Brexit: Dezeen is calling on architecture and design firms in the UK to help us prepare our submission to the forthcoming parliamentary inquiry into the impact of Brexit.
We want companies and individuals to share their views on how they think Brexit will affect their businesses.
Following the publication of our Brexit Design Manifesto last month, we plan to make a submission to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee inquiry into the impact of Brexit on the creative industries.
The deadline for submissions to the inquiry is Friday 28 October 2016. Therefore we urgently require views from the architecture and design sector by end of play on Monday 24 October.
We are concerned that the voice of our sector is not being heard by government. Other sectors, including more vocal elements of the creative industries, have established strong communication channels with decision makers in government and are well placed to influence policy as Brexit draws closer.
We want to ensure that design gets a hearing too. The incredible support that our manifesto has received gives us a strong platform to make a difference.
Therefore our submission, together with submissions by bodies including the Design Business Association and the All-Party Parliamentary Design & Innovation Group, presents a vital opportunity to make a case for our sector that will be heard in parliament.
The select committee has no power to make the government change its policies, but it can put pressure on ministers and demand a response from government departments.
How you can help
• Send us your views on how Brexit will affect your business. The select committee is particularly interested in hearing how it will affect your ability to attract and retain talent from around the world (read the full terms of reference here). We need this by Monday 24 October. Please keep it brief and email it to manifesto@dezeen.com.
• Sign our Brexit Design Manifesto. It's not too late! The more signatories we have, the more powerful it becomes. Signatories automatically receive our Brexit newsletters (you can read the first one here).
• Make your own submissions to the select committee inquiry. If you do this, please mention that you are a signatory of the Brexit Design Manifesto and support its aims – it's vital that parliament receives a coherent message from our sector rather than a cacophony of voices.
Even better, please copy and paste the following passage (or a variation of it) into your submission to the inquiry:
I/we am/are a signatory of the Brexit Design Manifesto. I believe the UK's world-class architecture and design sector can help the UK after Brexit. But first the government must help design.
I support the manifesto's key demands to government, which include: recognition of the sector's importance to the economy, our reputation as a nation and the wellbeing of our citizens; retention of the sector's strong links to Europe and the rest of the world; the championing of design in schools; investment in higher education; retention of student exchange and research programmes; ability of firms to recruit talented staff from anywhere in the world with the minimum of cost and bureaucracy; the right of overseas staff working here to remain; policies that help small-scale manufacturers and makers; a strong intellectual property framework to help designers protect their ideas both here and abroad.
• If you do make your own submission to the inquiry, please share it with us. If it is confidential, please make this clear and we will not disclose its contents.
Update on other Brexit Design Manifesto developments
The manifesto has had a big impact, generating substantial press coverage and, more importantly, attracting the attention of parliament and the government.
The manifesto has already been cited in parliament and there are plenty of other developments too, which have to remain under wraps for now but which we hope to be able to share soon.
Take a look at our first Brexit Design Manifesto newsletter, which contains more details of progress so far, and follow developments in our special Brexit tag on Dezeen.
If you haven't done so already, please sign the manifesto here.