C3's Jon Cumberlidge was recently asked to write a guest blog covering the Equality Act and some on the technical standards for Part M.
' First off, I’m going to say something controversial … there is no such thing as a DDA compliant toilet, or a DDA compliant handrail or a DDA whatever for that sake! I still hear these statements regularly from designers and contractors. The reason I say there is no such thing as a DDA compliant (insert generic building item here) is that the DDA (Disability Discrimination Act), has now been subsumed into the Equality Act. The Act is a legislative frame work, it does not contain detailed design advice on how a building feature, such as an accessible toilet should be laid out. There are however detailed design guides such as Approved Document M or BS 8300 that should be followed, but these are to show compliance with building regulations which in turn can help with compliance with the Equality Act … '
