Access for all: housing design and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995

Abstract

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 introduced proposals to make limited wheelchair access mandatory for all new build housing. In the light of deregulation in the 1980s, the house building industry has been opposed to any extension of the building regulations. Media response suggests that level thresholds, ramped access, wider doors are not immediately popular with many consumers either, having connotations of institutional design. There is however growing pressure, particularly from the housing association movement, effectively to reinstate some form of minimum space standards. Building regulations governing access would reinforce this trend and demand new flexible design which meets both the needs and the aspirations of a wider range of potential users. It is important that building regulations should apply equally to socially rented and privately owned housing to avoid stigmatizing one sector. Innovative design is needed to produce homes which satisfy and expand social conventions of what a home should look like, as well as meeting minimum standards.