In October 2015, new Housing Standards came into effect. Nine months on, CAE Director Jean Hewitt shares a few widespread and fundamental misunderstandings about what the standards mean.
As Jean’s recent article in Planning & Building Control Today explains, the default standard Category 1, or ‘visitable dwellings’ is largely limited in its accessibility for most older and disabled people. She also suggests it is common sense that the Category 2 default in London be adopted throughout England. Finally, the semantic confusion between ‘wheelchair adaptable’ and ‘wheelchair accessible’ sub-categories of Category 3 risks a potential loss in the provision of truly wheelchair accessible units.
Read the full article, or view the full July edition of Planning & Building Control Today as a PDF or Pagesuite publication.
To browse accessible built environment courses, visit our Training Calendar, which includes Housing Standards and Accessible housing: Category 3 – Wheelchair user dwellings.