"Visitability" action is also occurring in Europe. See the following article from England:
Adapted extract from Innovations in Social Housing (address below).
There are about 4.25 million adults and 100,000 children with mobility impairment in Britain. That is more than the combined population of Greater Manchester and Merseyside. All suffer disadvantage because of inappropriate or inaccessible housing, disadvantage which usually extends to everyone involved in their lives - other members of their family, friends and careers.
‘Easily adapted for a resident with disability and with built-in "visitability" for people in wheelchairs’
Lifetime homes (known in Scotland as barrier-free homes) overcome this because they are built to a standard that easily accommodates adaptation for a resident with specific disability and with built-in ‘visitability’ for people in wheelchairs even when they are not adapted. The criteria for lifetime homes provide access for people with disabilities, including those in wheelchairs, to:
· the approach and entrance to the home;
· all areas and rooms used by visitors;
· the upstairs parts of buildings of more than one storey.
This produces design guidelines which incorporate:
· a level or gently sloping approach;
· the potential for an accessible lift where applicable, that can be added later;
· flush thresholds at the entrance and a minimum clear door opening of 800mm;
· internal door openings of at least 750mm;
· circulation space in halls etc. with a minimum width of 900mm’
‘WC and living room at entrance level’
· WC and living room at entrance level;
· provision for access to other stories;
· bathroom designed for use by wheelchair user;
· at least one accessible double bedroom, ideally next to the bathroom
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has been exploring the design and cost implications of these adaptable visitable homes. A meeting in York of experts in the field has stimulated the Foundation, through its housing trust, to build lifetime homes to see how their cost and popularity compare with adjacent new property.
· Further information concerning this scheme can be obtained by contacting Brian Jardine at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (The Homestead, Water End, York YO3 6LP, tel 0904 629241, fax 0904 620072).
· Geoff Andrews (Editor), Innovations in Social Housing, 10 Tadmoor Street, London W12 8AH (tel 081 743 2163, fax 081 749 5438).