RIBA: Inclusive Access to Existing Buildings | Manchester

Inclusive access to existing buildings: how to achieve real change

This seminar will introduce the scope of the Equality Act 2010 and illustrate how it interacts with Building Regulations and good practice guidance to inform design outcomes. It will identify important changes to Parts K, M and N of the Building Regulations regarding accessibility and also consider the implications of means of escape for disabled people.

This comprehensive session will cover:

• Responding to diversity: a shift of policy regarding our built environment, what it might be, and for whom
• Legal obligations: understanding four decades of social change reflected in disability equality legislation and in building regulations; a moving picture
• The DDA 1995 and the Equality Act 2010 as drivers for change: the relevance of this legislation to our built environment and heritage and what adjustments might be expected
• Duty of care: competing legislation and understanding the pecking order; the legal hierarchy
• Options for improving accessibility: what can I do? Setting out the options for reasonable adjustments
• Understanding the aims of legislation: developing a ‘built environment’ strategy to meet the objectives of legislation and regulations
• Case studies: examples of achieving improved accessibility to existing buildings
• On-screen test: spot the reasonable adjustments
• Design standards and references: what you should have in your library
• Using case studies and examples of common design issues, the speaker will illustrate how legislation, regulation and guidance can be used to create places and spaces that are accessible, inclusive, safe and enjoyable for everyone to use, whilst at the same time not stifling design freedom or creativity.

Speaker: Helen Allen, David Bonnett Associates

Helen qualified as a landscape architect and is an inclusive design consultant registered with the National Register of Access Consultants (NRAC). Helen has extensive experience in conducting access audits and appraisals for a wide variety of building types and environments, as well as writing access statements in support of planning applications. She has worked on residential and mixed use developments, commercial and education buildings, and sites of historic significance including the Grade I listed Cutty Sark ship. Helen’s expertise encompasses large scale masterplanning such as the Athlete’s Village in Stratford and the refurbished BBC TV Centre at White City.

She also co-authored Inclusive Urban Design: a guide to creating accessible public spaces with David Bonnett and the BSI.

Core Curriculum topics:

1. Access for all
2. Compliance

Book online here

This event is also running in Liverpool on 21 January: click here for more information