£1.6m for Designing Out Crime

The Design Council, the Home Office and the Design and Technology Alliance have unveiled a major expansion of the Designing Out Crime initiative.

Backed by £1.6m in Home Office cash, the initiative aims to develop innovative design solutions over the next three years to help prevent robbery, to crime-proof new gadgets, and to embed public safety in the design of public spaces and housing.

The programme breaks down into five areas: reducing problems such as bullying and petty theft in schools, led by Sir John Sorrell of the Sorrell Foundation; making new products more crime-proof, led by Bristol University’s Joe McGeehan; embedding crime-reducing approaches in housing design, led by forensic psychologist Ken Pease; reducing alcohol-related crime, led by the Royal College of Art’s Jeremy Myerson; and minimising crime against businesses, led by Lorraine Gamman of Central St Martins College of Art and Design.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith says, ‘I want to encourage architects, designers and industry to think about how innovative design solutions can help to reduce and even prevent crimes from occurring in the first place.’

David Kester, chief executive of the Design Council, says, ‘Anticipating and preventing crime is a constant challenge, perhaps even more acute in a changing economic climate. That’s why we need to bring the best of our creative, technological and entrepreneurial talents together to find new solutions and stay ahead of the game.

‘The Design Council is delighted to be part of driving forward this exciting agenda in partnership with the Home Office.’