Civil Engineering Association

This handbook covers the design and specification of steps/stairs, ramps, escalators and moving walks to meet the requirements for inclusive design in non-domestic buildings. Lifts are not covered as they do not share the same design issues as these other means of vertical access.
The handbook offers practical guidance to assist designers, specifiers, building owners and occupiers, building managers and facilities managers to understand and address the issues for the design, specification and operation of these elements. It covers the design issues common to steps/stairs, ramps, escalators and moving walks, and provides good practice technical guidance in relation to these issues for the design and specification of these elements in external and internal environments, and in different building types. Operational and maintenance issues, including cleaning, that need to be considered at the design stage are also indicated. The guidance refers to relevant legislation, Building Regulations and standards, and is supported by illustrations and case study examples that demonstrate the different issues and good practice solutions for different situations. The handbook is structured to enable readers to ‘dip into’ it as they wish, as the guidance for each element can be used independently of the rest of the book if required. The design issues are covered in Section 3 and good practice technical guidance on each element in external and internal environments is given in Section 4. The technical guidance given for each element is presented in a similar order to the design issues, so that it is easy to refer back to the relevant section in Section 3.