Case Studies - The Butts Dental Practice
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Many of us dread a trip to the dentist but imagine if your patients arrived only to find they couldn’t gain access to the building!
One of the most recent and influential pieces of government legislation for disabled access, is the Disability and Discrimination Act 1995. This act was the first of its kind to call for improvements in the way that owners and property manager of buildings achieve equal access for all members of the public.
All public buildings, including dentists, were asked to improve access to floor levels. Installing a lift or ramp is an achievable option for many buildings but if the property is of a small scale or listed, it can be troublesome.
One company which found a sustainable solution is The Butts Dental Practice based in Brentford. They decided to ‘bite the bullet’ and expand their business into the basement flat. This was a huge costly project but it meant that disabled patients could be provided for on one level.
Philippa Brown, Practice Manager, of The Butts Dental Practice comments:
“This was a very brave move but it made perfect sense to utilise the basement flat as a means of providing access to disabled patients and to extend the business. However, we still had a problem as the practice is in a Victorian building, where neither the first floor nor basement floor is on a level with the pavement.”
Philippa had two options; she could either install a ramp or a platform lift. In this case a ramp was impractical due to the extent of the drop to basement floor, hence the decision to install a platform lift.
This presented a common problem which other buildings have experienced since the Disability Discrimination Act was introduced. The platform lift had to be in keeping with the surrounding architecture. The practice is situated in The Butts Conservation Area which is renowned for its splendid 18th Century Grade listed buildings and historic value. Although, The Butts Dental Practice doesn’t actually reside in a listed building, the Victorian property still has a distinct gothic appearance and any alterations have to be approved by a conservation officer.
“Our building still retains many of its traditional features and the surrounding architecture is shaped by traditional ornate ironwork,” says Philippa. “I was worried that introducing a platform lift so that disabled patients could gain access to the basement floor of the practice might look intrusive to the architecture.”
With design at the forefront of her mind, Philippa searched long and hard for a platform lift which would fit into the architectural environment. As she had already invested a lot of money into the conversion, Philippa wasn’t going to compromise.
After much research, she came across a design led company which manufactures contemporary state of the art platform lifts. The Platform Lift Company recommended their Type B Platform Lift.
“We understood that the dentist practice, like lots of other businesses, wanted a design solution. To remain in keeping with the Victorian architecture of the building, we provided a lift finished in black to complement the black balustrades on the walls,“ explains Sean O’Sullivan, Managing Director of The Platform Lift Company.
The Type B Platform Lift has been developed with an installation friendly site assembly system of the guiding frame. The Machine box may be fitted to guiding frames of different lengths to suit a wide range of lifting heights. In addition, the carriage has an open look achieved by big glass safety panels and solid details in stainless steel.
“I am extremely pleased with the way the platform lift looks; in fact it’s really enhanced the front of the building. Its design is totally in keeping with the style of building and the decorative ironwork. It almost looks elegant!” Philippa enthuses.
Since installing a platform lift, The Butts Dental Practice has been actively marketing the fact it now has disabled access; this has resulted in the practice gaining new patients. The lift is constantly in use and has proved to be a real asset to the practice as well as meeting legislative requirements.
For more information visit: www.platformliftco.co.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 1256 896000
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