Access and design is a major factor in an inclusive and equitable society and as the laws catch up with the needs of society we are here to help make sure your development is not only complying with the requirements of law, but to also provide welcoming spaces to the intended users of your development. Our access consultants are able to support a wide range of access consultancy services. These include (but are not limited to:
Access Audit Reports
An Existing Premises Access Audit is to identify potential barriers to access, which may prevent a person with a disability from equitable and dignified access to the premises. Our Access Consultants are qualified and certified with the Access Institute as well as being qualified Occupational Therapists with a passion for access and equitable treatment of all members of the community.
Access Design Report
Access Design Reports are to provide an assessment of project/building drawings to identify compliance issues with the National Construction Code of Australia (NCC) Part D4, the Disability (Access to Premises -Buildings) Standards 2010 (Premises Standard) and intent of The Australian Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). This is ideally done in the early stages of planning to make sure any concerns can be corrected before construction and to ensure that as a developer, you are providing accessible premises for all members of society.
NDIA – SDA Housing Assessments
Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) is a range of housing designed for NDIS participants with functional impairment or very high support needs. The housing is part of a registered program to enable to people to live as safely and independently as possible in an environment that allows them as much independence as possible. The dwellings must be designed to have accessible features that enable residents to have better access to supports in their home.
All dwellings proposed for New Build SDA enrolment post 1 July 2021 are required to obtain certification by an Accredited SDA Assessor in both design stage and at final-as-built stage. Compliance is required in accordance with Edition 1.1 of the NDIS SDA Design standard based on the particular design category.
The assessment at design stage is intended to provide certainty to the SDA market about future enrolment and allow the preparation for dwelling enrolment to be undertaken with the NDIA. Once the final as-built dwelling is assessed and found to be compliant with the SDA design standard, the SDA provider can then enrol the final as-built dwelling with the NDIA.
The NDIA will record the details of the project at design stage and include this in data releases to inform the market of the pipeline of work under development, noting that commercial in confidence or identifying information will be protected.
A SDA assessor must be registered with the NDIA and is the only person who can issue a certificate of SDA category compliance, to confirm that the design and or final-as-built dwelling has met all the requirements of the SDA Design Standard.