Highbury Fields

The existing Oasis in the Park Cafe: a single storey building surrounded by railings, parasols and cafe tables with mature trees in full leaf behind.

A proposal for a new cafe and wildlife garden on the site of the Oasis cafe and bandstand by Levitate for London Borough of Islington that Withernay Projects provided access consultancy for received planning approval yesterday.

The larger building will provide internal and external seating, a kitchen, public sanitary facilities and areas for staff in a new timber structure delicately placed among the trees so as not to damage their roots.

The Highbury Fields Bandstand formerly housed a stay and play service but the building has been vacant since this closed in 2020. The single storey building is in a poor state of repair and will be replaced by an exciting new teaching space and surrounding wildlife garden.

Community inclusion

‘Amplify’ - a hearing aid designed by Alice Turner. A monochrome image of a model human ear with a rose-gold coloured and black device attached. Text adjacent to the ear reads “amplify. Designed to be seen.”

Alice Turner is a third year product design student at Central Saint Martins University specialising in inclusive solutions for disabled people who I have followed for a while on Instagram. At the time I found Alice's work her focus was developing hearing aids with the same philosophy that transformed spectacles from a device to help people with visual impairments into desirable eye-wear that is as responsive to the aesthetic whims of the consumer as a pair of shoes or winter coat. Link: Alice Turner - amplify.

Recently Alice posed a series of questions on Instagram Stories that invited followers to think about what community and inclusion mean to them. The first question is: "What does the word 'community' mean to you?" My short answer to fit the Instagram stories box was along the lines of 'people who you have regular enough contact with that you know they'd help you out if needed, and vice versa.'

In answering, I realised that I am part of two communities - probably more but two that are prominent. The first is the community of neighbours in the block of flats where I live, extending to other people in the local area. The second is my business network: other consultants, clients, architects and regular contacts. Both give a sense of mutual support through having a common interest.

My answer to one of Alice's questions surprised me and prompted this post: "What are the barriers to inclusion in your community?" I was certainly thinking about the access and inclusion community when I replied: "The expectation that disabled people are happy to contribute time, expertise, writing, participation at events etc, with no reimbursement."

A while ago I declined to contribute a chapter on making historic buildings accessible to a book about inclusive design because I disagree with the ethics of contributing to projects in return for ‘exposure’. This is mainly because it potentially excludes people who rely on being paid for work. Here's an extract from my reply to the book's compiler:

"I would expect a book about inclusive design in the built environment to include contributions by disabled people - 'Nothing about us without us' - but all too often hear from disabled people that they are expected to appear in media or to contribute their time, expertise and energy to projects like the book for no fee. Sam Renke described her experience of this in Metro in August 2020.” Link to Sam Renke’s Metro article.

Inclusive communities are much more than physical access into and around buildings, adaptations and translation. Communities evolve informally even within formal organisations according to location, common interest, occupation and friendship. Many people are excluded from community involvement by financial, physical and social barriers that must be removed to achieve inclusion. Alice's Amplify project is one of many that will make a difference, and I'm intrigued to know what the Community questions lead to.

Architecture Today

Cover of Architecture Today magazine, no. 306, March 2020.

What is a gallery but an empty receptacle; a blank canvas against which to view unblanked canvases? It can be a place that remains static in physical form, but also lend itself to additions and insertions depending on the works it hosts at a particular time. A gallery is also a complex thing whose environment is often adjusted to meet the climatic and visual needs of delicate and old inanimate objects as well as its human visitors.

How then does a central London gallery in the Grade-II-listed Barbican Centre, with ambitious plans for future growth, adapt to the changing expectations of the public with minimal disruption and a very tight window between shows?

The March issue of Architecture Today features Rachael’s article about Ruff Architects’ access improvements to the Barbican Gallery.

Click here to read the whole article ‘Access to art’ on the Architecture Today website.

Are you an inclusive designer?

Cover of Are you an inclusive designer? - a book by Julie Fleck. The cover is a colourful, graphic collage of people, buildings and drawing instruments on a white background.

On Tuesday evening access friends gathered at the RIBA Forum to celebrate the publication of Julie Fleck’s book, “Are you an inclusive designer?”. Julie’s 30 years as an access and inclusion specialist achieved so much in the field, for which she was awarded the OBE for services to disabled people in 2004.

The hardback book is large, partly because Julie has so much to say on the subject, but also because it’s designed to be beautifully accessible. A publisher’s note on the back page states that the main text is 13 point Arial and the pages are printed on uncoated paper to help improve legibility. The pages also smell good. The striking, colourful graphic illustration on the cover is by Kasia Serafin. The colour continues inside with plenty of photographs of examples of good and poor accessibility, diagrams and building plans.

A double-page chapter heading from Julie’s book: illustration of a person with a guide dog and some steps (white on red) with grey-blue background. Text: “Chapter 4 - The good, the bad and the imaccessible.”

I read Chapter 4 on the journey home: ‘The good, the bad and the inaccessible’. I just had to see which examples Julie included, but like her I wish there were more examples of good to choose from.

A double page from the book: A black timeline with white years spans the two pages, with numerous colour-coded boxes with text that indicate the publication dates of different types of guidance, legislation and policy.

A favourite page of mine is the one illustrated above - a timeline spanning from 1963 to 2018 that notes publication dates of various books, guidance, legislation and policy that impact on inclusive design. just reading the titles of the documents shows progress in attitudes: the first on the list is Selwyn Goldsmith’s ‘Designing for the disabled’, and the last is BS 8300:2018 Design of an accessible and inclusive built environment’.

I’ll be recommending the book to all the designers I work with, and would be surprised if it didn’t appear on built environment students’ reading lists next year.

Julie summarises how far we’ve come in making places accessible, but also states a call to action because there’s still so much to do.

Are you an inclusive designer? by Julie Fleck is published by RIBA Publishing, 2019 and is available here: Link to RIBA Bookshop

Brass in Pocket

Picture of Brass in Pocket (I’m Special) single by Pretenders with IHN logo overlaid.

As an inclusive design professional I often speak at conferences and give talks to architects and designers. In February I gave a talk titled ‘Brass in Pocket’ about why hotels need to be much more inclusive at the Colliers International and Howard Kennedy conference in London. The event was themed on eighties pop hits, hence its name ‘Smooth Operator: Keeping Hotels Profitable Time After Time’. The focus was on the finances and profitability of hotels so my talk explained about the purple pound as well as accessibility and inclusion and the work of the Inclusive Hotels Network.

Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and Publica invited Withernay Projects to get them up to speed on the latest guidance and regulations about access and inclusion. Unfortunately examples of poor practice are still much more common than good practice, and one of the questions during Publica’s was whether there were any examples of really good public realm design. The example that always come to mind first in Granary Square and the route to it from King’s Cross St. Pancras, evidenced by the number of visibly disabled people there every time I visit. There are even two Changing Places facilities there! (The area isn’t perfect, but it’s better than most).

Attending conferences and lectures is one way of ensuring CPD is up to date. Online courses are also available, such as the Design Council’s Inclusive Environments CPD. It took me much longer than the hour that was advised at the start, mainly because I had to keep going back to find other things to click on / watch to complete each stage. The Inclusive Environments Hub is also well worth looking at: it’s a searchable database of guidance, standards and regulations for every aspect of accessible and inclusive design.

Building Regulations Part M

Image: Logo of the Construction Industry Council

Three years after the revision of Part M of the Building Regulations and the accompanying changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, I still have conversations with architects and developers about the differences between M4(2) and M4(3). Once they’ve grasped that, more conversation is needed about M4(3) 2(a) and M4(3) 2(b). More worrying is that I am still reading planning conditions that refer to Lifetime Homes standards and wheelchair users’ housing for new developments in London boroughs.

The paragraph above is from a recently published post I wrote for the Construction Industry Council’s blog about residential access standards, following Jane Simpson’s article on a similar subject.

Is the guidance about the Optional Categories in Approved Document M Volume 1 improving accessible housing provision in England? Should Optional Category 2 be the minimum standard required for new homes? Read more here, and I’d love to hear your thoughts.

The Use of Hoists in Guest Accommodation

Image: Cover of The Use of Hoists in Guest Accommodation guidance document.

The second document by the Inclusive Hotels Network is now published.

The guidance of Approved Document M, BS 8300 and other publications are aimed at construction industry professionals. Even if operators are aware of their existence, they are unlikely to be able to interpret the the regulations and standards to make decisions about inclusive environments.

The Inclusive Hotels Network first convened to address this knowledge gap. Founded in 2012, the group now meets each month to discuss ideas and generate guidance and case studies. Working with hotel operators, access consultants, occupational therapists, product designers and others, we meet monthly to share knowledge, experience and ideas.

Guidance documents are the tangible results of our meetings; Access to Hotels for People with Hearing Loss (by Chris Harrowell and the IHN) was published in November 2016 and the The Use of Hoists in Guest Accommodation is now available to download (free of charge) here.

A comprehensive resource about sanitary facilities in guest accommodation is currently in development. This will complement the forthcoming BS 8300-2: Buildings sections on the subject.

October 2018 note: A new edition of this guidance document with a new cover (as above) and minor amendments to the text is now published. It's available to download free of charge using the link above.

If you have something to say about accessibility in hotels, guest houses, bed & breakfasts or hostels please do get in touch. The IHN is on LinkedIn and Twitter @InclusiveHotels or you can email Rachael here. 

Tower Court wins at the Housing Design Awards

Image: Housing Design Awards Project Winner 2017

Withernay Projects worked with Adam Khan Architects and Muf Architecture/Art and their team on proposals for Tower Court, which was presented with a Housing Design Project Award by Ben Derbyshire of RIBA in July 2017.

Four new buildings will replace the demolished 1950s blocks, providing new homes for returning and new residents adjacent to Clapton Common in London.

The need to design for the Haredi community, as well as other future and returning residents resulted in several features that may benefit all residents and provide a more accessible environment. These include:

• Generously sized entrance lobbies with space to store children’s buggies and prams;
• Optimised daylighting of lobbies and cores (to avoid the need for electrical light when observing Shabbat); and
• An external environment that is focused on families with young children and socialising / entertaining.

Tower Court is scheduled for completion in early 2019.

Writing on the wall

Musings on a WC cubicle wall.

London's Granary Square has become a favourite place to meet friends: it's easy to get to (King's Cross and St. Pancras International have been step-free for a few years now) and there's a good variety of bars and restaurants. The accessibility of these venues is evident in the number of disabled people who visit them, and who knows how many more people with invisible disabilities are regulars too?

The purple pound is currently in the media. BBC News has a quick explanation, and a more in depth analysis of the statistics can be found at VisitBritain, alongside a useful list of resources for business and venues.

After Friday's dinner a group of us left Granary Square for a club in an older building, where customers had vented their access frustrations on the ladies' washroom walls.

“Coat hook please & toilet seat [I’m getting too old for this!] ”

— Disgruntled customer

More writing on the wall.

This exchange of words on the wall highlights the importance of legible text, but it was the comment by the doctor that worried me.

“[Arrow to printed sign on wall]
Can’t read / too small, not OK for people with visual needs.

[Arrow pointing to first comment]
I’m a doctor & this isn’t even a thing. ”

— Frustrated customer and ignorant doctor.

I'm not advocating writing on loo walls or any other walls but pretty sure that the person who wrote the first comment wouldn't have felt it necessary to scrawl a complaint on the wall if 'visual needs' weren't a thing. If I were inclined to add to the debate I'd point the doctor in this direction: RNIB Key Information and Statistics and give them both a telling off for vandalism.

Access to Hotels for People with Hearing Loss

Cover of Access to Hotels for People with Hearing Loss document with IHN logo.

Access to Hotels for People with Hearing Loss is the first guidance document to be published by the Inclusive Hotels Network and is now available to download from our page on the CAE site.

Written by architect Chris Harrowell and the IHN, the 40 page document goes much further than Approved Document M in explaining how to make hotel guest rooms and facilities accessible to people with hearing loss.

Hotel, hostel and bed & breakfast operators should be aware that as service providers they cannot legally discriminate against people with disabilities (and other ‘protected characteristics’), and should provide an equal service to all guests. But how should they go about doing this? This is what the Inclusive Hotels Network aims to address.

The guidance of Approved Document M states the necessity of providing visual as well as audible alarms in places where people may be alone, the importance of lighting to assist people who use sign language or lip-reading and electronic hearing assistance among other features. However these provisions must be supported with staff training, good management and an understanding of the people’s needs.

Baroness Thomas of Winchester has shown her support for the Network by writing the foreword for all the guidance documents.  

“We want the United Kingdom to be at the forefront of making our country as welcoming as possible to everyone, whatever their circumstances. The Inclusive Hotels Network understands this, and I hope these excellent guidance documents will be read by the whole hospitality sector.”

— Extract of foreword by Baroness Thomas.

The guidance is free to download so please share widely with architects, hospitality industry contacts and access friends!

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Minor revisions were made to this document in October 2017.

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