What is a Changing Places Facility?
A Changing Places Facility is a disabled bathroom / accessible toilet in public buildings, with specialised aids and appliances combined in a space appropriate room to enable people with a range disabilities or complex care needs a safe place to toilet when out and about.
How Did It Begin?
Zack Kerr, who has cerebral palsy, launched a campaign for more Changing Places after a “distressing” journey from his Lancashire home to south Wales in 2017.
“We stopped at three service stations on route along the M62, M6 and M5 but none of them had an accessible changing facility,” he said.
Zack’s unrelenting campaign for proper accessible changing facilities has led to a new government policy of providing
Large accessible toilets to cater for severely disabled people known as Changing Places.
This policy is to be made compulsory for new buildings in England from 2021. This initiative is largely expected to be adopted by the Irish Government as part of a wider review of the Disabilities act of 2005 and the Dept of Environment current Part M building regulations.
For specific room dimensions, ceiling heights, equipment installation detail, and electric spur socket detail. Click here.
