Accessible architecture – disabled modifications for private and public buildings
We are specialists proving disabled adaptations in homes for people with disabilities or the elderly, access modifications for listed buildings and disabled access to public spaces. For families, inspiring spaces for bedrooms, bathrooms and living areas are tailor-made for those using them. Thoughtfully designed, we will have consulted closely with the whole family, carers, deputies and other health professionals to ensure we understand what is needed. The result meets those needs and still looks like a home, not an institution. Further information is in our RETHINK treatise on design philosophy.
Our experience in this field includes small-scale works and some very large projects, access modifications for listed buildings as well as domestic adaptations. We’re experienced in working with case managers, court of protection deputies and medical negligence solicitors to help their clients.
We know about:
- Specialist equipment – how they are powered, best installed and integrated into rooms and the rest of the house.
- Doors – from width to automation – and how big garages need to be.
- Accessible bathrooms – with hoists, rise and fall sinks, body driers, nursing and changing benches. We understand showers down to which temperature controls work best. Then there are nurse call and monitoring systems – we know what works well.
- Integrating environmental controls – to work the TV and entertainment systems, heating, and rise and fall kitchen surfaces.
- Hoists – and how to make movement from one room to another without making equipment the focus of a room.
- Floor and wall surfaces – and which work best.
New extension and remodelling -Plymouth
Contract value £290,000 Completed 2018 For this project, our client was a young adult with learning disabilities and whilst the client was quite mobile, they had very little sense of danger. So we had to design an environment where he could be safe with carers to hand but could also to have …
House remodelling – Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham
Contract value £340,000 Completed July 2018 For this project, our client was a young adult with cerebral palsy. The family had bought a large house and other architects had been approached for the project but they were proposing further extensions to what was already a large house. We were asked to meet …
Accessible Project Remodeling – Northampton
Contract value £650,000 Completed 2021 This was a really unusual project because it needed adapting for two young adults both in wheelchairs. We needed two of everything, accessible bedrooms and bathrooms, glass floors and a lift to get to the bathroom. The kitchen has rise and fall surfaces and the dining …
Accessible Project Extension and remodeling- Devon
Contract value £500,000 Completed 2019 This project was for a young adult with cerebral palsy and involved extensively remodelling and extending the house to form a new accessible bedroom and bathroom as well as carer’s accommodation. The most challenging aspect of this project was the ground conditions, the foundations needed …
Accessible Project Extension and remodeling- Hampshire
Contract value £550,000 Completed 2021 Our client for this project was a young adult with cerebral palsy and involved extensively remodelling and extending the house to form a new accessible bedroom and bathroom, as well as accommodation for the carers. We remodelled the kitchen, built a new lounge and extensive …
New Accessible Extension – Nottingham
Contract value – £300,000 Completed October 2018 This project was particularly challenging because it was set in a listed, walled garden. There was an existing cottage built against the listed walled garden and we were tasked with refurbishing remodelling the cottage to provide an accessible bedroom and bathroom for our client. The …
New House – Perranporth
Completed December 2018 The challenge was to design an accessible house that was future proofed in a way that meant, when our client was old enough to live independently from his family, it could be divided into two. We designed the house to run off solar panels and air source heat pumps to keep …
Accessible Projects New House – Kings heath, Birmingham
Contract value £900,000 Completed 2020 Our client for this project was a young adult, who was very sadly involved in a road traffic accident in 2005 and was living at Birmingham Children’s hospital until 2010. More recently, the family have been living in a small, cramped, adapted rental property and our client …
Walled garden accessible extension
This Nottingham project was a particular challenge because it was set in a walled garden that was listed. There was an existing cottage built against the listed wall garden and the challenge was to refurbish and remodel this to provide an accessible bedroom and bathroom for our client. The main …
House remodelling in Sutton Coldfield
Our client was a young adult with cerebral palsy. The family had bought a large house and other architects had been looking at the project and were proposing further extensions to what was already a large house. We were asked to meet the family to reconsider the approach. With some …
House extension
If ever there was a challenge this was one of our top three. We had to rip the back off an existing house in Portsmouth and extend it and remodel the split level garden whilst the family still lived through the construction process. The brief was to provide a new …
Sensory Room
Perched high on an outcrop of rock and access only up a track in Wirksworth, Derbyshire, this project was again up there in terms of top three challenges. Our client was a young woman with CP living at home with her parents and she needed her own space in the …
Accessible House
Presented with a bungalow on a large plot, the plan was to knock this down and provide an accessible home that was future proofed for a young boy with CP and his family. We designed the house to be a beautiful, functional machine in which to live, consisting of a …
Barn Conversion
The family bought a lovely barn conversion which consisted of a fabulous main house in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire with the benefit of an attached annex. The plan was to completely strip out the annex to provide an accessible wing for their daughter who has CP with the potential for carer’s in …
Extension with hydrotherapy pool
This was the most complex challenge we’ve had to date, to infill between two buildings in Horsham, West Sussex; a rather large executive house and a double garage which were at different angles to each other and at different heights. The brief was to form a new dedicated wing for …
Scope
We have worked closely with SCOPE on four projects to provide complex remodelling of houses in which up to five young people with varied disabilities can live with a balance of independence and specialist on-site care. The residents have tailor-made bedrooms and en-suites, and share living and kitchen facilities.
Barn Conversion
This was a lovely barn conversion in Cropwell Butler, Nottinghamshire with big rooms, but it wasn’t right for a young girl with CP and her family. Maintaining a private family life with outsiders coming into the home can be difficult, and so facilities for waking and sleeping carers were created. …