Forming part of the Code for Sustainable Homes, the Lifetime Homes standard requires buildings to be designed for use by people confined to a wheelchair – a report by the communities department says that before 2026, 48% of the demand for new housing will come from older people. As a result there will be a number of criteria that new homes must meet.

There are 16 key features of a Lifetime Home, including providing plumbing and drainage to allow for a ground-floor bathroom, a minimum staircase width to facilitate a stairlift, windows sited at the correct level to enable a seated person to see out, level ground from car park to door and the possibility to convert a ground-floor room into a bedroom.

Additionally, Lifetime Homes will have to have minimum door sizes and minimum wheelchair turning spaces in halls, communal stairways and living/dining rooms and offer adequate circulation space for wheelchair users elsewhere. In public buildings the width of internal doorways should conform to Approved Document Part M, these requirements are often wider than traditional sizes and the Part M requirements are likely to be reflected in non public buildings as well.

Whilst initially, these requirements may cause developers to question the idea of a ‘one size fits all’ property, by opting for a more open plan design and better space planning it is possible to create a flexible living space that can be adapted to a resident’s changing needs with little added cost. The Chartered Institute of Housing and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation conducted a comparative study into the cost of meeting Building Regulations and the Lifetime Homes Standard. The additional cost of building to the Lifetime Homes Standard varied from £165 to a maximum of £545 per dwelling, depending on the size, layout and specification of the property.

With flexibility in mind, changing the door specification from a traditional hinged door to a pocket sliding door can have a huge impact, both on how the available space is used and on accessibility for wheelchair users.

A pocket sliding door differs from a standard sliding door because the door leaf is pushed back inside a wall cavity.

As a result it maintains wall space as there is no ‘dead’ space behind the door, is stable and has no bottom rail mounted into the floor, which can act as a trip hazard.

A pocket sliding door will also save about 6% of the overall floor area, or around 10ft2 per door because it removes the need to allow space for the opening curve of a standard door.

With the Lifetime Homes standard calling for flexibility of space the fact that the door is hidden when open offers a number of space planning options – allowing the space to work at various levels. For example, a room can be easily divided by using very wide pocket doors as screens. This could have real benefit for allowing part of a living area to be used as a separate living and dining area that could easily be changed into the desired ground floor bedroom and then back again as the property’s occupants change and needs differ. Whilst dividing doors can work for an elderly person, equally they provide flexibility for a family, by for example, providing a separate playroom or an additional bedroom for guests.

Flush mounted pocket doors are also available, which allow the hanging brackets to be fitted flush to the top of the door leaf, making the door’s top edge closer to the ceiling. This effectively makes the doorway invisible when the door is open – further facilitating aesthetic progression towards an easily adaptable open plan and enclosed living space.

The other benefit of the sliding door is the ease of access it offers wheelchair users. Unlike a hinged door there is no risk of bumping legs or feet into the door leaf as the door is pushed open and the wheelchair user passes through. In fact sliding doors can help the frail and the elderly because of their exceptionally fluid opening motion, which requires little strength to open. Doors can also be specified to be self closing – only requiring the minimal amount of pressure to close the door, or fully powered to open and close at the push of a button. Double doors can also be simultaneously opening and closing – creating a flexible doorway as wide or as narrow as required by the user.

With adaptability being a key element of the Lifetime Homes standard, rather than being viewed as a negative development, builders should embrace the ideals and market the adaptability of the homes they offer. After all a Lifetime Home gives all members of the house buying public the flexibility to create the house that meets their needs, whatever their life stage.

StumbleUpon

Del.icio.us

Windows Live Favorites

Digg

Yahoo! MyWeb

Google

Furl

 reddit

Comments