The document discusses a project for Surrey County Council to provide guidance to their 400+ schools on accessibility. It was in response to new legislation requiring schools to increase accessibility for disabled students. Rather than conducting full accessibility audits, the consultant proposed a holistic approach including guidance tailored for non-experts to help schools identify and address barriers in a strategic, budget-conscious manner.

1. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
Making Schools Accessible -
Guidance on accessibility for
the asset management > 400
schools
Dr Penny Galbraith FAIB FRICS
www.galbraithscott.com.au

2. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
About Penny:
• Fellow Australian Institute of Building
• Fellow Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
• Associate (wannabe Accredited!) ACAA
• Consultant National Register of Access Consultants (UK)
• Disability Rights Commission Licensed Trainer
www.galbraithscott.com.au

3. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
Existing building specialist
• Design, construct, maintain,
investigate
Client project management
Accessibility Roles:
• Portfolio advice
• Strategic asset management
• Feasibility
• Due diligence
• Online disability awareness
training for business
www.galbraithscott.com.au

4. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
Making Schools Accessible
www.galbraithscott.com.au

5. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
Background:
In 2004 Surrey County Council put out a project
specification inviting proposals to carry out sample
audits of their schools.
www.galbraithscott.com.au

6. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
Surrey County Brisbane City
Council Council
Population 1.1m 882,000
Area 1,670 sq Km 1,220 sq Km
www.galbraithscott.com.au

7. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
Their problem and the background to this request:
• Special Education Needs Disability Act 2001
• Legislative duties for Local Education Authorities and schools to
increase accessibility of schools to disabled pupils
• Asset management of 400+ schools
• Schools making large capital funding requests
• Insufficient budget across portfolio
www.galbraithscott.com.au

8. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
The project specification
Specifically
“Recent changes to the Disability Discrimination Act require LEAs and
schools to increase the accessibility of schools for disabled pupils.
“Surrey has developed an accessibility strategy and supports schools
in producing and implementing accessibility plans”.
www.galbraithscott.com.au

9. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
The project specification
“[Surrey] LEA aims to use funding to improve access in a strategic
manner to ensure that:
• There is suitable provision for current and known future pupils with
physical and sensory disabilities
• There is a geographical spread in the provision throughout the
County
• All new building projects are fully accessible
www.galbraithscott.com.au

10. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
The project specification
“ to draw up an access plan, schools need to identify barriers
to access within the school and to consider what actions to
take to remove those barriers. We recognise that this can
be a difficult task since some schools may not have
sufficient expertise in disability access issues.”
www.galbraithscott.com.au

11. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
The project specification
The project:
• In order to help schools identify barriers…. Carry out a
number of access audits on a sample of schools.
• Work closely with the Physical and Sensory Support team
• Identify and describe typical barriers…suggest solutions
• Examples of good practice that could be adopted by other
schools, including management solutions
Guidance for:
• Non-technical audience
• To develop their awareness of disability access issues
• Provide skills and knowledge they need to identify barriers
and implement solutions
www.galbraithscott.com.au

12. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
Our response
Client specification outlined desired outcomes and needed the
consultant to work out the specifics.
SCC had particular emphasis on ‘audits’.
We did not consider that ‘audits’ would yield the guidance that
Surrey needed.
This was very typical of many clients who perceived an ‘audit’
to be the solution to their accessibility problems.
www.galbraithscott.com.au

13. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
To ‘audit’ or not to ‘audit’?
A detailed audit covering the
minutiae of ‘deficiencies’ in an
existing building will typically run
to tens and tens of pages +
photographs
www.galbraithscott.com.au

14. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
To ‘audit’ or not to ‘audit’?
• Appropriateness for the end user
• Interpretation by whom (in-house property team or lay
administrator)
• Application – what do I do with this?
• Implementation – how do I fix all this?
www.galbraithscott.com.au

15. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
www.galbraithscott.com.au

16. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
How do we help this client help their 400+ schools
provide accessible education within limited budget?
www.galbraithscott.com.au

17. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
Our response
Taking a holistic approach, we started by:
• Understanding SCCs ‘business’
• Asset management
• Statutory duties
• Practical implementation
• Under-resourced
• Identify different end users and their specific
needs
• Principals
• SENCOs
• School administrators
• Governors
• Under resourced
www.galbraithscott.com.au

18. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
Our response
First, we suggested that the outputs from this
project would determine the scope and level of
detail recorded for
• sample ‘audits’ and
• the extent of consultation
www.galbraithscott.com.au

19. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
Our response
Then, we acknowledged that sample ‘audits’ were
a good start. But that the sample must:
• Be representative of the range of schools in
the portfolio
• Gather sufficient information on the range of
barriers, and solutions, likely to be
encountered
www.galbraithscott.com.au

20. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
Our response
We proposed consultation with:
• Staff from the Physical Support and Sensory
Support teams;
• Principals;
• Governors;
• Disabled users;
• Asset management team
www.galbraithscott.com.au

21. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
Our response
The output was crucial to defining the project.
We proposed a ‘resource pack’ which would:
• Be targeted at non-technical audience
• Illustrated with diagrams and photographs
• Show typical barriers
• Illustrate possible solutions, including
management solutions
• Illustrate good practice
www.galbraithscott.com.au

22. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
Our response
In addition
• Assist staff develop an awareness of disability/access
issues
• Provide staff with skills and knowledge to identify barriers
and implement solutions
www.galbraithscott.com.au

23. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
Our response
Plus for the school management team, the context of their
legal duties:
• Disability legislation and duties
• Accessibility issues, both management and design
• Wider issues that need consideration eg fire,
asbestos, health and safety
• How to obtain consultancy advice and implement
works
• SCC Access Strategy
Recognising when further advice is needed.
www.galbraithscott.com.au

24. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
My team
Mary Noble
• Set up and managed the NRAC before entering private
practice
• Consultant member of National Register of Access
Consultants
• External tutor University Portsmouth Post Graduate
Accessible Environments Course
• Licensed DRC trainer
• Worked extensively with me on the PriceWaterhouse
portfolio
www.galbraithscott.com.au

25. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
What did we do?
• Draft outline of the output ‘Access Resource Pack’
• ‘Audits’
• Consultation
www.galbraithscott.com.au

26. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
The Access Resource Pack
The outline contents page:
1. Introduction
2. Legislative overview – England and Wales
3. Overcoming barriers to accessing education
4. Design guidance
5. How to obtain an access audit and get what you need from it
6. Interpreting your access audit and implementing
recommendations
7. Maintenance and asset management
8. Designing and procuring work
9. Wider statutory duties for schools
Appendices
www.galbraithscott.com.au

27. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
Access Resource Pack
The consolidated source of information was appreciated but by
far the most popular section was the ‘design guidance’.
www.galbraithscott.com.au

28. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
Access Resource Pack
The design guidance was set out to be printed on
both sides and viewed like a book.
www.galbraithscott.com.au

29. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
www.galbraithscott.com.au

30. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
Access Resource Pack
Conflicts
• Optimum design solutions
• Existing buildings
• Wider issues eg fire, OHS, security
www.galbraithscott.com.au

31. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
www.galbraithscott.com.au

32. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
Feedback
The first draft was issued to the 6 sample schools and the
‘consultation’ team.
The feedback was overwhelming. Other Surrey schools heard about
it and wanted one.
Before we had even issued the final version, other LEAs were asking
about the document.
www.galbraithscott.com.au

33. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
Professionally it was a very interesting project to be involved with.
Making Schools Accessible – Access Resource Pack was issued in
hard copy to all 400+ schools with additional electronic copies
available via the SCC intranet.
The document was extremely well received.
Given the number of enquiries, we put together a deal with Surrey to
jointly publish. Over 1200 copies of the document were sold to over
¼ of UK LEAs.
www.galbraithscott.com.au

34. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
For some LEAs we
contextualised it to better
reflect their organisation.
www.galbraithscott.com.au

35. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
The proceeds of which paid for this!
www.galbraithscott.com.au

36. Building and construction specialists
Galbraith Scott
31 May 2012
Thank you
www.galbraithscott.com.au