Looking Back on 2025: A Year of Progress in Safety in Design

As 2025 draws to a close, we’re reflecting on a year of complex work and quiet wins — and on how Safety in Design is being better understood and applied across the industry.

The legislative framework hasn’t changed — designer duties remain the same (aside from WA, where designer duties were aligned more closely with the rest of Australia). What has changed is how Safety in Design is being applied in practice.

Across architecture, infrastructure and public-sector projects, we’ve seen a shift away from treating Safety in Design as a tick-box compliance task, and toward embedding it earlier as a practical design capability — one that supports better decision-making, reduces downstream risk and strengthens design outcomes.

Read on as we share what’s changed in practice, what we’ve learned through our work in Australia and offshore, and why Safety in Design is increasingly recognised as supporting creativity, innovation and long-term performance.

2025: What Changed in Practice

We’ve noticed Safe Design has been: 

•  engaged earlier, when it can genuinely influence form, access, materials and systems
• used collaboratively to resolve risks through design, rather than relying on late-stage fixes
•  embedded within councils and asset owners as business-as-usual, not an add-on
•  applied in ways that support better design decisions and long-term performance

What we’ve loved working on this year

Collaborations: working with clients who value practical thinking and real-world outcomes. Highlights included:

•  partnering with peak industry bodies, including WorkSafe Victoria, to strengthen practical Safety in Design training for members     
• working closely with local councils – City of Gold Coast was a standout – to embed Safety in Design across teams and project portfolios
• contributing specialist Safety in Design expertise to major architectural and public infrastructure projects, including the award-winning Barangaroo Pier Pavilion with Besley & Spresser 
• developing tools and WHSMS documentation packages that make robust systems more accessible for sole practitioners and small–medium practices  

Building what’s next

Behind the scenes, we’ve also been investing heavily in what comes next:

• exploring new collaborations to reimagine our workshop experience, combining spatial thinking and emerging AI tools
• developing more self-paced, in-depth online Safety in Design training (with CPD points)
• expanding our online store with practical, compliant documentation and procedure packages
• continuing innovation on our own AI-enabled delivery systems

The people behind the work

None of this happens without people.

In 2025, Safe Design Australia was strengthened by:

• Mark Saint, expanding Safe Design workshop delivery and strengthening internal governance
• Rebekah Coleman, leading a growing volume of complex commercial Safe Design reports with clarity and calm
• John Daly, guiding procedural system consulting with depth and generosity
• Leo Fan, stepping up across workshops and special projects
• Dan Adams, keeping the admin engine running through life’s curveballs
• Chintana Sananikhone, delivering residential Safety in Design reports at a pace AI might admire
• Paul Harrison, Australia’s CPTED consultant beyond compare, bringing unmatched insight to diverse projects
• Amanda Flynn, communicating Safe Design to a wider audience and exploring its role in creative and sustainable design

Looking ahead

2025 has reinforced our view that good Safety in Design supports better decisions and more sustainable outcomes – for architects, designers, councils, governments and communities.

To our clients, collaborators and industry peers — thank you for trusting us, challenging us, and thinking deeply alongside us.

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Want to go deeper?

👉Learn more about how Safety in Design is applied in practice including designer duties, workshops and documentation. 

Interested in how Safe Design supports creativity and innovation in practice? 

👉Read  Beyond Compliance: Safe Design as a Creative Force