About the Book
**Highly Commended at The Business Book Awards 2025**
Building Inclusion: A Practical Guide to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Architecture and the Built Environment is just that – a manual to support and provide essential guidance to the profession on these key issues. Acknowledging that the existence of EDI procedures does not necessarily ensure their use, it focuses on demonstrating behaviours that help create, implement and enforce policies, procedures and practices to deliver inclusion.
Written by Marsha Ramroop, former inaugural EDI Director at the RIBA and award-winning EDI strategist, the book targets the pain points of talent attraction and retention, public sector procurement, community engagement and inclusive design. It utilises case studies from organisations across the sector and the world with successful EDI practices, as well as testimonials of lived experiences of discrimination which provide important insight to the reader. The book takes an intersectional approach, considering not just the separate identities of race, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender and sexual identity, disability, neurodiversity and class but the overlap of these.
Clearly written and accessible, with key points at the end of each chapter, this book is essential reading for those in the profession seeking to implement EDI practices in their work and workplace.
Table of Contents:
Introduction BEHAVIOURS 1. How to Create a Culture of Inclusion 2. STREAM your EDI: The Principles of Support, Time, Resource, Effort, Agency & Money 3. Holding yourself Accountable & Taking Responsibility ATTRACT & RETAIN 4. Inclusion in the Workforce Lifecycle CREATE 5. Inclusive Design, Development & Delivery 6. Inclusive Procurement & Supplier Diversity ENGAGE 7. Inclusion in Community Engagement & External Stakeholder Management Conclusion
About the Author :
Marsha Ramroop is a global award-winning inclusion culture strategist, working across sectors but with a mission to drive change in the built environment and engineering professions, believing these two pillars create our societies, and that if she can influence those sectors to be inclusive, she can influence a more inclusive world. She does this through her business, Unheard Voice Consultancy Ltd. She has also been working as Executive Director of Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion at Building People CIC, a network of networks for equity, diversity and inclusion in construction and the built environment. Marsha was the inaugural Director of Inclusion and Diversity at the Royal Institute of British Architects, before which she had a 30-year career in broadcasting and journalism, including 20 years at the BBC.
She’s a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Fellow of the Institute of Diversity and Equality Professionals and has been appointed to the International Advisory Council of the Institute of Business Ethics.
Marsha lives in Derbyshire with her husband and two daughters. To find out more about her work visit: www.unheardvoice.co.uk
Review :
"Building Inclusion focuses on the built environment, where design, people, and culture intersect. It’s clear, practical, and deeply informed, offering tools for leaders and changemakers to embed inclusion into spaces where people live and work. Thoughtful, relevant, and accessible, it’s a valuable book for professionals across the sector."
Judges, The Business Book Awards 2025
"A thoughtful and thought‑provoking book that educates and inspires. With her personal experience and pragmatic approach Marsha offers us an opportunity to make meaningful change to the culture of the profession; by taking personal and collective responsibility for our behaviours. She acts as a critical friend throughout and as such this book is essential reading for all in the sector. I was reminded that however much we think we do, we can all do more. I was motivated and determined to do exactly that."
Professor Sadie Morgan OBE, Founding Director, dRMM
"An excellent, practical handbook to help the sector do better when it comes to EDI – both in terms of how it operates and the spaces it creates. Marsha’s engaging style draws the reader in with a blend of her and others’ practical experiences, meaningful context and powerful quotes. It lays open the challenges, but also provides practical tools and advice to help empower those that want to make a change. A valuable guide for anyone seeking to embrace the opportunity a diverse, inclusive workforce can unlock."
Sarah Chilcott, Managing Director, Planning Portal
"As Marsha rightly notes, inclusive change in the Built Environment is not optional – it’s a personal and leadership obligation. This outstanding and practical guide provides insight and solutions encouraging us to embrace equity, diversity and inclusion as an opportunity and a challenge. We must accept this invitation to get to work, become agents of change and to take responsibility for enabling equitable outcomes we’d like to see embodied within the Built Environment we create."
Warren Stapley, Solicitor and award‑winning Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategist
"The global majority has never needed a more important, insightful book than this one. Marsha you truly smashed it, ‘The Elephant in the room’ talking about experience, discrimination and the much needed ACTIONS to make sure that Architecture and the Creative professions reflect the ‘Global Majority’. People that look like us. Please read this book or miss out on its valuable insights."
Neil Pinder, Founder of HomeGrown Plus; Head of Architecture at Graveney School; Hon Professor Bartlett School of Architecture; Hon RIBA Fellow
"What does inclusion have to do with architecture? You won’t have to wait more than a couple pages into this book to find out. Drawing on her brilliant communication skills, her leading expertise in cultural intelligence, and her insider knowledge of the world of architecture, Marsha Ramroop has written a groundbreaking book that is not only overflowing with practical ideas, it’s a riveting read. Even people working outside architecture will benefit from reading this."
David Livermore, PhD, Author and leading authority on cultural intelligence
"Marsha Ramroop’s Building Inclusion is both compelling and provoking. Her vantage point as an outsider is unique. The holistic, 360‑degree perspective adopted within, reflects my approach to inclusion. Systemic factors and processes are addressed in addition to individual behaviour. Filled with practical advice and a strategy for change, it is a must read for any practice leader or individual seeking to build their knowledge and acquire tools for informed action."
Dr Teri Okoro, FRIBA Architect, founder, inclusion strategist and non‑executive director
"The built environment affects us all fundamentally and yet those charged with stewarding it do not represent society at large, nor regularly seek to understand lived experiences beyond their own. This essential guide provides the insight and tools we must all embrace, to not only understand this issue, but also to take the necessary action to create truly inclusive practices."
Alasdair Ben Dixon, Co‑author, RIBA Ethical Practice Guide; Co‑founder, Collective Works; Steering Group, Architects Declare
"Marsha’s done an exemplary job providing you with a powerful roadmap about why making inclusivity a primary goal is crucial to our survival. If lack of inclusivity is evil, then we don’t have any excuse for doing nothing. In the end it’s all our responsibility. I encourage you, in fact I challenge you, to take the first step, read this book, and be the change – make a difference now!"
Annette Amanda Oyèkúnlé Fisher, Former RIBA Vice President; Partner FA Global; Co‑Chair, Unionne; Chair, Let’s Build
"Necessary reading for the leaders of all forward-thinking consultancies in the built environment, Marsha Ramroop’s book, Building Inclusion, will make you reconsider what you think you know about yourself as a person and as an engineer."
Sinéad Conneely, Co-founder and director, Simple Works. Review in The Structural Engineer, Volume 103, Issue 6, 2025
