An accessible adult change facility is a type of sanitary compartment that includes a hoist and adult size change table in addition to a peninsula-type toilet pan and other fixtures and fittings. Its purpose is to provide a suitable toilet for people with more complex or profound disability who may be unable to use standard accessible toilets.
Read moreHearing Augmentation Systems
Hearing augmentation systems assist people with a hearing impairment to be made aware of communications associated with a building’s use.
Read moreBCA/NCC 2022 New Requirements for Livable Housing Design.
What is ‘livable housing design’?
Livable housing design is about changing the way we design homes to make them easier to use and more adaptable to the changing needs of occupants. In practice, this means reducing steps where possible, more space in the bathroom, wider doorways, and providing for future adaptations such as adding grabrails.
We call these new requirements ‘livable housing design’ because they’re based on the Livable Housing Design Guidelines (silver level), first published by Livable Housing Australia. Livable housing design represents a significant step-change to how we’ve traditionally designed housing in Australia.
There are many new changes introduced in NCC 2022. To help you understand them and make it as easy as possible to include them in your designs, we’ll be providing guidance material to explain their intent and answer the most commonly asked questions.
What changes are in NCC 2022?
You can find the livable housing design requirements in Volumes One and Two of the NCC.
In Volume One, they’re in the new Part G7. In Volume Two, they’re in Part H8.
These new Parts include:
A performance-based approach, to provide flexibility and encourage new and innovative ways to meet the requirements.
Exemptions for situations where full compliance may be impractical or unreasonable.
Deemed-to-Satisfy (DTS) Provisions that provide a standardised, prescriptive ‘recipe’ to meet the Performance Requirements, suitable for most common designs and construction methods.
The DTS Provisions refer to a new ABCB technical standard, called the ABCB Standard for Livable Housing Design. It provides the ‘nuts and bolts’ technical details along with explanatory information to help you understand why they are there and how to follow them correctly.
The ABCB Standard covers:
Providing step-free access to the home.
Making doorways and hallways easier to use for people with reduced mobility.
Providing extra space in the bathroom and toilet.
Wall reinforcing in the bathroom and toilet, to make it easier to install grabrails if needed in the future.
Why use an ACAA Accredited Access Consultant?
The highest membership class is the an Accredited member. In order to become an Accredited Access Consultant you need to participate in the continuing professional development program, have been an associate member for a number of years, must pass an Accreditation Test and also must have industry referees including two Accredited Access Consultants which provide a reference on the capabilities, knowledge and experience of that person.
Read moreBuilding Code of Australia - NCC 2022
All in all NCC 2022 is shaping up as the largest single amendments of any past amendments both in terms of the volume of changes and the scope and impact of the proposed reforms, particularly for houses and low-rise apartments.
Read moreAll Gender Toilets
All gender toilets also known as gender neutral toilets, are sanitary facilities that can be used by everyone. They do not have gendered signage and do not require the person using them to define into a gender.
Read moreAS1428.1-2009 Standard for Access & Mobility
The current access and mobility standard AS1428.1-2009 is based on research that is more than 38 years old and may be considered significantly out of date. Therefore, it may be reasonable to assume that the access needs of many people with a variety of disabilities in 2021 will not be fully met by complying with this standard.
Read moreNew Minimum Accessibility Standards for Housing in the BCA/NCC
It has finally been agreed on the National Building Ministers forum that new minimum accessibility Standards, based on the Silver Performance Level of the Livable Housing Australia (LHA) Design Guidelines, will be incorporated into the new Building Code of Australia (BCA/NCC).
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