PATRICIAN BROTHERS COLLEGE, FAIRFIELD
OBJECTIVE:
The College was required to make provisions for a new enrolment. Wheelchair access was needed to enable this student to gain entry to the classrooms required for his first year at the school. The student also requires access to a bathroom, with proper shower facilities and a room for him to receive nursing care.
BACKGROUND:
The student's placement to the school for the start of the 2009 school year was not finalised until September 2008.
His Occupational Therapist had discussed the required needs with the school and together they decided on the most suitable rooms for him to gain access to.
Access Ability Solutions was contacted by the Occupational Therapist, with regards to undertaking the required work. A joint site assessment was organised with representatives from the Catholic Education Office in October 2008. Together we developed a cost effective solution for making parts of the school a more inclusive, user friendly environment for both the student and his carers.
Knowing that Access Ability Solutions is a specialist division of a general Building Contracting company, the school requested additional work to be carried out in conjunction with the access work. This included brickwork, new windows and pavement repairs.
Time was the major challenge to impact on this project. As the planned work affected many areas of the school, work could best be carried out during the Christmas holiday period.
THE SOLUTION:
Access Ability Solutions quickly developed a proposal which put work into progress after the students left for the Christmas break. This would make the school ready to accept their new student on the first day of the new school year at the end of January, 2009.
The student required access to some general Year 7 classrooms as well as trade rooms, computer rooms, music rooms and the library. Access to other areas, such as the science rooms, was adequate at this stage.
- Doorways:
The existing doorways to most rooms were too narrow, requiring new wider doors and jambs to be fitted into the existing brick walls. This involved providing new lintels, matching existing brickwork, rendering and plastering. Some doors needed opening in different directions and some required glass viewing panels to be inserted at specific heights.
- Step Ramps:
Some doorways had different floor levels either side of their opening. We selected pre-moulded step ramps at a 1:8 gradient for most of these doorways, providing ease of access and installation. Other external doorways required the existing pavers to be re-laid on a gentle slope up to the door sill height. One area had existing damage to its bitumen surface. In this instance, we removed 10 square metres of bitumen and replaced it with a concrete ramp, solving two issues with the one solution.
- Ramps and Rails:
We constructed three concrete ramps with landings and handrails where step ramps would not comply with Australian Standards 1428.
- The Bathroom:
An inadequate disabled toilet was demolished and extended into an adjoining non-essential cleaner’s room. This provided a very economical solution, avoiding the need to extend the existing building. The two existing doorways were bricked up and a wider door to the new bathroom was installed. We re-used all of the hand cleaned bricks from the demolition, blended with new bricks, to achieve a seamless alteration. The bathroom was fitted with a toilet, basin and generous shower with excellent circulation space and plenty of room for a hoist and frame. We also constructed a colour bond steel awning to extend the existing covered walkway to the new bathroom.
- The Nurses Room:
An existing small room, with an internal door only, was not well utilised. This was converted into a treatment room for the student by removing the existing window and making a wide aluminium door and small window, with a concrete ramp to the doorway. The aluminium door matched well to other doors in the area.
END RESULT:
The student has good access to all of the facilities in the school that he is required to use. The cost was modest and there was minimal disruption to the school during the construction period. All work carried out complies with the relevant codes and most importantly suits the current needs of the student.
We are currently working on a proposal for the school to provide this student with further access to new areas of the school, in preparation for him entering Year 8 in 2010. Our proposal will include the construction of a lift well and installation of a lift to provide access to first floor classrooms and a covered bridge to link separated buildings. We will also offer a fold-away wheelchair elevator which will provide access to the auditorium stage.
