A LITTLE About Us
Built For Good is a British tech start-up based in the East Midlands founded by a three collaborators who have been developing technological solutions which improve access to cinemas and theatres for the past eight years.
We all met at the National Theatre (NT) in London, where we combined our expertise and understanding of accessibility and technology to develop the worlds first closed captioning solution for theatre, the smart caption glasses, providing captions to deaf and hard of hearing theatregoers. The smart caption glasses are currently in use at the NT as well as at the Peoples Light and Arden Theatres in Philadelphia, USA.In 2020 we established Built For Good (BFG), with the ambition of becoming the world’s leading provider of innovative accessibility solutions for people who want to enjoy the collective experience of going to the cinema and/or the theatre.
We have a shared passion to use technology to make places of entertainment more inclusive, an ambition that comes from our shared experience of supporting accessibility in theatre, ensuring the arts are for everyone.
Alongside our development partners Synapsys and with the generous support of the UK Cinema Association (UKCA), Innovate UK and the Institute of Disabilities at Temple University in Philadelphia, we have developed WatchWord, a closed captioning solution for D/deaf, deafened, and hard of hearing audiences.Tabitha Allum
Before founding Built For Good, Tabitha worked freelance on a wide range of arts and charity projects, supporting organisations with their strategies and fundraising.Between 2005 and 2014, she was the Chief Executive of Stagetext, the charity which provides captioning for arts events. During this time she raised £2.5m in funding to support the organisation and more than doubled the size of the team.
Prior to running Stagetext, Tabitha worked for Arts Council England where she had responsibility for supporting arts venues to improve their accessibility.
Tim Middleton
Tim has a background in theatre sound and technical systems, primarily at the National Theatre and as a freelancer. He is a specialist in accessibility systems development for the entertainment sector. He has been writing software for over 20 years, and was responsible for specifying and integrating the NT’s smart caption glasses project between 2016 and 2019. As our Chief Technology Officer, Tim project manages the technical development of WatchWord.Jonathan Suffolk
Jonathan spent over 30 years working behind the scenes in technical theatre, formerly the head of sound at Chichester Festival Theatre and the NT, he held responsibility for supporting the provision of access services, and he led the smart caption glasses project on behalf of the NT while Technical Director.AWARDS
In 2019, we were recipients of the AbilityNet Tech4Good award for Inclusive Design for our work on the Smart Caption Glasses system. Read more here (open a new browser window).
BFG worked with Atomic to develop the WatchWord user interface and in May 2024, we were honoured with a prestigious Global Business Technology award for our collaboration on a groundbreaking AR Smart Glasses product. The award recognises the significant contribution made by the product to accessibility in the entertainment industry. Read more here (opens in a new browser window).