With an ageing population in many countries, health and social care providers are under growing pressure to improve the quality and safety of care environments for older people, and ensure they are fit-for-purpose for caring for those with age-related conditions, including dementia. Health Building Note 08-02: Dementia-friendly health and social care environments, recently published, is the first HBN to offer specific guidance on the subject. Here Loughborough University research associates, Efthimia Pantzartzis and Federica Pascale, and Andrew Price, who is Professor of Project Management at the University, explain the background to the new HBN, and offer insights into its structure and content. June's HEJ reported on 115 Department of Health-funded pilot projects undertaken throughout England in 2013-2014 aimed at creating more 'dementia-friendly' environments in health and social care settings implemented under the DH Capital Programme, Improving the environment of care for people with dementia. The results and findings helped shape the new HBN guidance.