Civil Engineering Association

BS 8300:2009 Design of buildings and their approaches to meet the needs of disabled people – Code of practice

This British Standard gives recommendations for the design of new
buildings and their approaches to meet the needs of disabled people.
It applies to car parking provision, setting‑down points and garaging,
access routes to and around all buildings, and entrances to and
interiors of new buildings. The recommendations also apply to routes
to facilities associated with and in the immediate vicinity of buildings.
NOTE 1 The recommendations in this British Standard mainly cover
access to buildings. The standard makes reference to egress in the event
of fire or other emergency, but the main recommendations for means of
escape are given in BS 9999.
The recommendations given in this British Standard also apply for
assessing the accessibility and usability of existing buildings and,
where practicable, as a basis for their improvement. The extent to
which the recommendations apply to listed and historic buildings is
determined on a case‑by‑case basis.
This British Standard applies to the following types of building:
transport and industrial buildings, e.g. rail, a) road, sea and air
travel buildings and associated concourses, car parking buildings
and factories;
b) administrative and commercial buildings, e.g. courts, offices,
banks, post offices, shops, department stores and shopping
centres, and public service buildings, including police stations;
c) health and welfare buildings, e.g. hospitals, health centres, dental
practices, surgeries and residential homes;
d) refreshment, entertainment and recreation buildings, e.g. cafés,
restaurants, public houses, concert halls, theatres, cinemas,
conference buildings, community buildings, swimming pools and
sports buildings;
e) religious buildings and associated facilities, e.g. church halls;
f) educational, cultural and scientific buildings, e.g. schools,
universities, colleges, zoos, museums, art galleries, libraries and
exhibition buildings;
g) residential buildings, e.g. hostels and hotels, residential clubs,
university and college halls of residence, nursing homes and
prisons, as well as the common parts of multi‑occupancy
residential buildings.
This British Standard does not apply to individual dwellings, to
residential buildings designed specifically to meet the needs of
severely disabled people, or to temporary structures.
NOTE 2 This British Standard does not give recommendations for
management and maintenance in occupied buildings, but a list of issues
to be considered is given in Annex A.
Although this British Standard is aimed specifically at the design of
buildings to meet the needs of disabled people, its recommendations
are also likely to benefit the population in general, e.g. elderly people,
people with children in pushchairs and those carrying heavy luggage.

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