A new £8.4m facility designed to take leisure in North East Lincolnshire to new heights, and into the 21st century, is delivering state-of-the-art facilities, especially for disabled users.
Grimsby Leisure Centre is the second venue in the borough to feature a Changing Places room, which offers more space and more equipment than conventional accessible toilets, for people who need a carer’s help for their personal hygiene.
The state-of-art facility, plus an additional room which includes similar equipment and will be used for first aid, have both been supplied and installed by Clos-o-Mat, Britain’s specialist in the provision of assisted, accessible toileting in and out of the home. Both rooms at the new centre are strategically located in the ground floor main Changing Village for the pool, and are complimented by a conventional disabled changing facility on the first floor, and conventional accessible toilets on both floors.
As a result, appropriate facilities are provided throughout to enable disabled people to make use of the competition standard swimming pool, gym, fitness suite, sauna and steam room in the new centre, which is operated by Lincs Inspire, a not for profit leisure & culture organization based in North East Lincolnshire.
“There was a desire to have alternative changing facilities, that would ensure the offer for disabled customers was maximised,” explained David Gelder, Head of Architecture at ENGIE, which worked in partnership with North East Lincolnshire Council on the project. “The one room is a fully-compliant Changing Places, with peninsular toilet, height adjustable washbasin, privacy screen, hoist and adult-sized changing bench, whereas the hygiene room, which does not have a changing bench, enables us to optimise space usage as it doubles as a first aid room.”
Added Kelvin Grimes, Clos-o-Mat’s Changing Places/hygiene rooms project manager, “ We go to the toilet on average eight times a day, so the chances are if you are away from home, you will need to access a toilet. Tens of thousands of people who need a carer’s help for their personal care find that conventional accessible toilets are not suitable: they need additional equipment and more space. Changing Places toilets and hygiene rooms mean they can make use of a facility, that previously they either could not have enjoyed, or guests are now able to stay longer when previously they would have had to curtail their trip.”
Under current building guidelines and legislation, Changing Places toilets are now ‘desirable’ in any building to which the public has access. Since the concept was devised, over 800 have been opened in venues across the country.
Clos-o-Mat has a proven track record in the supply and installation of fully accessible toilets, including a substantial number of Changing Places facilities. It is unique in its ability to deliver- in-house- design advice, supply, installation, commissioning, project management and maintenance across the ambit of accessible toileting equipment, including the Clos-o-Mat wash and dry (automatic) toilet. To help leisure venues ‘get it right’, Clos-o-Mat has a raft of downloadable information on its website, www.clos-o-mat.com, including sector-specific white papers, CAD blocks, room renders and videos.
