectural Designer, University of East London, London
  27. Ricardo Sosa Mejia, Designer, Heatherwick Studio, London
  28. Almu Rodriguez, Architect, Heatherwick Studio, London
  29. Maryam elika Ansari, London
  30. Lucy Steward, Part 1 MEng Architecture and Environmental Design Graduate, University of Nottingham, North Wales
  31. Daniel McCarthy, Research Coordinator, CoSTAR Foresight Lab, Loughborough University London, London
  32. Barnabas Elbourn, Trainee Solicitor, Bristol
  33. Hannah Sheerin, Architectural designer, Unit 38 / good shape, London
  34. Charlie Edmonds, Co-Founder, Future Architects Front, London
  35. Bek Ziola, Architect, Glasgow
  36. Zoe Grainge, Designer, New Practice, Glasgow
  37. Euan Anderson, Part 2 Architectural Assistant, Reiach and Hall Architects, Edinburgh
  38. Committee, Open Plan Scotland, Glasgow
  39. Japhet Goodburn, Freelance Designer / M.Arch student, Centre for Alternative Technology, London
  40. Caleb Lee, M.Arch Sustainable Architecture Student, Centre for Alternative Technology, Darwen
  41. Jess Dowson, Architectural Assistant, London
  42. Chash Toro, Landscape Architect, Farrer Huxley, London
  43. Clara Mckechnie, Engineer, wsp, Glasgow
  44. Hanna Williamson, Landscape Architect, Farrer Huxley, London
  45. Laura Mazza, Landscape Architect, Geddes Consulting, Edinburgh
  46. Kirsty Watt, Architect, -, Edinburgh
Create an open letter
and sign it together
Terms of Service