According to Clos-o-Mat, high street food outlets can use the High Court’s recent ruling about toilet provision, which introduced Space to Change as a new option in ‘away from home’ toileting, to their advantage.
Before the judgement, small food shops with a minimum of ten seats were compelled to provide a wheelchair-accessible customer toilet, as well as separate toilet facilities for their staff.
However, by providing a single Space to Change toilet as an alternative, stores can attract more customers. An estimated 5 million British people are unable to use conventional wheelchair-accessible toilets, because they require additional space or equipment. In many cases, these people have carers, who cannot leave them to go to the toilet unattended.
Space to Change
A Space to Change WC adds an extra 5 square metres to a standard wheelchair-accessible toilet, along with an adult-sized changing bench and hoist.
The concept, which has been developed in conjunction with Clos-o-Mat and Changing Places campaigners, aims to provide a new option in ‘away from home’ toileting: it plugs the gap between Building Regulations Approved Document M’s conventional wheelchair-accessible toilets (2013), and the larger Changing Places toilets, which are deemed more desirable.
Space to Change facilities provide wheelchair-accessible, baby change, female and male amenities in one, presenting a space-saving opportunity for small to medium sized outlets. The concept enables limited venues to meet the needs of those who need personal hygiene assistance.
