TRAINING QUESTIONS FOR BUILDING REGULATIONS IN ENGLAND & WALES

November

Access for wheelchair users?

Access and Facilities for People with Disablities,
M1/ M2/ M3/ M4
Building Regulations

Approved Documents

    Part M1, Interpretation

  1. There are 4 types of disability that are addressed in the Building Regulations. The most well known is the provisions for users of wheelchairs. What are the other type of Dissabilities?
  2. Are there requirements for new dwellings?
  3. A residential home for the elderly is to have a rear extension at ground level. Is the new extension required to have dissabled access? Would your answer have been different if, the new extension had been at first floor level, over an existing flat roof of a previous extension?
  4. If there is a plant room on the roof of a new office building, is there a requirement for dissabled access to the plant room?
  5. Are there any requirements for dissabled people to have special precautions to allow them to escape from a building in the event of fire?
  6. If a building has been constructed in accordance with Part M of the Building Regulations, is there protection against The Disability Discrimination (Employment) Regulations 1996?
  7. An architect telephones to ask whether a new school extension should be designed to Design Note 18 or to Part M of the Building Regulations?

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    Part M2, Access and Use

  8. What is the maximum gradient on the approach to a building that is for practical purposes consider to be 'Level'?
    If this gradient is exceeded what needs to be provided for access to:-
    1. a dwelling, and
    2. any other building?

    If a pedestrian route, which is intended to be used for people with disabilities, goes:-
    1. accross a carriageway on the site, or
    2. near the top of external stairs,
    what provisions need to be incorporated into the design for people with impared vision and users of wheelchairs?
  9. If a ramped approach is to be provided, what is the maximum length before continuous handrails are needed both sides of the ramp?
    How long does a ramped approach have to be before intermediate landings are required for slopes:-
    1. between 1:20 and 1:15, and
    2. between 1:15 and 1:12?
    Is it permitted to have a ramped approach slope steeper than 1:12?
  10. What is the minimum unobstructed distance between handrails on ramps and stairs used by people with disabilities?
    How long must the handrail continue horrizontally beyond the top and bottom steps?
    Can these handrails finish at a point or must the ends be either turned into the wall or turned down?
    If the handrails would project into a corridor, if continued for the required distance beyond the top or bottom steps, how can the apparently conflicting requirements be satisfied?
  11. What is the minimum clear distance between a handrail and a wall?
  12. If an external door opens outwards to cause an obstruction on an access route to the building, what needs to be provided to avoid a hazard to people with impaired vision?
  13. What is the minimum clear opening widths for external entrance doors to:-
    1. a dwelling,
    2. a block of flats,
    3. a school, and
    4. all other buildings?
    Which of these external doors need to have vision panels between 900mm and 1,500mm above internal floor level?
    What is the minimum distance between a corridor wall and the leading edge of an external door to:-
    1. a dwelling,
    2. a block of flats,
    3. a school, and
    4. all other buildings?
    Why is this considered important for users of wheelchairs?
  14. If an office is to be provided with a revolving external door, does there also need to be an external door for wheelchair users?
  15. Internal doors are to be provided with a minimum clear width of 750mm. How wide does the corridor have to be for:-
    1. a new house,
    2. the common parts of a new block of flats,
    3. inside one of the flats,
    4. a new school,
    5. a new other buildings, and
    6. a new ground floor extension to a other building approached through this building?
  16. Do all internal stairs, in non-dwelling buildings, have to be designed for people with disabilities?
  17. How large a floor area, in non-dwelling buildings, is necessary before a lift of suitable size for wheelchair users needs to be provided in:-
    1. 2 storey building, and
    2. more than 2 storey?
    What type of floor area should not be included in the calculation?
    When is it necessary to provide a wheelchair stairlift instead?
  18. In a Restaurant or Bar what proportion of the area where seating is to be provided needs to be accessible to wheelchair users?
    Is it necessary to have part of a bar lowered for access by wheelchair users?
  19. In a hotel or motel what proportion of the rooms need to be designed as 'accessible' for wheelchair users?
  20. In a swimming pool or other recreational building, what additional facilities need to be provided for wheelchair users?
  21. In which 4 new premises types is a loop induction, or infra-red system, required for the benefit of people with impaired hearing?
  22. At what height range do wall-mounted electrical sockets and switches need to be installed in dwellings?

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    Part M3, Sanitary Conveniences

  23. Is it acceptable, in a new office building, to have male and female toilets on each floor but to only provide unisex disabled toilets on every other floor?
  24. In a WC compartment for wheechair users, does the washbasin have to be close enough to the WC that a person can wash their hands before transfering back on the wheelchair from the WC?
  25. If there is no lift access to a floor, but there is to be WC provision to this floor, does some provision need to be made for people with walking difficulties?
  26. In a new house in which storey does there have to be an accessible toilet for wheelchair users?

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    Part M4, Audience or Spectator Seating

  27. In a new cinema what proportion of the seats should be provided for wheelchair spaces?
    Can these spaces be placed together in one position?
  28. In a large stadium does wheelchair access need to be possible from the viewing spaces to refreshment facilities and wheelchair user WCs?
  29. In a large stadium how could it be determined how many wheelchair spaces should be provided?

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    Building Regulations

  30. If an existing building is converted into a Hotel, do some of the bedrooms need to be available for wheelchair users?
  31. In an existing office building that already has wheelchair user WCs, it is proposed to remove the wheelchair user WCs, as they are not currently used, and instead to install staff showers. Is this controllable under the Building Regulations?

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    Updated on 2nd March2001 by Robert Hunter-Jones MSc CEng MICE MIStructE FRICS

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