Dr. Aideen Hartney:

We advise that all local authorities and actors in this space take a universal design approach. If a project is developed universally, with consultation and participation from the outset and a co-design approach, that will give rise to something that meets the needs of everybody and there will be no need to renovate or retrofit a policy, building or anything else to make it accessible. If that approach is taken from the start, it will benefit older people, disabled people and everybody else.