Hello Alan,
Sorry for the very delayed reply but I have been busy with exams and job changes at the moment. I've been doing research on school design in Scotland, so it might be slightly different to England, but some interesting points I've come across are:
*
Unfortunately it seems that no mandatory regulations apply when it comes to accessing a school's facilities. Statutory regulations (regarding surface treatment, furniture zoning, contrast etc.) apply only to an 'accessible route'. This is provided from the principal entrance of a building to other entrances within that building, to other buildings within the same curtilage, to an accessible car parking space and to a road. There appears to be no mention of core facilities provided by the building (that might include sports grounds etc).
*
The Equality Act (and DDA) has a loophole that educational bodies are not required to remove or make reasonable alterations to physical barriers. However, service providers are required to do this. This is important because some local authorities consider themselves to be service providers and therefore place this duty on themselves. Some schools offer community facilities and may therefore also be considered to be providing a service. If any school wanted to offer their facilities in the future then complying with best practice guidance would prevent future changes being made.
* Speaking to some local authorities, it seems that the Education (Disability Strategies and Pupils’ Educational Records) (Scotland) Act 2002 is the most effective piece of legislation, in requiring each local authority to prepare, review and implement an accessibility strategy (which includes the physical environment of the school). Many local authorities have had access audits undertaken of their entire school building stock. However, some research by SDEF (link below) has found that these are not being undertaken consistently.
SDEF research
http://www.sdef.org.uk/index.php/sdef-resource-centre/consultations/consultation-responses-sdef/32-excluded-how-scotlands-schools-are-failing-to-plan-for-disabled-pupils-needs-1/file
You may have come across some of these before but I hope this email can still be of some use to you.
Kind regards,
Claire
Claire Hyland
PhD Student
Department of Architecture
University of Strathclyde
Email: [log in to unmask]
________________________________________
From: Accessibuilt list [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Alan Hunt [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 28 July 2014 12:54
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Access to school playing fields etc
It seems that access to school playing fields are not covered by AD M and so I have discovered that some new schools are being designed without steps and ramps if necessary to overcome a change in level. I have also come across ramp and path gradients which are not being installed to any known standard and inappropriate path surfaces such as gravel are being used. I have challenged these, if nothing else on the grounds of common sense, but have come against a brick wall because there is no standard which says specifically that these facilities must be accessible to all. I know that BS 8300 does include buildings and associated facilities but this is considered a recommendation and not a requirement.
I have searched the obvious including Building Bulletins and the Schools Standards and Framework Act etc but can't find anything.
Does anyone know of a statutory standard which can be applied in these circumstances?
Regards
Alan
----------End of Message----------
Run by SURFACE for more information on research, teaching and consultancy:
http://www.surface.salford.ac.uk
Archives for the Accessibuilt discussion list are located at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/accessibuilt.html
----------End of Message----------
Run by SURFACE for more information on research, teaching and consultancy:
http://www.surface.salford.ac.uk
Archives for the Accessibuilt discussion list are located at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/accessibuilt.html
|