What's New
MARCH 2008 - NEW GUIDELINES ON INCLUSIVE WASHROOMS
New guidelines aimed at helping architects and specifiers more fully meet
the growing pressure for inclusivity have been developed, to enable the design
of facilities that provide as all-encompassing a solution as possible within cost constraints.
Total Hygiene, manufacturer of the Clos-o-Mat automatic bidet toilet and a
range of washroom accessories to facilitate toileting independence for the
less able, maintains too often, specifiers focus on the wheelchair- bound when
designing and specifying DDA compliant buildings, and even then forget considerations
such as height when positioning washbasins, changing tables etc. As a result,
it has published “Toileting & Wetroom Adaptations- An Inclusive Approach”,
to give generic guidance to optimise inclusive design.
Robin Tuffley, Total Hygiene marketing manager, elaborates, “A study
by Lancaster University shows that the number of wheelchair users alone has
increased 100% in a decade. By 2020 over half the UK population will be over
50, and facing problems of ageing- reduced mobility, dexterity. There is therefore
going to be an increasing need for ‘toilets for all’, particularly
in public buildings.
“If someone is confined to a wheelchair, they can’t reach a standard
height washbasin. If someone has severe arthritis they may be able to stand
up, sit down on a conventional toilet, but struggle to grasp toilet paper.
Yet such issues are too often overlooked: there is a view that installing a
grab rail will suffice. It will meet the needs of some, but there are many
other options that, for a minute extra cost on the total build spend, make
a hugely positive impact on the people using those facilities. It is for that
reason we have worked closely with experts within the inclusive design field
to develop the guidelines.”
Wet Rooms are increasingly being incorporated into commercial and domestic
buildings: the advantage to a wet room is that once it is installed it should
meet a range of needs over a long period of time therefore making it cost effective.
The Total Hygiene guidelines identify considerations including non-slip flooring,
sufficient space to manoeuvre a wheelchair or hoist, the height and adjustability
of changing tables, basins, sensory elements- surface texture and colour, many
of which cost no extra to install.
Copies of the guidelines are available on request from Total Hygiene.
Total Hygiene has supplied and installed over 30,000 automatic bidet toilets
in the UK, and provides a comprehensive sales, installation and after sales
package, and offers a range of options to enable tailoring of each unit to
individual requirements.
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