The Hotel Engineer 15_3

More-accessible hotels from 2011 (cont’d) < in the DSAPB and duplicated in the BCA; and standards of Standards Australia (SA) upon which the ACB and the BCA rely for technical detail. The relevant SA standards are AS 1428 Part 1 (the principal “accessibility” standard); AS 1428 Part 2 (the supplementary accessibility standard used with Part 1 for public transport buildings under the BCA); AS/NZS 1428 Part 4 (for tactile ground surface indicators- ‘TGSls’); AS1735 (for lifts) and AS/NZS 2890 (for car parking).

The changes for next year are numerous, although not as much and nor as adequate, as argued by proponents, as they should have been. On the other hand, proponents of more affordable building argued that the provisions, though laudable, have gone too far. It was to balance these competing views that extensive industry and community consultation occurred and for which a Regulatory Impact Assessment was prepared.

Whether too for or not for enough will be reconsidered in approximately four years’ time for the five-yearly review of the DSAPB. The provisions next year will include requirements for: • more space in lifts and unisex (wheelchair accessible) toilets, provision for passing and turning spaces for wheelchairs in long or terminated corridors, and increased doorway widths; and more space for “accessible” car parking spaces • a greater proportion of entrances to be wheelchair accessible; • sanitary facilities, including a proportion of non-wheelchairaccessible toilet compartments to be suitable for use by ambulant people with a disability, and more-distributed unisex toilets; • in theatre and auditoria and the like, greater provision for wheelchair spaces and more extensive provision of hearing augmentation facilities; • for vertical access, provision of luminance contrasting strips at nosings of steps in fire escape stairways, a greater range of options for handrail ends at stairs and ramps, and changes to the allowable designs for ramps, and allowance of a greater range of lift types; • additional requirements for signs; • greater provision for access to swimming pools; • more conspicuous marking of glass in doorways and the like.

Concessions apply for small buildings, mezzanines, lifts, existing sanitary facilities, and multi-tenanted buildings.

Importantly, it is not just building designers, certifiers, developers, builders and owners who have obligations under the new provisions; it will also be managers and operators of hotels who will be required under the new provisions for the continued useability of accessways, sanitary facilities and other features required by the new provisions.

More information can be obtained from the Australian Human Rights Commission, the Australian Building Codes Board and the Australian Government Attorney General’s Department (www.ag.gov.au/premisesstandards) n Rod Hunter is an experienced architect, ACAA accredited access consultant, and a pedestrian access and safety researcher based in Melbourne.