The Disability Rights Commission published the new revised Code of Practice to The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 on 6th February 2002. The Code sets out new requirements to make goods, facilities, services and premises more accessible to disabled people from 2004. The new Codes will have a profound affect on all businesses and owners of buildings that the general public will visit and this includes staff. Most businesses and many Institutes will be unaware of the changes that they will have to make to their building(s) by 2004 and the new Codes apply to existing buildings as well as new buildings.
The impact of the Act will be quite dramatic and in many cases force businesses and institutions to carry out building works and alterations that have a major impact on their premises. Some of the required alterations could be quite expensive involving structural alterations, therefore building designers with skills to devise innovative and cost saving solutions to meet the requirements of the Codes could be of great benefit to many of these businesses and institutes.
We at Axis Architecture recognise that we have many of the skills that building owners will require and we have taken further steps to ensure the Practice gains all the relevant skills to provide a comprehensive service or 'Access Consultancy'.
Christopher Cook has recently attended a two-day Access Consultancy Course run jointly by the RIBA and the RNIB and presented by JMU Access Partnership (Joint Mobility Unit). The course provides part of the qualifications required towards becoming a registered Access Consultant and Christopher hopes to carry on to complete the rest of the membership qualifications in the near future.
Axis Architecture believes it now has the knowledge base to offer a comprehensive architectural service including access consultancy. We will be able to provide Access Audits of buildings and the Consultancy necessary to put the requirement of the Codes into action. The new skills will also allow Axis to design new buildings or extensions and alterations that will encompass the access requirements in the most cost effective and user friendly way.
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