_Policies

Privacy Policy

At Walking Distance, we value your privacy and are committed to protecting the personal information you share with us. We process personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, and any other applicable data protection laws. These laws set out how organisations must collect, use, store and protect personal information, while also giving individuals rights over how their data is handled.

What is personal data
Personal data is any information that can identify an individual, either directly or indirectly. This may include details such as a person's name, email address, telephone number, postal address, or other information linked to them. It can also include opinions about an individual or technical information, such as website usage data, where it relates to an identifiable person. Information that has been fully anonymised so that an individual cannot be identified is not considered personal data. Throughout this policy, individuals whose personal data we process are referred to as "data subjects."

Responsibilities
Walking Distance is the data controller for the personal information we collect and process. In this Privacy Policy, references to "Walking Distance", "we", "us", or "our" mean the organisation responsible for deciding how and why your personal data is used. We are committed to ensuring that our staff, systems, processes and any third-party service providers we work with handle personal information securely and in compliance with applicable data protection legislation.

What type of data do we collect
Walking Distance is committed to handling personal information responsibly and in line with the core principles of UK data protection law. Whenever we collect, use or store personal data, we will ensure that it is:

  • processed lawfully, fairly and transparently;

  • collected only for clear, specific and legitimate purposes, and not used in ways that are incompatible with those purposes;

  • limited to the information that is necessary for the intended purpose;

  • accurate and kept up to date where appropriate;

  • retained only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it was collected or to meet legal obligations;

  • protected through appropriate technical and organisational measures to maintain its security and confidentiality; and

  • managed in a way that enables us to demonstrate compliance with applicable data protection legislation.

We may also collect and use aggregated or statistical information for purposes such as analysing trends, improving our services or understanding how our website is used. This information does not identify individuals and is not considered personal data under data protection law. However, if aggregated information is combined with personal data in a way that could identify an individual, it will be treated as personal data and handled in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

How do we collect personal data

We understand that your personal information is important and are committed to being transparent about how we collect and use it. Depending on how you interact with Walking Distance, we may collect personal data in the following ways.

Information You Provide to Us

We collect personal information that you choose to share with us directly. This may happen when you:

  • contact us by email, telephone, post or through social media;

  • complete a contact form or other online form;

  • enquire about or engage our architectural services;

  • become a client or work with us on a project;

  • apply for a job, internship or work placement;

  • register to receive newsletters, marketing communications or invitations to events;

  • take part in a survey, competition or promotional activity; or

  • provide feedback or otherwise communicate with us.

Where required by law, we will only process your personal data with your consent or where we have another lawful basis for doing so, such as fulfilling a contract or complying with a legal obligation.

Information Collected Automatically

When you visit our website, we may automatically collect certain technical information about your device and how you use the site. This can include your IP address, browser type, operating system, pages visited and browsing activity. We collect this information through cookies, server logs and similar technologies.

We use cookies to ensure our website functions correctly and to help us understand how visitors use our site so that we can improve its performance and usability. The cookies we use are not intended to share your personal information with third parties.

Information from Third Parties

In some circumstances, we may receive personal information from trusted third parties or publicly available sources. This may include:

  • website analytics provided by services such as Google Analytics, which help us understand visitor numbers, website usage and overall performance through anonymised and aggregated statistics;

  • financial and payment information provided by banks or payment service providers where necessary to administer our services; and

  • contact or business information from publicly available sources, such as Companies House or professional networking platforms including LinkedIn, where relevant to our business relationship.


How we use personal data
Walking Distance will only process your personal information where we have a lawful basis to do so. Depending on the circumstances, this may include:

  • where you have given your consent for a specific purpose;

  • where processing is necessary to perform a contract with you or to take steps before entering into a contract;

  • where we are required to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation;

  • where processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided these interests do not override your rights and freedoms; or

  • where it is necessary to protect someone's vital interests.

In some cases, more than one lawful basis may apply to the same processing activity. We may also process personal information without your consent where this is required or permitted by law.

Why We Use Your Information

We may use your personal information to:

  • register and manage relationships with clients, consultants, suppliers and other business contacts;

  • administer architectural projects and provide our professional services;

  • process invoices, payments and other financial transactions;

  • meet our legal, regulatory and contractual obligations;

  • communicate with you about projects, enquiries or other matters relating to our services;

  • respond to feedback, surveys or other requests for information;

  • maintain the security and operation of our business, systems and website;

  • improve our website, services and communications through analytics and user insights; and

  • send information about our services, projects, events or publications where you have requested this or where we are otherwise permitted to do so.

Recruitment and Employment

If you apply for a role with Walking Distance or become an employee, we may process personal information relevant to recruitment and employment, including:

  • contact and identification details;

  • CVs, application forms and references;

  • records relating to employment terms and conditions;

  • payroll, tax and pension information;

  • job role, training and professional development records;

  • attendance, holiday and sickness records;

  • performance reviews;

  • disciplinary or grievance records where applicable; and

  • other information required to meet our legal and employment obligations.

We will retain employment-related information only for as long as necessary to fulfil legal, contractual and business requirements.

Marketing Communications

Where appropriate, we may use your personal information to provide updates about our work, services, events or publications that we believe may be of interest to you. You will only receive marketing communications where you have chosen to receive them, where you are an existing client and applicable law allows us to contact you, or where we have another lawful basis for doing so. You can opt out of marketing communications at any time.

We will only share your personal information with third parties for their own marketing purposes where you have given your explicit consent.

International Transfers

Where possible, Walking Distance stores and processes personal information within the United Kingdom. If we ever transfer personal data outside the UK, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place and that the transfer complies with applicable UK data protection legislation.

Storing and protecting personal data
Walking Distance takes the security of your personal information seriously. We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure. Where appropriate, we use secure methods to transfer sensitive information to clients, consultants and other authorised third parties.

While we take reasonable steps to safeguard the information we send and receive, no method of electronic communication or data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure. We therefore cannot guarantee the security of information transmitted by email or other electronic means.

We retain personal information only for as long as it is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including to meet legal, regulatory, accounting or professional obligations. When personal information is no longer required, it is securely deleted or destroyed in accordance with our data retention procedures.

Access to personal information is restricted to employees, consultants and service providers who need it to carry out their work. Everyone handling personal data on behalf of Walking Distance is required to do so securely, confidentially and in accordance with applicable data protection legislation.


Sharing personal data
To provide our services, manage our business and meet our legal obligations, we may need to share personal information with selected third parties. We only share information where there is a legitimate reason to do so and take appropriate steps to ensure that any third party handling your data does so securely and in accordance with data protection legislation.

These third parties may include:

  • Service providers and data processors who support our business operations, such as IT, software, website hosting and system administration providers. These organisations may be based in the UK or other countries where appropriate safeguards are in place.

  • Professional advisers and consultants, including legal advisers, accountants, insurers, auditors and financial advisers, who may act as processors or independent controllers when providing their services to us.

  • Government bodies, regulators and public authorities, including HM Revenue & Customs, where we are required to disclose information to meet legal or regulatory obligations.

  • Research and analytics providers who help us understand how our services, website and communications are used.

We do not sell personal information or share it with third parties for their own marketing purposes. We will not disclose your personal data to any other third party unless we have your permission or are otherwise required or permitted to do so by law.

Your data protection rights
Walking Distance respects your rights in relation to your personal information and will handle any requests in accordance with applicable data protection legislation.

You have the right to:

  • Access your personal information and request a copy of the data we hold about you.

  • Request correction of any inaccurate or incomplete information we hold about you.

  • Request deletion of your personal information in certain circumstances, where there is no lawful reason for us to continue processing it.

  • Request restriction of processing or object to how we use your personal information in certain circumstances.

  • Request the transfer of your personal information to you or another organisation where applicable (known as data portability).

You can ask us to stop using your personal information for marketing purposes at any time. You can do this by following the unsubscribe instructions included in our marketing communications or by contacting us directly. Choosing not to receive marketing communications will not affect any personal information we need to process in relation to services we provide, contractual obligations or other lawful purposes.

You can also manage cookie preferences through your browser settings, including choosing to block some or all cookies. Please note that disabling cookies may affect the functionality and performance of parts of our website.

If you would like to exercise any of your data protection rights, please contact Walking Distance using the details provided in this Privacy Policy. We will respond to your request within the timescales required by law.

All members of the Walking Distance team are required to ensure that any requests relating to personal information are passed to the appropriate person within the practice so they can be handled correctly.

Notifying breaches
A personal data breach occurs when there is a security incident that results in the accidental or unlawful loss, destruction, alteration, unauthorised disclosure of, or access to personal information that we hold, whether stored electronically, physically or processed in another way.

Examples of a personal data breach may include:

  • unauthorised access to personal information by someone who should not have access;

  • accidental or deliberate actions by Walking Distance or a third-party service provider that compromise personal data;

  • personal information being sent to the wrong person or organisation;

  • loss or theft of devices, documents or storage media containing personal information;

  • unauthorised changes being made to personal information; or

  • situations where personal information becomes unavailable due to a security incident.

Walking Distance has procedures in place to identify, assess and respond to personal data breaches. Where a breach is likely to result in a risk to individuals’ rights and freedoms, we will notify the relevant supervisory authority and affected individuals where required by law.

How Long We Keep Your Personal Information

Walking Distance will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including meeting any legal, contractual, accounting, professional or regulatory requirements.

The length of time we keep personal information will depend on the nature of the information and our relationship with you. For example, we may retain information relating to projects, clients, consultants, suppliers and professional services for an appropriate period after a project has concluded to enable us to manage our records, respond to future enquiries, resolve disputes, and meet our legal and professional obligations.

We regularly review the personal information we hold and securely delete or anonymise information when it is no longer required.

Where we are required to retain information for longer periods, such as for legal, regulatory or insurance purposes, we will continue to store that information securely and only use it for the relevant purpose.

How to make a complaint
If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a data protection complaint to us:

Email: info@walkingdistance.co.uk

If you remain unhappy with how we’ve used your data after raising a complaint with us, you can also complain to the ICO. 

Record of breaches
Walking Distance records all personal data breaches regardless of whether they are notifiable or not as part of its general accountability requirement under the Data Protection Act 2018. It records the facts relating to the breach, its effects and the remedial action taken.