New restaurants, shopping centres and offices must be built with separate toilets for men and women under laws announced today.
Updated regulations mean newly-constructed public buildings across England will have to include single-sex facilities from later this year.
Ministers hope the change will end the spread of ‘gender-neutral’ bathrooms that women have to share with men using urinals or cubicles.
It is the latest in a series of moves by the Government aimed at protecting the rights of women and girls, including stopping transgender patients being allowed on female wards in NHS hospitals.
Schools have also been told they must provide separate loos for boys and girls.
Updated regulations mean newly-constructed public buildings across England will have to include single-sex facilities from later this year (file image)
Last night women and equalities minister Kemi Badenoch said: ‘These regulations will guide organisations to design unisex and single-sex toilets, ending the rise of so-called ‘gender-neutral’ mixed sex toilet spaces, which deny privacy and dignity to both men and women.
‘Today’s announcement will also create better provision for women so that our particular biological, health and sanitary needs are met.
‘This is following our work last week limiting the use of mixed-sex wards in the NHS and demonstrates how this government is committed to ensuring single-sex spaces are protected for all.’
Housing minister Lee Rowley said: ‘We know all members of society value safety, privacy and dignity, and this new legislation will help ensure the right facilities are in place for everyone.
‘It is vital that new buildings, particularly in public spaces, are serving the community with right toilet provision.’
The new building regulations will be published in the next few weeks and will come into force later this year.
Women and equalities minister Kemi Badenoch said the new regulations would end the rise of so-called ‘gender-neutral’ mixed sex toilet spaces
They will stipulate that ‘non-domestic buildings’ in England must provide separate single-sex toilets for women and men.
If there is not space for separate facilities then developers will be allowed to build self-contained ‘universal’ toilets; fully enclosed rooms with washbasins for individual use.
The rules will apply to new buildings or those that are undergoing a major change of use, with the exception of prison cells, care homes, nurseries and schools.
The changes were first proposed by ministers in July 2022 and then put out to consultation.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said that 81 per cent of those who responded ‘agreed with the intention for separate single-sex toilet facilities’.
