Access for disabled will be easier

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33094, 8 December 1972, Page 14

Access for disabled will be easier

Christchurch is the first city in New Zealand to adopt a by-law requiring all new buildings to be accessible to handicapped people.

The Christchurch City Council at its last monthlymeeting amended its building by-law to include provisions for designing for access by handicapped persons as laid down by the New Zealand Standards Association. The amendment will come into effect as from February 1 next year. The Mayoress (Mrs Alexia Pickering) who is a member of the architectural barriers committee of the Co-ordinat-ing Council for the Handicapped, said she was delighted that the city council had taken such a step forward about problems faced by the handicapped. She said that suitable access to buildings was one of the main barriers faced by the handicapped when attempting to lead a normal life, especially when it came to finding employment. "While employers today

are much more understanding and sympathetic than they were in the past the physical barriers in a building are often insurmountable,” said Mrs Pickering. The new by-law will require a new building that has steps in its main entrance to have an alternative means of access such as a ramp or a level entrance. The new by-law required, also, that where there was a group of lavatories for use by the public, such as in a new hotel or a theatre, there had to be one lavatory with a door wide enough to take a wheelchair.