Moving UP

Accessibility is important to those with mobility issues. Melanie Farrell looks at home access options

- Melanie Farrell

There are several things to think about when designing your home around accessibility for all. Even if you don’t need wheelchair access right now, you may have family members who get a bit stuck when they visit your home.

Steps are a particular problem for many people, but there are solutions, from installing grab rails to home lifts.

DESIGN DETAIL

Cameron Robertson, sales manager at Hands on Lifts Southern Africa, a supplier of home lift solutions, says: “Simple design tips to allow for accessibility in a home would be to look for no stairs on the levels of the home; many homes have stairs or uneven surfaces.

“Also look at the design of the home to allow a lift to travel from one floor to the next without needing major design elements to make this possible.”

So, is it better to design around mobility when building or can adaptations be made after building? Robertson says: “Designing a home to suit the installation of a lift is always a positive, but we do have steel structures with glass cladding and a variety of options to work with existing homes.”