Dehradun, Mar 16: Cushman & Wakefield recently handed over a one-of-a-kind, accessibility first campus to Latika, a Dehradun-based nonprofit, reinforcing the role of the built environment in enabling inclusive social infrastructure.
India is home to over 26 million persons with disabilities (Census 2011), yet educational infrastructure designed entirely around accessibility remains limited. Latika’s new premises address this structural gap by embedding universal design principles from inception, ensuring accessibility is integrated into the core architecture of the campus.
Developed over a three-year construction timeline, the 56,000 sq feet of built-up space has been designed to support over 1,500 disabled children and their families. The facility integrates accessibility at every level, including a multi-storey ramp system, barrier-free circulation, inclusive classrooms, therapy facilities and thoughtfully planned family support spaces. Every element of the campus has been planned to support safe mobility, learning and participation for children with diverse physical and developmental needs.
Latika’s new premises represents a significant milestone in its 30+ year history of inclusion, grassroots engagement and specialized support for disabled children in Uttarakhand.
Cushman & Wakefield partnered with Latika to help realise this vision. The firm provided CSR seed capital and delivered comprehensive pro-bono project management services through its Project & Development Services team.
This included construction oversight, cost and timeline management, quality control and execution coordination, reflecting the standards typically deployed in large-scale commercial developments. By applying disciplined project management practices, the firm supported the timely delivery of a campus built to high accessibility standards.
The project also incorporates sustainable design principles, including the use of local materials, local craftsmanship, and low-maintenance, energy-efficient construction techniques, ensuring the campus remains environmentally responsible and easy to maintain over the long term.
Anshul Jain, Chief Executive, India, SEA, MEA and APAC Office and Retail, Cushman & Wakefield, said,
“We firmly believe that buildings drive culture. They shape opportunity, enable participation, and have the power to drive inclusion in the way we live, work, learn, and play. Through our partnership with Latika on their inclusive and accessible building, we aim to demonstrate how thoughtfully designed infrastructure can help move the conversation on disability forward in India.
Our teams approached this project with the same discipline, advisory expertise and integrated project delivery standards that we apply to large-scale developments. It was also our privilege to bring like-minded organizations within the real-estate fraternity, to come together to support this initiative.
When accessibility is embedded into infrastructure from the beginning, it expands opportunity and enables children with disabilities to learn, grow and participate with confidence. We hope this campus contributes to a broader shift towards more inclusive design in India’s built environment.”
Jo Chopra, Founder and Executive Director, Latika, said,
“Every child, regardless of ability, deserves to grow up in a place where they’re valued and able to participate fully in community life. Our new campus gives concrete shape to that vision. Designed for accessibility, learning and community through everyday experience, it’s an important milestone for us as well as for inclusive education in India. We hope it’ll serve not only the children and families in our programmes, but also demonstrate what a truly inclusive environment looks like, and what becomes possible when inclusion is built into the environment from the start. We’re grateful to Cushman and Wakefield for helping make it possible”.
