Sittingbourne, Kent, 3 June 2026: Knauf has updated its plasterboard product data sheets to significantly improve accessibility, formally integrating neuro-inclusive design as a fundamental pillar of its operational performance and building safety standards.

This initiative responds to a 2023 report published by the National Federation of Builders (NFB) in collaboration with the CITB, which highlights that 25% of the construction industry considers themselves to be neurodivergent – a term which explains the differences in brain function, learning, processing information and behavioural traits, and can include autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia.

For Knauf, accessibility is not a separate initiative from operational excellence; it is essential to achieving consistent safety, quality of application, and compliance across the industry. Product data sheets play a critical role for the entire value chain, providing essential guidance for the safe and correct use of materials.

By undertaking a review of its documentation to reduce visual friction and improve typography, spacing, contrast, and navigation, Knauf is ensuring that technical guidance is intuitive and easily navigated. These improvements have now been implemented across all plasterboard product data sheets, directly supporting a safer, more productive working environment.

Becky Broadbent, Sustainability Proposition Manager at Knauf, who led the project, said: “Having a neurodiverse workforce is critical for innovation, creativity and problem-solving. With a construction skills shortage, it’s vital that we retain skilled workers as well as attract new people into the industry. One of the ways we can do this is by ensuring we are neuro-inclusive and not creating unnecessary barriers. Communication is as much about receiving information as it is sending it, so it’s essential that safety and product data information is clearly understood.”

Supporting this initiative, Mark Charlesworth, Managing Director at Neuro Tide, commented: “Neuroinclusive communication has a direct impact on safety, quality and confidence. In construction, where people rely on technical and safety information to do their jobs well, clarity is not a nice-to-have, it matters. A significant part of the construction workforce is neurodivergent, and when communication is clearer and easier to use, it becomes easier to maintain quality and safety standards. Knauf’s willingness to take this seriously and act on it sends an important message, not only within Knauf, but across the wider industry too. Knauf is to be congratulated for taking an enthusiastic pro-active step on safety and neuroinclusion, showing others it can be done, and what the positive outcomes are for all.”

As a founding strategic partner of The Construction Inclusion Coalition, Knauf is committed to improving equity, diversity and inclusion across the sector. Following the successful rollout of the updated plasterboard data sheets, Knauf is now extending this review process to its wider suite of technical resources.

The company is actively inviting suggestions from neurodivergent colleagues across the construction industry to help guide these further improvements.

For more information please call 01795 424499, email or visit the Knauf website.