The Way Forward

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DORMA The Equality Act 2010 The Way Forward
To Designing Accessible Buildings A RIBA
Approved CPD Seminar

• Date Thursday 12th April
• Venue University of Brighton
• Presenter Dick Watts

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• Core Equality Act legislation
• DORMA, the company
• Common access issues
• Detailed specifications
• The Equality Act Building Regulations -
  
• Standards
• Case studies
• Details support

DORMA The Equality Act The Way Forward
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• A family owned company
• Founded in 1908
• First products double action door hinges
• 1950s began production of closers
• 1960s first automatic door operator
• 1970s Glass door hardware
• 1980s global expansion
• 1990s Security products
• 2000s Movable walls

The Company
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• Automatics Division
• Door Controls Division
• Glass Division
• Movable Walls Division
• Service Division

DORMA UK
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• 1995 DDA bill passed
• 1996- unlawful to discriminate against disabled
  employees - unlawful for service providers to
  treat disabled people less
  favourably
• 1999 service providers must alter practice or
  provide alternative means of providing the
  service
• 2002 SENDA bill passed
• 2004 October 1st - service providers must make
  reasonable adjustments to physical features
  of their premises
• 2005 DDA amended and updated
• 2005 September 1st - (SENDA) education
  providers must make reasonable adjustments to
  physical features of their premises
• 2006 from December 1st Private Clubs must make
  reasonable adjustments to physical features
  of their premises
• 2010 DDA was incorporated within and superseded
  by the Equality Act

                                        Disability Discrimination Act
The Equality Act Chronology
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• Commercial
• Retail
• Financial
• Residential
• Education
• Healthcare
• Transport

The Equality Act applies in all these areas
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• Where a physical feature makes it impossible or
  unreasonably difficult for disabled people to use
  a service, service providers since October 2004,
  have had to make reasonable steps in order to
• Remove the feature
• Alter the feature
• Provide a reasonable alternative means of
  avoiding the feature
  OR
• Provide a reasonable alternative method of
  making the service available to disabled
  persons
• New buildings should therefore be designed to
  provide access to services

The Law
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• Anyone who provides a service to the
  public or a section of the public
• Local councils and government departments
• High street outlets - Banks Shops
• Leisure facilities - Cinemas, sports stadia,
  pubs and restaurants
• Hospitals, clinics public utilities and
  places of worship

Who is a service provider?
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The Equality Act 2010 is civil legislation,
relating to access to services rather than access
to the building buildings products cannot
therefore be Equality Act compliant!

• What they can comply with are
• Building Regulations provide guidance to
  ensure minimum acceptable standard of
  construction for new buildings and existing
  buildings
• British/European standards - provide
  recommendations in the design of new and
  existing buildings to meet the needs of
  disabled people

Pic of building site
How can the Equality Act be complied with?
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• BS 83002009 A12010
• (Latest guidance July 2010)
• Design of buildings and their approaches to meet
  the needs of disabled people code of practice
• Building Regulations
• Access to and use of buildings
• Part M England, Wales
• Part R Northern Ireland
• Section 3 Scotland

The Equality Act Best Practice
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• Commercial reasons
• - if people have difficulty in entering
  your business premises, they will seek
  alternatives
• Legal reasons - Building Regulations Part M -
  The Equality Act is LAW - Breach of the law
  could result in court, fines and bad PR for
  any business
• Moral reasons - Why should any individual be
  discriminated against?
• Life or Death
• - If specified solutions are wrong this
  may create a life threatening scenario

Why follow this guidance?
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• Planning and Design
• Entrances
• Internal doors
• Fire doors
• Room access doors
• Clear door widths access
• Accessible toilet doors
• Escape doors
• Common sense approaches and simple solutions for
• New build
• Refurbishment including historical buildings

Where do you begin?
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• Fire doors
• - Corridor doors
• - Room access doors
• Accessible toilets
• Escape doors

• Overhead door closers
• Concealed door closers
• Hold-open door closers
• Low energy door closers
• Lever furniture
• Locks
• Panic hardware

Internal Doors
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Opening Forces BS 83002009 A12010 (Latest
guidance July 2010) Building RegulationsApprove
d Document Part M 2004 (New guidance 3rd March
2005) Agree that
The force required to open the door should not
exceed 30N between 0-30 and must fall below
22.5N between 30- 60
All Doors
Design Issues
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• It is critical to achieve both the desired
  maximum opening force as described in BS8300
  ADM while still maintaining the required closing
  force (BS EN 1154) to effectively close the door.
• Door closers of high efficiency and with rapid
  drop off of opening resistance should be
  specified to ensure compliance

Design Issues Specification of door closers
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Conventional rack pinion closer with scissor
arm (solid lines)
Cam action closer with slide channel (dotted
lines)
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
Opening/Closing comparisons
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Opening/Closing Comparisons
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Other considerations affecting opening forces

• Locks
• Seals
• Hinges
• Air Pressure

Design Issues
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72mm min

• Critical specification issues
• Force required to activate the latch
• Independently sprung handle latch

Locks and latches
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• Seals

• Hinges

• Air
• Pressure

Cm closing moment of door closer Nm P air
pressure Nm2 Pascals A door surface area
m2 w door width m
Design Issues
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• Seals
• Hinges
• Air
• Pressure

Design Issues Adjustable Power Door Closers
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Other issues Building RegulationsApproved
Document Part M 2004 (New guidance 3rd March
2005) BS 83002009 A12010 (Latest guidance
July 2010)

New Guidance
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• Critical specification issues
• Physical shape of door handle Location of
  locking device - Consider manual dexterity
  problems
• Bolt through fixing Handles used for
  support
• Visual definition of handles high contrast
  Texture of handles - Consider impaired vision

Handles
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• In some locations in a building, a
  controlled door closing device incorporating
  a backcheck is sometimes used to prevent
  damage to adjacent walls or furniture and to
  the closer mechanism if a door is flung open
  with some force. However, when the door is
  opened slowly, the resistance effect is
  minimal. With some controlled door closing
  devices, the backcheck starts to become
  effective when the door is open at 70.
• thinking backcheck
• The resistance developed by this
  backcheck system is directly proportional
  to door acceleration.

New Guidance - Backcheck
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• Without regular maintenance of all door
  fittings, the resistances to opening and
  closing can increase to an extent that the
  ability of disabled people to pass through
  the door may be affected. The opening force
  at the door opening angles described above
  should therefore be checked at regular
  intervals.

New Guidance - Maintenance
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Other issues Building RegulationsApproved
Document Part M 2004 (New guidance 3rd March
2005) BS 83002009 A12010 (Latest guidance
July 2010)

fire safety must be considered
Design Issues
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• Must be fully closed at the time of fire
• Must close with the minimum forces as
  described in BS EN 1154
• Therefore it can present a problem with
  regards to accessibility

Fire Doors surface mounted closers
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• Electromagnetic hold-open closers
• Surface mounted
• Concealed
• Floor spring
• Hold-open magnets with independent closers

Hold-Open Closers _at_ Evalina Hospital, London
Fire Door Systems
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• A universal hold open for internal fire
  doors
• Electro- mechanical tested to EN1155
• Hold open 800 - 1200
• The release force mechanism can be adjusted
  without tools

Fire Door Systems surface mounted
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• Inconspicuous solutions
• Virtually invisible
• Electro-Hydraulic hold-open unit
• For fire and smoke check doors
• Hold open 75 - 175

Floor Spring Hold-Open Closers _at_ Hairmyers
Hospital, Hamilton
Fire Door Systems floor spring
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• Surface or flush mounted
• For use with fire certified closers
• Performance is dependent upon doors being
  closed at the time of fire
• A CLOSING DEVICE IS NEEDED
• Single swing doors require closing devices
  that conform with BS EN 1154

Independent Hold Open Magnets Closers _at_ Baltic
Mill, Gateshead
Fire Door Systems hold open magnets
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• Some sites demand a more integrated
  approach
• Listed buildings
• Change of use new fire regulations
• An aesthetically pleasing solution
• DORMA systems can be integrated into the
  door leaf and frame

Concealed closer _at_Penny Hill Park Hotel, Bagshot
Fire Doors concealed closers
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Refurbishment historical buildings
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• Low Energy Door Operator
• Assistance on demand
• The Low Energy system gives the user help
  ONLY when required
• A low traffic solution
• Can be retro fitted
• Remote wireless push pads
• Radio and Infra-red hand held controllers

Room Access
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• Free Swing Door Closer
• Closer is disengaged during normal use
• Allows room occupant to leave the door
  ajar
• On activation of the fire alarm the magnet
  releases and engages the door closer

Room Access
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1. Wall partition or other obstruction 2. 300
mm clear (may be reduced if door is opened by
remote automatic control) 3. Door hung from
corner of room 4. Short return might enable the
door to swing open beyond 90º 5. Doorset
Room Access
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BS83002009 A12010 Minimum effective clear widths of door leaf (mm) BS83002009 A12010 Minimum effective clear widths of door leaf (mm) BS83002009 A12010 Minimum effective clear widths of door leaf (mm)
Direction and width of approach New buildings (mm) Existing buildings (mm)
Straight-on (without a turn or oblique approach) 800 750
At right angles to an access route at least 900mm wide N/A 800
At right angles to an access route at least 1200mm wide 825 775
At right angles to an access route at least 1500mm wide 800 750
External doors to building used by the general public 1000 775
Door Widths
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• Visual definition of the WC is important
• Automatic outward swing door is best
• Occupied sign and disabled push pad are
  essential

Accessible toilets
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• Consideration must be given to those less
  able in the event of building evacuation
• Crash bars must be fitted at the recommended
  height
• Alternative methods of opening escape doors
  must be provided

Escape doors
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• Full door-width touchbars require less force
  to operate
• Electrical operating functions for
  specialised applications
• Can be fitted to low energy door operators.
• Ensure people can leave unaided through
  emergency exit doors

Escape doors
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• DDA Legislation
• New build design issues - Opening forces
  required - Fittings
• Overcoming problem areas within existing
  buildings
• Maintenance programme
• Security requirements
• Best practice
• Project specific issues can be reviewed with
  our specification team

Summary
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QA
DORMA UK Ltd Wilbury Way Hitchin Hertfordshire SG4
0AB T 01462 477 600 F 01462 477
601 www.dorma-uk.co.uk
Thank you
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DORMA The Equality Act 2010 The Way Forward
To Designing Accessible Buildings A RIBA
Approved CPD Seminar