Lifetime Homes
Criterion 7
Space to turn and move around
What is required?
Living and dining areas should be capable of sufficient clear floor space to enable a wheelchair user to turn around. Other rooms should have sufficient space for a wheelchair user to circulate and approach essential facilities.
Why is this important?
Some Criteria, (as described above and below), aim to make the dwelling accessible so that a visitor who uses a wheelchair user can socialise and use a toilet within the property.
Other Criteria aim to make essential rooms on each storey of the dwelling accessible - either from the out-set, or by simple adaptation - to a member of the household that may use a wheelchair or begins to use a wheelchair.
Basic wheelchair access throughout the property is not only essential should this need arise, but also creates sufficient space for other people that may use other mobility aids. The space this Criterion creates does not match that within dwellings built to wheelchair housing standards (specifically for wheelchair users), but does create a little more space than some cramped dwellings may have. This helps a lot of households – particularly those with children, regardless of whether they have disability within the household.