After much work across a wide range of sectors, the National Building Ministers forum has agreed that new minimum accessibility Standards, based on the Silver Performance Level of the Livable Housing Australia (LHA) Design Guidelines, will be incorporated into the National Construction Code (NCC). Ministers also agreed that a voluntary Gold Level technical standard for … Read More
Clarifications re the SDA Design Standard Interpretations 12 April 2021 This is the third update of Clarifications re the SDA Design Standard Interpretations. This 3rd Update also includes the content from Updates 1 and 2. The SDA Design Standard has now been in use for over 12 months and there are currently more than 60 … Read More
Ms. Joe Manton, Director Access Institute After spending my very early years trudging through the back yard to the outdoor ‘dunny’ in the winter, I developed a great appreciation, as did many others, for a comfortable, warm, clean, ‘spider free’ toilet, as these were introduced to homes across the country. Of course, you just need … Read More
The Comfort of Social Distancing With cafes and restaurants opening up again after the long hibernation it’s time to celebrate with a night out at our favourite eatery. With social distancing in place it may mean that people will be more comfortable at the dining table without the elbows of the diner next to them … Read More
27 October 2020 This is the second update of Clarifications re the SDA Design Standard Interpretations. The SDA Design Standard has now been in use for 12 months and there are currently more than 50 Accredited SDA Design Standard Assessors registered with Livable Housing Australia. Details can be found at https://sdaassessors.org.au/ As could be expected … Read More
Support to Councils providing advice and reviews of proposed Parklets Introducing Parklets to support local traders coming out of COVID 19 lockdown will be a great way to stimulate business and get the local economy moving again. Providing parking bays for use as trading and dining areas will bring vibrancy back to local precincts and … Read More
Discussion Paper 2020 The NRF for building Practitioners – Discussion Paper 2020, identifies an important role relating to Access Consultants, with specific expertise in regard to the National Construction Code (NCC) and access requirements for buildings. The proposed NRF has the potential to have significant impact on the role of Access Consultants in assessing compliance … Read More
By (Ms.) Joe Manton, Director Access Institute There is no doubt that the introduction of the Commonwealth Disability (Access to Premises- Buildings) Standards in 2011 has seen improvements in access to new buildings and some upgraded buildings, for a variety of building users with disabilities. These minimum standards reference the technical Australian Standards that provide … Read More
By (Ms) Joe Manton, Director, Access Institute Despite the challenges presented to the whole community during the COVID 19 pandemic, much significant work has continued to progress regarding how we can make life for everyone more accessible, more inclusive, more productive and more enjoyable. In terms of the built environment and buildings in particular, 2020 … Read More
The common understanding is that creating an accessible building involves compliance with mandatory relevant access legislation, codes and standards. This includes standards that will have an impact on the accessibility of the premises for people with a range of disabilities including mobility, vision, hearing, intellectual ability, cognitive ability etc. There is also a variety of … Read More
Public transport has always been a critically important mode of transport for many people in the community. This includes for people with a disability or other access challenges who rely on public transport to undertake their everyday activities. The Australian Bureau of Statistics writes, “When people with disabilities are restricted from accessing affordable and convenient … Read More
Universal Design is the process of designing products and environments to be useable by everyone, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialised design. Universal Design incorporates the needs of women and men, people with disabilities, older adults, children and young people, people who are left handed or people who are … Read More