Aspire policy manager will oversee the design of access for disabled people nationwide

A policy manager who works for Aspire Leisure Centre in Stanmore has been appointed chairman of a new committee by the British Standards Institution. 

Andy Shipley will oversee its code of practice on design of an accessible and inclusive built environment, known as BS8300.

BS8300 provides technical guidelines on how the built environment should be designed, constructed and maintained to be inclusive of the requirements of disabled people. It encompasses both internal and external environments and is in two parts.

Part one deals with the external environment and encompasses streets, parks, landscaped areas, the approach to buildings and the spaces between and around buildings.

Part two deals with buildings, encompassing entrances, outward opening doors and windows (where they affect external circulation routes), reception areas, horizontal and vertical movement and other features and facilities within the building.

These codes of practice are used by planning officers, building inspectors, access specialists, conservation officers, architects, interior designers and landscape designers.

Andy said: “We find ourselves at a time when the quality of our buildings and the way they are planned, designed, built and managed, was never more under the spotlight. 

“If we are to achieve the kind of culture change that Dame Judith Hackit described our development sector as needing, in her review of fire safety and building regulations, codes of practice such as BS8300 and its sister documents across the BSI portfolio, have a vital part to play.”