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Zenani Mlotana
13th Aug, 2024
The South African building industry has come a long way since the introduction of the disability act in the National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act 103 of 1977, however there is still room for improvements to ensure comfortability of disabled people in our buildings, by mainly focusing on devising one system for everyone rather than attaching special provision to the mainstream. This blog will demonstrate how the building industry has evolved/keeps evolving with time to cater for disabled persons.
Background:
The primary intention of the National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act 103 of 1977 is to provide for the promotion of uniformity in the law relating to the erection of buildings in the areas of jurisdiction of local authorities for the prescribing of building standards; and or matters connected therewith. Specifications and requirement of items such as the disabled toilets, ramps, signages, lighting and disabled parking bays area.
An article published in 2018 by Zeid Hassan, a disabled architectural student illustrates the experiences of exclusive architectural designs which stem from ignorance to how disabled people experience spaces and the damages thereof and outlines how exclusive architecture sets up a hierarchy within its users and reinforces historical, regressive roles for disabled people. The article also illustrates the impact of inclusive design, which have a strong, positive effect on the experiences of disabled people; outlining that these designs should not focus on allowing disabled people to access the able-bodied world but rather focus on the experiences of a disabled person. The integration should focus on devising one system for everyone rather than attaching special provision to the mainstream. The article piqued my interest as it is the perspective of a person’s lived experience, navigating the building architecture with disability.
Discussion:
To include and accommodate disabled persons, the National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act, was amended and published by the Department of Trade and Industry in May 2008. Parts of the Act namely Part S deals with facilities for disabled people, which directly affects the building industry. This was driven by a disabled rights movement, acknowledging that there are many acts and movements dating back to the 1800’s that were created by and for disabled people, the backbone of these movements according to the Government is to address amongst other things:
As a Construction Project Manager, I will mainly focus on the accessibility and safety in building architecture, when looking at accessibility the basis is providing means of access that is suitable for people with disabilities to use. In addition, access must be available from various approaches of the building via the main entrance and any secondary entrances and should lead to the ground floor and means of egress that is suitable for people with disabilities to use in the event of any sort of emergency in cooperating fire protection as well, as prescribed by the act.
A Construction Project Manager’s responsibility pertaining to the disability act is to administer and comply on every building project with the National Building Regulations and Building Standard Acts (or similar dependent on location and local authority), and all Government laws that insure that new buildings and refurbished buildings are designed & built with certain features to make them disabled friendly, the more distinguished features in the new buildings include the installation of elevators, automatic doors, wide doors and corridors, transit lifts, wheelchair ramps, curb cuts, and the elimination of unnecessary steps where ramps and elevators are not available, allowing the blind and people with mobility impairments to use public sidewalks and public transit more easily and more safely, however these laws are enforceable in public spaces such as public buildings, shopping centres, city streets, shops and restrooms and exempted in a few types of buildings classified by the act. Whereas in private buildings and the exempted buildings they are considered a “nice to have” on account of the costs associated with the designs and the decision to include the disabled needs in the designs is the owner’s discretion.
On new building projects, it is facile designing in accordance with the National Building Regulations and Building Standard Act and Government laws, and management thereof, as the original designs are done having considered these specifications and therefore creates no room for any compromise on comfortability and safety of all users including persons with disability. However, on refurbishment and renovation projects it is rather complex as there are many constraints to consider, such as the building parameters. I have had an opportunity to work on a refurbishment and renovation project, the South African Library for The Blind in Grahamstown, Eastern cape. While working on this project it became apparent that the integration and devising of systems that work for everyone is achievable as we had to cater to the end-users who are persons with vision, mobility and auditory impairments, an example of integrated systems devised was a lift that could be operated by a person whose both blind and deaf with no assistance, safe access routes, and facilities to use within the building that catered for everyone. Evacuation plans were the most challenging, this was tackled through proper signage and audio commands that can be interpreted by all.
In conclusion with a building design team that prioritises complying with National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act, inclusive building architecture is attainable to ensure comfortability of disabled people in our buildings if we approach disability holistically and have in mind all disabilities while in the early stages of design by mainly focusing on devising one system for everyone rather than attaching special provision to the mainstream.
References:
Zeid, H. 2019, ‘Why architects keep failing disabled people’. Medium. [Online}
Available at: https://zeid-h-h.medium.com/why-do-architects-keep-failing-disabled-people-16a12e5ddc64/
Assessed 04 July 2024
National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act no. 103 of 1977 (as amended)
Available at: https://www.thedtic.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/building_standards_act.pdf
Assessed 20 July 2024
Buildings Regulations, Disability Info SA
Available at: http://disabilityinfosa.co.za/visual-impairments/current-accessible-features/building-regulations/
Assessed 20 July 2024
Department of Social Development
Available at: https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201603/39792gon230.pdf/
Assessed 26 July 2024
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