Designing new property for limited mobility-anyone do this?
Discussion
Subject to planning & funding we're planning to build an extension for my 73 year old father to live in next to us. He's had a couple of hip replacements and his mobility isn't great and is no doubt only going to get worse. His big problem currently is that he struggles to bend.
We could do with some guidance about how and what we should build to make his life easier in the longer term.
Some of the obvious points are that we'll build a wetroom rather than having a separate shower cubicle - presumbably we need to ensure that the rest of the floor remains dry and that it isn't slippery.
Kitchen planning is looking tricky, there won't be a huge kitchen area but all the applicances need to be accessible to him so not at floor level. Someone suggested that pull out drawers at the lower level are better than cupboards as it's easier to reach (or use a helping hand) to get something out of a drawer rather than reaching into a cupboard.
Does anyone have any experience of this type of thing or have any contacts that can advise? We'll be on the Dorset/Devon border.
Thank you!
We could do with some guidance about how and what we should build to make his life easier in the longer term.
Some of the obvious points are that we'll build a wetroom rather than having a separate shower cubicle - presumbably we need to ensure that the rest of the floor remains dry and that it isn't slippery.
Kitchen planning is looking tricky, there won't be a huge kitchen area but all the applicances need to be accessible to him so not at floor level. Someone suggested that pull out drawers at the lower level are better than cupboards as it's easier to reach (or use a helping hand) to get something out of a drawer rather than reaching into a cupboard.
Does anyone have any experience of this type of thing or have any contacts that can advise? We'll be on the Dorset/Devon border.
Thank you!
These doscuments will also help.
http://www.pukka-up.com/docs/DDA.pdf
http://www.pukka-up.com/docs/LifetimeHomes.pdf
http://www.pukka-up.com/docs/DDA.pdf
http://www.pukka-up.com/docs/LifetimeHomes.pdf
Edited by Fex2005 on Monday 26th November 17:22
Piglet,
My credentials: For approximately 7 years I specialised in designing for people with disabilities until a couple of years ago (when I sold out to big business, basically... I earn 3 times as much doing half as much work, by not being of any benefit to society
). I was a member of the Centre for Accessible Environments and a Registered Access Consultant, working for Local Authority doing nothing but adapting properties for disabled people and advising on the the design of new buildings to facilitate their use by people with a disability.
Bear in mind that Part M is about 'visitability'... ie. making the entrance storey of a house just about accessible enough that someone with a disability can visit without too much difficulty. It is NOT an appropriate design standard to use to design or adapt a permanent home for someone with a disability - particularly the toilet and shower layouts shown!
Similarly, 'Lifetime Homes' is about making sure that houses aren't too difficult to adapt to meet a person's changing needs as they journey through life... it's not about designing ideal properties for those with a significant disability.
The CAE document linked to above is a reasonable basic primer (albeit focused on public buildings rather than domestic dwellings), but the current 'Bible' is BS8300:2001 Design of buildings and their approaches to meet the needs of disabled people'. If you have broadband, e-mail me via my profile and I should be able to get a PDF copy for you.
Even so, bear in mind that BS8300 and most of the other design guidance is about making buildings generally accessible to people with disabilities, rather than maximising convenience and access for an individual with particular needs. As one example... most of the guidance will focus on ramped 'wheelchair accessible' external access; if your father has had hip replacements, there's a good chance that he might feel very uncomfortable or unstable walking up the slope of a ramp and might be better off with low steps with a suitable handrail.
If you approach your local Social Services, you will find they employ professionals called 'Occupational Therapists', who are obliged to carry out an assessment of your father's mobility problems on request (though there's often a long waiting list, so the sooner you apply, the better). You may even find that he is eligible for grant funding of some or all of the adaptations, via a Disabled Facilities Grant.
I wouldn't have time to do full Building Regulations drawings, but I'm not too far from you (I'm South Gloucestershire, near Wotton under Edge), so if you need specific advice or maybe even 'planning' drawings, give me a shout.
My credentials: For approximately 7 years I specialised in designing for people with disabilities until a couple of years ago (when I sold out to big business, basically... I earn 3 times as much doing half as much work, by not being of any benefit to society
). I was a member of the Centre for Accessible Environments and a Registered Access Consultant, working for Local Authority doing nothing but adapting properties for disabled people and advising on the the design of new buildings to facilitate their use by people with a disability.Bear in mind that Part M is about 'visitability'... ie. making the entrance storey of a house just about accessible enough that someone with a disability can visit without too much difficulty. It is NOT an appropriate design standard to use to design or adapt a permanent home for someone with a disability - particularly the toilet and shower layouts shown!
Similarly, 'Lifetime Homes' is about making sure that houses aren't too difficult to adapt to meet a person's changing needs as they journey through life... it's not about designing ideal properties for those with a significant disability.
The CAE document linked to above is a reasonable basic primer (albeit focused on public buildings rather than domestic dwellings), but the current 'Bible' is BS8300:2001 Design of buildings and their approaches to meet the needs of disabled people'. If you have broadband, e-mail me via my profile and I should be able to get a PDF copy for you.
Even so, bear in mind that BS8300 and most of the other design guidance is about making buildings generally accessible to people with disabilities, rather than maximising convenience and access for an individual with particular needs. As one example... most of the guidance will focus on ramped 'wheelchair accessible' external access; if your father has had hip replacements, there's a good chance that he might feel very uncomfortable or unstable walking up the slope of a ramp and might be better off with low steps with a suitable handrail.
If you approach your local Social Services, you will find they employ professionals called 'Occupational Therapists', who are obliged to carry out an assessment of your father's mobility problems on request (though there's often a long waiting list, so the sooner you apply, the better). You may even find that he is eligible for grant funding of some or all of the adaptations, via a Disabled Facilities Grant.
I wouldn't have time to do full Building Regulations drawings, but I'm not too far from you (I'm South Gloucestershire, near Wotton under Edge), so if you need specific advice or maybe even 'planning' drawings, give me a shout.
Cheers all, I'll have a trawl through the links and get back to both Ginettag27 & Sam68. Sadly we don't have vast amounts of cash to throw at the project - the site sharing is a way of getting us close to Dad so that we're not 90 miles away when he needs us, which given he's on the Jurassic Coast is something that is beyond our means without this solution.
Dad's twin brother has been a wheelchair user (quadraplegic with some arm movement but no leg movement) for the last 35 years so we're fairly used to planning flat access but the concept of planning shower rooms and kitchens is something I think we need to investigate further. My uncle doesn't use a kitchen and has hoists to get him around a bathroom which is a very different scenario. Plus I guess we need to be flexible to recognise that whilst he's just a bit "stiff" on his feet at the moment, his mobility is likely to get worse as time goes on so the perfect shower room design now might not always work for him.
We're also going to need to plan a staircase for the early years as the ground floor space available isn't entirely big enough whilst he's mobile and I imagine there is a huge difference between good and bad stairs for someone in Dad's position and with potentially looking at the need for a stairlift.
Thanks very much all.
Sam - you're not far from us at the moment, we're in Bristol currently until we get all this sorted.
Dad's twin brother has been a wheelchair user (quadraplegic with some arm movement but no leg movement) for the last 35 years so we're fairly used to planning flat access but the concept of planning shower rooms and kitchens is something I think we need to investigate further. My uncle doesn't use a kitchen and has hoists to get him around a bathroom which is a very different scenario. Plus I guess we need to be flexible to recognise that whilst he's just a bit "stiff" on his feet at the moment, his mobility is likely to get worse as time goes on so the perfect shower room design now might not always work for him.
We're also going to need to plan a staircase for the early years as the ground floor space available isn't entirely big enough whilst he's mobile and I imagine there is a huge difference between good and bad stairs for someone in Dad's position and with potentially looking at the need for a stairlift.
Thanks very much all.
Sam - you're not far from us at the moment, we're in Bristol currently until we get all this sorted.
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