Diversity in Interior Design Survey Results 24

In 2020/2021, the BIID launched the UK interior design industry’s first ever Diversity In Interior Design Survey. Earlier this year we closed our second survey. It was completed by 204 designers of which 57% are members of the BIID. In order to enable respondents to speak frankly about their experiences and protect privacy, the survey was entirely anonymous. This does mean that we were unable to verify the identity of respondents. We must also emphasise that given that this survey was entirely voluntary and based on a small self-selecting sample size, it cannot necessarily be used to extrapolate for the entire UK interior design profession. 

Unfortunately, this survey did not receive as many responses as the 2020/2021 survey, making comparison difficult.  The report contains many interesting results and comments but we have chosen some key questions and answers to highlight here. 

Q2 What best describes your current role?

Of those who stated their current position is head of a studio or a senior level position the ethnicity breakdown is as follows:

The answers to this show a difference from the previous study, however the difference in numbers participating make it difficult to draw conclusions. We therefore leave it to the reader to interpret.  

Q8 Gender. How would you describe your gender?

Q11 What option best describes your background or ethnic group? Ethnic origin is not about nationality, place of birth or citizenship. It is about the group to which you perceive you belong. The ethnic origin categories below are based on the Census 2011 categories and recommended by the Commission for Racial Equality.

Q16 Socio-economic background. Do you consider yourself to be from a disadvantaged socio-economic background?

Q20 I have been the victim of discrimination in my profession and/or place of work. If ‘yes’ please tick the type of discrimination. If ‘no’ please tick ‘No’

For those who state they have been discriminated in their profession of place of work because of gender, the breakdown of their gender is as follows:

For those who state they have been discriminated in their profession or place of work because of race/ethnicity, the breakdown of their race/ethnicity is as follows:

For those who state they have been discriminated in their profession or place of work because of age, the breakdown of their age is as follows: 

This research is one part of the picture that will help inform the work of our new BIID Diversity and Inclusion Committee . The committee are reviewing all of our recently published diversity research and using it to help them when recommending next steps as part of the BIID’s longer term diversity and inclusion strategy. 

Read the Full Report.

Read more of our research and analysis in our Diversity Analysis of Interior Design Students and in our Graduate Outcomes Analysis.