Barrier-free access code is part of govt effort to ensure easy mobility for all
FROM next April, all new buildings must have wheelchair-friendly routes connecting their entrances with surrounding bus stops, buildings and parks.
NO NEED TO NEGOTIATE THE STAIRS NOW: Ms Irene Toh gives a thumbs-up to the Singapore Power building's new ramps and special wheelchair-friendly lifts. -- PHOTO: SINGAPORE POWERThe move is part of a government effort to ensure that the disabled, the elderly and those with infants in prams have unrestricted access not just within a building but in the neighbourhood as well.
The new measures are included in the latest revision to a barrier-free access code which lists a series of guidelines that buildings constructed after 1990 must incorporate to ensure easy mobility for everyone.
Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu announced yesterday that the revision - the third since 1995 - had been completed.
Aside from improving 'connectivity' between buildings, the code also calls for existing 'accessible' infrastructure to be beefed up.
Earlier, MRT stations, for instance, were required to have only one entrance that would be accessible to all. Now, the stipulation has been extended to at least one entrance on both sides of the road.
Also, lifts must be fitted with grab bars for the elderly and Braille and tactile markings for the blind. The emergency call bell must be connected to a blinking light to help those who cannot hear.
Speaking at a seminar on how to improve accessibility, she said the Government is 'strongly urging' the management and owners of older buildings - those built before 1990 - to comply with the code. Compliance for them is voluntary unless they are undergoing major renovations.
Of particular interest are buildings in areas where there is 'high pedestrian traffic' such as Orchard Road, Bras Basah and Shenton Way, said Ms Fu. Only about 60 per cent of buildings in these areas currently have barrier-free access.
The Building and Construction Authority, on its part,has already approached those who own and manage older buildings in Orchard Road and the Central Business District to 'persuade' them to tap a $40 million Accessibility Fund to introduce ramps, disabled-friendly toilets and other features that help make the buildings accessible to all.
Even as it goes about convincing building owners to adopt basic accessibility features like ramps, the BCA is also encouraging others to enhance principles of 'universal design', said BCA chief executive officer John Keung.
Rather than build staircases at the main entrance of a building, and then supplement it with ramps for the disabled, universal design embraces solutions - such as smooth kerb-free or staircase-free surfaces - that can be used by all.
Wheelchair users such as economist Julian Wee, 30, also hope Singapore soon makes a leap from 'accessible' to 'universal' design.
Photographs of recent efforts to improve accessibility here, he said, included an unsheltered ramp walkway next to a covered staircase designed to protect people from rain, said Mr Wee.
Said Mr Wee: 'Rather than build a sheltered staircase and then forget to ensure the ramp walkways are sheltered too, why not have just one solution for all?'
S'pore Power makes it easy for wheelchair-bound
WHEN wheelchair-bound housewife Irene Toh visited the Singapore Power building to collect information for her son's school project in 2005, just getting from the pavement to the nearest lift took half an hour.
With the help of her 10-year-old son, she painfully negotiated about a dozen stairs at the entrance - which she says took more than 15 minutes - and then waited till she found two 'good samaritans' who carried her wheelchair up for her.
Ms Toh, now 48, went back to the Singapore Power building recently to try out its spanking new ramps and special lifts that have made negotiating stairs a thing of the past for people like her. 'It is so easy now,' said MsToh. 'I was at the lift in less than five minutes'.
Singapore Power is one of five private companies that have tapped into a $40million fund to upgrade facilities for the elderly and disabled. Improvements include a wheelchair ramp at the main entrance and additional wheelchair-friendly 'platform' lifts.
The well-known landmark on Somerset Road is more than 30years old.
Thomson Plaza is another old building that recently made use of the fund to get a radical revamp.
A travellator connecting the basement carpark and a room for nursing mothers have been added to make the mall 'welcome to three generations of families', said Madam Cynthia Phua, the building's management committee chairman, who is also an MP.
The ability to welcome entire families is also what led the 11-month-old Ikea store in Tampines to become a shining example of a building easily accessible to all.
The store won an award recently for its features which include kerb-free access, wide aisles and even wheelchairs that double as shopping carts, said MrTom Huzell, managing director of Ikano, which runs Ikea.
'For us, being accessible is not about political correctness - it just makes business sense,' he said.
Its philosophy of allowing entire families access to hassle-free shopping is paying off. More than fourmillion people have visited the store since it opened last November, said MrHuzell. -RADHA BASU
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