Guidelines on school toilet provision have been updated for new build and refurbishment/conversion projects.
Closomat, Britain’s leading provider of accessible toilets in and out of the home, has addressed changes to Department for Education/ Education Funding Agency guidelines and the latest British Standard, in one, easy reference document.
The white paper- Considerations & Specification of Assisted Accessible Toilet Facilities in Educational Buildings- in one place covers the key elements of the revised Building Bulletin 104, and BS8300:2018. It enables specifiers to easily cross-reference their specifications and designs to ensure appropriate compliance on accessibility and special needs.
“School toilets really matter,” says Robin Tuffley, Closomat marketing manager. “Above and beyond the growing number of pupils with special needs who attend mainstream schools, there is an increase in the number of children who start school not toilet trained, with a correlating increase in the number of toiletary mishaps that require intervention. Figures also indicate at least 10% of pupils have a continence issue. And what about hygiene, not just for the child, but the member of staff helping them? What about privacy? Independence? Learning personal care skills?
“As all the key criteria are now in one document, school estates managers can use the white paper to put in place the groundwork for a compliant, appropriate scheme, ready to be installed during term recesses, depending on the amount of time required to effect the upgrade or refurbishment.”
The white paper covers the requirements and recommendations for toilets in educational buildings, including the importance of properly sized and specified hygiene rooms. It also covers the relevant changes to BS8300, which now specifically itemises educational establishments as buildings covered by its ‘best practice’ remit, particularly with regard to a Changing Places assisted accessible toilet facility.
Closomat has 55 years’ experience in delivering personal hygiene solutions for domestic and non-domestic environments. The company has developed a range of equipment and support services that today meets every need, at home and away, from adapting a domestic bathroom through to a full specification hygiene room with a changing bench and ceiling track hoist in educational buildings, or similar (Changing Places) facility in commercial and public venues.
Uniquely, the products are backed up by in-house support, that is fully Construction (Design & Management) compliant, from assessment of requirements, design of an accessible bathroom or washroom to legislative and budgetary requirements, installation and commissioning of equipment, and lifetime maintenance. Full details of equipment are available on the company’s website, www.clos-o-mat.com.