Title: The Methodist Church, 86 Market Street Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire SK23 0HZ

Transcription

1 Access Audit Report Title: The Methodist Church, 86 Market Street Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire SK23 0HZ Date of Audit: Thursday 6 th June am Auditors: Dave Bennett, Alan Jackson This report was commissioned by Nigel Caldwell of High Peak CVS. Contents: Introduction Commissioning Brief Audit Details Site Description Legislation Criteria for Assessment Disclaimer Audit report and recommendations Appendices 1

2 1.0 Introduction High Peak Access Group is a voluntary group of members who campaign for better access to services and facilities for disabled people. For more information on our work please visit our website: Members of the group carry out access audits in High Peak, based on a model developed by the Centre for Accessible Environments (CAE). All auditors have completed an Access Audit course run by the CAE. The purpose of an access audit is to establish the extent to which a facility (usually a building) provides independent access to services for people with disabilities. The audit is intended to assist the building owner or manager to ensure that people with disabilities can have access to the services provided within the building in a way which does not disadvantage them compared to able bodied people. The audit will seek to confirm this and make recommendations for improvements where this is not the case. 2.0 Commissioning Brief High Peak Access Group was asked to carry out an audit of the Methodist Church Chapel-en-le-Frith in May 2013, by High Peak CVS. They are considering using the church as a venue for their AGM and wish to assess its accessibility as a public meeting space. No drawings or specification of the building were provided. 3.0 Audit Details The audit took place on Thursday 6 th June 2013 on a fine, warm, overcast day. Dave Bennett and Alan Jackson undertook the audit. Measurements were taken with steel tape and gradients measured using a digital gradient level. Door opening resistance was measured by a spring scale in Newtons. Digital photos were also taken for record purposes and are included in the Appendices. The audit lasted two hours on site. Access to the building was provided a by a volunteer key holder. 4.0 Site Description The church is situated on the main road through Chapel en le Frith within walking distance of the town centre (approximately 200m). There is a bus stop on the same side of the road as the church almost outside the main entrance. There is vehicular access to the church and a church car park opposite the entrance to the church. This access road continues past the side of the church to give access to a small residential development at the rear and also access to the rear of the church. 2

3 5.0 Legislation Access audits are carried out with reference to the Equality Act 2010 and Part M of the Building Regulations 2010, with reference to British Standard Design of Buildings and their approaches to meet the needs of disabled people. The Equality Act incorporated much of the legislation included in the Disability Discrimination Act and requires that service providers should not discriminate against disabled people. Public bodies including Local Authorities are also subject to the Public Sector Equality Duty. The access audit is carried out with reference to this legislation and the code of practice. 6.0 Criteria for Assessment. The legislative framework in 5.0, forms the basis for the criteria for assessment used in the access audit. Design layouts recommended in BS and Building Regulations part M are used to compare facilities provided by the service provider and as the basis for recommendations where necessary. Reference is also made to Designing for Accessibility produced by the CAE. 7.0 Disclaimer This report sets out recommendations that will assist the building owner in providing an accessible facility for the general public. It does not remove the building owner from any responsibility under the Equality Act or other relevant legislation. The report also assists any potential users of the building ( High Peak CVS specifically) on the suitability of the venue as an accessible public meeting space. 8.0 Audit report and recommendations 8.1 Approach routes, street furniture, external access and parking The church is within easy reach of a public highway and bus stops. A controlled pedestrian crossing is within 25 m of the entrance to the church and ten car parking spaces are available across the access road to the church. There is a dropped kerb alongside the pavement giving access to the main entrance door. The kerb is not completely flush with the road and a 20mm lip exists along most of the length although there is a flush length of kerb approximately 5m from the door entrance suitable for an independent wheelchair user to use. The church car park does not have a designated disabled parking bay. The car parking bays are wider and longer than minimum requirements for standard bays at 2.94m x 5.25m (recommended dimensions are 2.4m x 4.8m.) Disabled parking bay dimensions are 4.8m x 6.0m (including hatched areas for access to side and rear. The pavement alongside the entrance door is sufficiently wide for wheelchair users at 1.2m but is less than that recommended (1.5m). 3

4 The pavement varies in gradient from the main road where it is 1 in 8 at its steepest and levels out to 1 in 28 near to the entrance door. 1 in 20 is the recommended steepest gradient for independent wheelchair users. Wheelchairs can be used with assistance from the main road to the entrance. The pavement has a row of black, circular metal bollards along the kerb to prevent cars parking on the kerb. These bollards do not have any visually contrasting bands on them. The main entrance can be reached via steps or a ramp. The steps are provided with a handrail on both sides, painted black. The finish to the handrails is black and does not provide a good visual contrast to the surroundings and the handrail does not extend beyond the face of the steps which is helpful to visually impaired people. The steps vary slightly in height and there are no visual or tactile warnings on the top and bottom of the steps. The access ramp is steeper than 1 in 12 as specified in part M of the building Regulations at 1 in 9.3 or 1 in 9.8. The ramp is also only 880mm wide at its narrowest point. A handrail is provided to one side of the ramp. There is a shared landing at the top of the ramp and steps outside the main entrance door. The landing is big enough to accommodate a wheelchair user and allow access into the building via an outward opening door. External lighting is provided outside the main entrance but the suitability could not be assessed on the audit. The ramp gradient or minimum width cannot be easily improved. As the ramp is only 3600mm long, it does make it possible for use by some wheelchair users without assistance, but most would require assistance due to the gradient. A car park with ten spaces is available directly opposite the main entrance across a private road. Recommendation: The level section of kerb suitable for wheelchair use should be painted yellow to indicate it as the wheelchair access point. Bollards should have high visibility bands put on to assist partially sighted visitors and external hand rails should have high visibility markings. Visual and tactile warnings should be provided at the top and bottom of the main entrance steps. A car parking bay should be adapted to provide a designated disabled parking space with the correct markings. 8.2 Main Entrance, Reception Area and Lobby. The main entrance is easy to find and entrance to the building is via double doors. The main door is outward opening and the adjoining double door is 4

5 inward opening to avoid blocking the access ramp. The threshold is sufficiently level to allow wheelchair access and both doors can be opened for larger wheelchairs or buggies. The entrance door handle is easy to grip but at 1100mm is higher than recommended (1000mm maximum) to allow easy use by wheelchair users. Resistance to opening is within permitted limits. The entrance doors have full height vision panels. The entrance lobby is large enough for access purposes but is too small for a reception desk. There is a sufficiently wide corridor route to the main hall. There are some low shelf units alongside the lobby walls that restrict the clear width but these are moveable if required to provide a better clear space. There is no seating provided in the lobby. The nearest seating is located in the coffee bar opposite the main entrance through a single wide opening door with vision panel. Once again the handle is set above 1000mm and the door closer tension means that the door is stiff to open at 36N. The door closer should be an adjustable type however. The entrance door to the main hall has a vision panel and the closer tension is satisfactory at 16N. The door handle is too high at 1100mm. None of the doors in the building are automatic opening. The floor surface of the entrance lobby is carpeted but with a short pile. Entrance matting is flush with the floor. There is no signage to assist visitors moving around the building. There is a flight of stairs off the entrance lobby leading down to a gent s toilet and store room. The stairs have a stair gate as a safety feature. The internal stairs have safety nosings and a handrail at the required height. There is a women s toilet and accessible toilet off the entrance lobby. Recommendation: Door handles above 1000mm should be lowered or have secondary door handles fitted at maximum 1000mm above floor level, to assist wheelchair users to use them. Door closer tensions above 30 Newton from closed to 30 degrees of opening and above 22.5 Newton from 30degrees to 60 degrees of opening should be adjusted too within these limits. 8.3 WC provision An ambulant wc is provided for women at ground floor level and men at lower ground floor level. Both are accessed via narrow doors (600mm). A WC designated as accessible is located off the entrance lobby via a short corridor with a minimum width 860mm. The accessible wc cubicle dimensions at 1490mm x 1650mm are less than those recommended (1565mm x 2200mm). This means that there is insufficient turning space for a standard wheelchair to allow transfer to the wc pan. This was tested using a standard collapsible wheelchair on site. The internal layout of the grab 5

6 rails and supports is acceptable although there is little visual colour contrast as they are all in white against a cream background. The wc pan height is lower than recommended at 420mm (minimum is 480mm). There is no emergency alarm system fitted in the wc cubicle. The door handle into the accessible wc is not the correct type for ease of use. The wc is suitable for ambulant disabled users only. Recommendation: The church quinquennial inspection has highlighted the need to replace the wc pan and door handle to the accessible wc but this will not improve the space available in the cubicle. Consideration should be given to redesigning the area corridor area into the accessible wc to increase the size of the cubicle. An emergency alarm system should be fitted in the accessible toilet. 8.4 Room Facilities Main Hall The main hall has a clear floor space with individual folding flexible seating so the seating pattern can be made to suit the meeting requirements. None of the seats have arm rests however which are useful for some disabled people. The floor finish is wood strip with an unpolished surface although we understand that it will be resealed shortly. The finish should be slip resistant as far as possible and anti glare. Lighting levels are adequate for a general meeting once light fittings have reached full intensity. The main access door to the hall is sufficiently wide for wheelchair users although the effective width of the secondary door to the coffee bar area at 710mm is less than that recommended for existing buildings (750mm). There is a balcony over part of the main hall but this is rarely used and was not inspected. There is a low stage area to the front of the main hall over part of the area that has a step up with no ramp. This does however not need to be used for meetings. There is a fire escape door in one corner of the main hall that gives direct access to the rear car park area. There are two mats in front of the door that could present a trip and wheelchair hazard that could be removed. The emergency exit door handle is not suitable for use by disabled people as it is a turnbolt type. The main hall has a fixed loop system installed that operates via radio mics and wired mics. There is no general pick up audio mic fitted. The system was not tested as part of the audit. There is a water based heating system fitted within the building but its effectiveness was not tested on the visit. The hall acoustics were not tested on the visit but all surfaces are hard and the main ceiling is sloping and very high. 6

7 Coffee Bar area The coffee bar room has access from the main entrance lobby via double doors, and the rear of the main hall. The area is carpeted with short pile carpet and has tables and chairs set out in coffee bar style. There is a kitchen area surrounded by a high counter that is too high for wheelchair users to see over. The kitchen area is too small to be used for food and drink preparation by a wheelchair user. The available circulation space between tables and chairs is too small to make it possible to be used easily by wheelchair users although the layout can be altered to improve this. There is no induction loop system in the coffee bar area. Means of escape The fire alarm system is audio only with no visual warnings. The alarm was tested on the visit and worked. There was no obvious external designated fire assembly point outside the building. Some fire extinguishers were noted but the adequacy and number has not been examined. Recommendations The adequacy of means of escape should be reviewed and trip hazards should be removed. Way finding and signage Temporary signs for one off meetings would have to be provided to improve way finding within the building and to give assistance with the use of facilities. 7

8 Appendices: Photographs Entrance ramp and steps Church car park Accessible toilet Main entrance lobby Main hall from rear of hall Main hall from front of hall 8

9 Coffee Bar area with main entrance Coffee Bar entrance from lobby Coffee Bar from serving counter Entrance to main hall from lobby Rear of church with fire exit, right side Fire exit from main hall with trip hazard 9

10 Supplementary Guidance The following guidance is given to the church leadership to assist in the development of the church as a community facility. Coffee Bar Area If this facility is to be developed as a coffee bar for wider use then consideration should be given to the installation of a hearing loop in the service area and also covering the whole coffee bar if it is used for smaller meetings. The provision of seating should be revised to allow easier access for wheelchair users and a variety of different styles of chairs including armrests should be provided. The coffee service area should have a low section so that wheelchair users can see and be seen for service. An alternative to this would be to offer personal service for wheelchair users. Main Hall A portable ramp giving access to the stage area at a gradient of no more than 1 in 12 would make the stage area accessible for wheelchair users. The hearing loop should be tested before all events where the hall is hired out so that users can make use of it. Heating systems should also be checked before a letting to ensure adequate comfort levels for users. References The Building Regulations Approved Document M: Access to and use of buildings (M3) BSI British Standards BS 8300:2009, Design of Buildings and their approaches to meet the needs of disabled persons- Code of Practice Centre for Accessible Environments: Access Audit Handbook. June