Studies by Summer Foundation

Published 18th May 2021

The report incorporating minimum accessibility standards in new housing: A survey of access consultants and architects, is now complete.  

This report finds that many accessible features are neither expensive nor difficult to incorporate in new builds, and is a significant piece of evidence being used in the fight for more accessible housing.  

The second report in the series is titled Accessible design, hospital discharge and ageing in place: a national survey of occupational therapists and is now also available.

Queenslander of the Year, Dr Dinesh Palipana, was recently profiled in the Courier Mail about his experience looking for a wheelchair-accessible house to buy, but being unable to find anything suitable. Dinesh cited the above studies, and appealed to decision-makers to make Australia’s new housing more accessible by including mandatory minimum standards in the NCC. 

All of these efforts contributed to the recent announcement that the Building Ministers Forum agreed to make the Silver standard mandatory for all new housing and, in addition, Gold will be added to the building code, so that individual jurisdictions can choose to go to this level.  

Please find the official Communique here: https://www.industry.gov.au/news/building-ministers-meeting-communique-april-2021

Source:
Di Winkler, 2021, Summer Foundation (https://www.summerfoundation.org.au/)