‘Best practice’ could be effectively implemented, and customer base extended, with no impact on floorspace.
Under British Standards (BS8300:2009), for new multi-occupancy buildings including hotels, student accommodation, nursing & residential homes, a minimum 5% of bedrooms should be accessible, with an en-suite and have a fixed tracked‑hoist system or similar system.
This compliments the legal Building Regulations, Approved Document M, which states one bedroom in every 20 in buildings other than dwellings should be wheelchair-accessible.
“Latest figures by Tourism for All show that 1 in 5 people in the UK is disabled- 20% of your potential customer base. Parties that include a disabled person spend £14billion a year on tourism and travel in the UK, they stay longer and tend to spend more. In higher education, there’s been a 56% increase in five years, of students with a known disability. And many nursing and care home residents have mobility issues. So there’s a sound business reason to accommodate their needs,” observes Robin Tuffley, marketing manager at Closomat, Britain’s leading provider of accessible intimate care solutions.
Closomat’s fixed track hoist system runs across the ceiling, so takes up no floor space, and doesn’t impinge on the room being occupied by able guests. It also offers a range of ‘clip on’ accessible accessories based round a wall-hung track, that enable an en-suite to quickly and easily be adapted with support arms, shower seats, hand rails, back supports.
“Thus, one room becomes dual-purpose,. If you are designing a hotel or care environment, it opens your doors to up to 20% more clients. And the disabled student population is on the increase: now, almost 10% of higher education students have a disability, who also need any or all of the bathroom adaptations, and so should be accommodated!” adds Robin.
Closomat (www.clos-o-mat.com) can provide, in-house, full design advice, supply, install and subsequent service/maintenance of the equipment, to help the accommodation industry accommodate disabled needs, not just in bedrooms/ en-suites, but throughout the venue’s sanitary provision. The company is the UK’s brand leader in provision of toilet solutions that enable independence, dignity and control in domestic, public and commercial environments.