Evac+Chair wins Accessibility in Action Award at 2025 Birmingham Business Awards

Held on 17 October at The Eastside Rooms, the Birmingham Business Awards once again celebrated the businesses and individuals driving positive change across Birmingham and the West Midlands. The Accessibility in Action category highlights those who are breaking down barriers for disabled people in everyday life, work and culture whereby accessibility is not an afterthought, but rather built into design, policy and practice.

Based in Solihull, Evac+Chair has spent over 40 years pioneering and manufacturing life-saving evacuation solutions that enable people with reduced mobility to evacuate safely and with dignity during an emergency. Its products are trusted in workplaces, healthcare facilities, educational institutions and public spaces across more than 70 countries.

True accessibility

Claire Blakemore, managing director at Evac+Chair, explained: “From product design and manufacturing through to training and maintenance support, ensuring safe evacuation for all – across the UK and beyond – is at the heart of everything we do. We’re incredibly proud to receive this recognition here in our home city.”

Blakemore added: “True accessibility means that ensuring everyone, regardless of mobility, can be evacuated safely in an emergency. This award is testament to the dedication of our team and our shared belief that inclusive safety should be a fundamental standard, not an exception.”

Growing focus

The award comes at a time of growing focus on inclusive fire safety, with forthcoming Residential Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans-focused regulations due to come into force in 2026.

As a business, Evac+Chair continues to play a leading role in helping organisations in meeting their legal and ethical obligations under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, as amended by the Fire Safety Act 2021 and the Equality Act 2010, ensuring no-one’s left behind in the event of an emergency scenario.

Since 1982, Evac+Chair has combined innovation and engineering excellence with a mission to make every building ‘evacuation ready’. Its solutions are designed to help employers, building owners and duty holders meet compliance requirements, while supporting accessibility and inclusion for all occupants.

*Further information is available online at www.evacchair.co.uk