Ian Streets, managing director of About Access, says access professionals are in demand for their world-beating expertise and understanding in making premises accessible
Businesses globally, operating in a wide range of sectors, are increasingly turning to the UK for expert advice on how to make their premises accessible.
The demand is being driven by multinationals expanding or upgrading their operations and seeking consistency of standards.
Another factor is the growth of international tourism. Leisure travellers are routinely jetting from one side of the world to the other for their holidays, and even the most remote destinations will attract more visitors if they make their premises accessible.
Flexible approach to making premises accessible
Over the years, we’ve developed a package of services that are designed to meet the needs of our growing international client base. Like everything else we do, the specifics change because requirements and circumstances change, but at the heart of it is a commitment to take a flexible approach to help clients make their products and premises accessible.
In the main, our overseas services focus on design appraisals, access audits and training. The biggest change in recent years is that we have become better at providing such services remotely because of course there was a time when we couldn’t do anything else.
We still offer remote services, and that’s helpful in times of tight timescales and budgets to match, but whenever possible, we complete the assignments in person because a visit to view a site will always provide more accurate information than a series of photographs, videos and written evidence.
The decisive factor in choosing access consultants from the UK is the recognition that our practitioners are at the top of their profession.
It is very difficult for designers and developers to try and source people overseas who can do what we do. They rarely have our experience because there are not as many opportunities for them to develop the skills and knowledge which come from day-to-day involvement with the highest international standards.
Global accessibility
We work with international organisations who are typically looking for a baseline of accessibility across their global sites. The guidance we use does vary depending upon the client and can include the European standard, international standard, ADA, Singapore or even our own BS8300. The local code and regulations of the area have to be met but if the code to be used exceeds those then we make recommendations based on that.
Our clients are generally global brands investing heavily in retail, property, pharmaceuticals and leisure. Our travels have taken us to indoor and outdoor tourism properties – including heritage sites – in locations as diverse as Gibraltar and Ireland. We have studied education campuses in Saudi Arabia, and offices, shops and leisure complexes across Europe and the USA.
The design appraisals are all about studying a project’s accessibility provision from the earliest opportunity to ensure any corrections and improvements can be made at the lowest cost.
With access audits, we conduct a comprehensive inspection and assessment to make sure that buildings are safe, accessible and comfortable for the disabled community.
Our training programmes offer in-person and remote tuition in access audits, disability awareness, and user needs.
But we also go beyond the small print because it is not just about following the guidance; it’s about understanding how it works.
We factor in the customs and culture of every location in which we work. Only then can we understand how accessibility works and how it makes a difference.
We are skilled in anticipating and interpreting different scenarios and implications accurately. We understand and appreciate the cultural norms in a territory and we consider about how they influence a project and how they might be affected.
For example, some countries have a loo design which is rather different from the style we have been used to. Other examples are as quiet rooms and baby rooms for new mums. The need for these and the awareness of the facilities they need is not always recognised in some countries.
Proactive approach to accessibility
In the UK, we would expect to see these facilities in modern premises such as offices and shopping centres. Other countries are catching up and everything we do is about encouraging people to design premises for the future.
We help designers and developers to anticipate how user demands might change and how the changes you make can influence that.
Growing recognition of the benefits that diversity can bring to a business should result in more disabled people entering the workforce, and in high-value roles. But they can only do that if the workplace is accessible.
Linked to that is the issue of workers who acquire impairments. If you make sure your premises are accessible to people who are disabled now then they should be accessible to people who acquire a disability in the future.
Countries worldwide that have not taken a proactive approach to accessibility in the past are paying more attention now because as investment increases, so does the need to operate to the highest standards, including with accessibility. They want consistency across their sites and they want to work with the suppliers who have helped them achieve that in the past.
Take tourism. Almost every nation on Earth wants a bigger share of the tourism market, but to do that they have to make their offer accessible. The extent to which they can do that depends on the nature of the locations because the whole point of visiting some sites is the challenge of getting there.
Other sites present difficulties in making adjustments for accessibility because of their historic features.
But international tourism generally is opening up and it can only really do that if it makes itself accessible.
Please note: This is a commercial profile
