Can Housing Occupational Therapists help bridge the gap between designers & developers, & desirable, appropriately built & marketed wheelchair user homes? | #ForAccessibleHomes News

Housing occupational therapist Jacquel Runnalls believes they can. Jacquel is an inclusive environments specialist, and member of the Access Association, the British Standards Committee B/559. She is also the Royal College of Occupational Therapists Specialist Section in Housing Co-opted Lead on Accessibility and Inclusive Design (with an MSc of the same title). She previously sat on the Government’s Technical Housing Standards Review Access group which led to the revised Part M Volume 1and co-authored Habinteg’s 2018 Wheelchair Housing Design Guide. Read what she has to say.

London Plan Policy has required 10% of all new housing across tenure be built to wheelchair standards since 2004.

Having sat on the Mayor of London’s project groups for the 2004 it is depressing that almost 20 years later, Government did not require a percentage of wheelchair housing when confirming plans to raise the accessibility standard of all new homes. That said, even in London, wheelchair users are finding it hard to find a home.

Habinteg estimates that there are 400,000 wheelchair users living in inaccessible homes, so it is imperative that wheelchair properties are marketing and designed appropriately.  

Marketing

Too often developers and housebuilders complain they cannot let or sell wheelchair adaptable properties, yet when asked, there is no way of knowing they exist. It is therefore imperative that wheelchair adaptable properties are clearly and appropriately identified in marketing material, including title deeds, for future sales.

Developers mistakenly think that wheelchair properties should only be marketed in ‘specialist’ disability publications and websites, when many disabled and older people will not read these. Instead, they should be appropriately advertised alongside all other properties: via hoardings, websites, video/virtual tours, brochures, local press etc. Sales offices should also provide wheelchair access and parking.

Advertising material must be relevant, use appropriate terminology, and refer to key features e.g. availability of parking, accessible transport, proximity to accessible local amenities, lift access, floor level, etc.

Property specifications must include photos and dimensioned floorplans showing how the property is accessed from the street, how amenities are accessed (bin/bike stores, outside space) and how it can be easily adapted to provide an accessible layout (charging/storage space, accessible shower, accessible kitchen that does not encroach on living space).

These are critical to enable a person to decide if a property may be suitable or not and saves wasted time and effort. People may not need, or compromise, on certain features too, but cannot decide without the relevant information.

M4(3) ‘Wheelchair User’ and M4(2) ‘Accessible and Adaptable’ properties could also provide easy identification of the significant benefits the provide. This could, for example, include a system similar to that of energy ratings.

Additional Planning policies & Housing Occupational Therapists

Additional planning policy requirements, such as the 10% in London, can also assist. Having sat on a project group for the 2004  Supplementary Planning Guidance Accessible London: achieving an inclusive environment,, I was a Housing OT for a London borough at the time overseeing the design of wheelchair housing across tenure, from pre-planning to post occupancy.  

The local authority had employed a Housing OT in recognition of the added value we bring, and the LPA also saw the value of working with housebuilders to ensure wheelchair housing across tenure was appropriately designed and marketed.

Therefore, soon after 2004, we became the first LPA to apply planning conditions (Section 106) requiring developers to appropriately market wheelchair housing for sale/shared ownership for 6 months, in liaison with my role. This resulted in appropriate marketing and successful sales, included site visits during build to ensure designs were fit for purpose and inclusive and occasionally working with disabled purchasers during design, and build, stages where properties were adapted to provide appropriate wheelchair access.

Other LPA’s have since adopted similar policies but too few still employ dedicated access professionals.

Knowledge & understanding of design requirements

Sadly, lack of sales is compounded by advertising properties that are inaccessible. This is due to a general lack of understanding of design and spatial requirements for wheelchair housing. Layouts provide insufficient footprint/space, limited circulation space and/or the design is inaccessible and unadaptable.

There can also be a misunderstanding that M4(2) ‘accessible and adaptable’ properties are wheelchair accessible, and/or by ‘simply’ reducing an M4(2) property by a bedroom, it can meet M4(3) requirements (not usually possible due to significant structural alterations). Again, these issues are extremely frustrating, particularly where developers say they cannot sell a property without understanding why. 

There is also general confusion between M4(3) provision. Since the introduction of Part M Volume 1: Dwellings, Category 3 – Wheelchair user dwellings, a distinction has been made between M4(3)(2)(a) ‘adaptable’ (for future occupation) and M4(3)(2)(b) ‘accessible’ (for immediate occupation by a wheelchair user).

The Approved Document M (ADM) states that ‘adaptable’ wheelchair user dwellings must show they can be easily adapted through simple alteration to accommodate an accessible layout without moving stacks, services, walls.

It is therefore always recommended to follow ADM’s Frequently Asks Questions suggestion that “a sensible approach is to design for an accessible layout which complies in all aspects of M4(3)(2)(b) including bathrooms, corridors, doors, bedrooms and kitchens so that designers can then modify the design accordingly”. Implementing accessible features during build will also promote marketability by reducing later cost and disruption.

Misunderstandings also persist that wheelchair ‘adaptable’ properties will look institutional. With the appropriate knowledge and advice, they can be easily designed in an inclusive, flexible, contemporary way using similar products and ranges to other properties across the development increasing general marketability for non-disabled purchasers alike.

Standard kitchens can be fitted (with space for an accessible layout) and contemporary wet rooms with minimal fixtures and fittings including ones which provide flexibility and/or are removeable.

As with all housebuilding, expertise is required for a range of different aspects and planners, building control, architects/designers, builders, contractors, specifiers cannot be expected to have the expertise. Part M is silent on critical detail and the text/diagrams create confusion, misunderstandings and ambiguities.

Therefore, advice should be sought from access/inclusive design champions. Housing Occupational Therapists can bring an understanding of regulatory/good practice guidance and end-user requirements and how to design accessibly and inclusively to provide long term resources savings.

Rachel Wooden, my Specialist Housing OT colleague in Richmond and Wandsworth, is currently doing research to evidence the extensive savings our roles bring. Her post came about due to the council having to spend a significant amount altering wheelchair adaptable homes for social/affordable rent that were inaccessible.

Whilst there are general London websites that purport to advertise wheelchair adaptable properties, many lack relevant detail, even to make a basic choice, so people rely on specialist property websites. However, this is changing due to people such as Guy Harris at Accessible PRS It is also hoped that the Accessible Now project I am working on will eventually be able to apply to extend beyond social housing for rent.