ACCESS 'CASE STUDY' THE SAGE GATESHEAD

Royal Institute of British Architects Inclusive Building of the Year 2005

The stunning £70 million home for live music and musical discovery, learning and participation.  It is home to the Northern Sinfonia and Folkworks, consisting of two performance spaces of acoustic excellence, a rehearsal space and a 25-room Music Education Centre.

A covered concourse along the waterfront links the four separate enitities and offers amazing views out onto the Tyne.  The entire complex is sheltered beneath a broad, enveloping stainless steel roof that is 'shrink-wrapped' around the buildings beneath.

The capital building project is funded by the Arts Council Lottery Fund, Gateshead Council, ONE NorthEast and the European Regional Development Fund.

WINNING QUALITIES

The Award judging panel selected The SAGE Gateshead for this prestigious award because it:

• Placed people at the heart of the design process, management and operation of the building
• Demonstrated that good design results in environments that are safe, convenient and enjoyable to use by people, regardless of disability, age or gender"
• Made ‘genuine’ advances in the understanding of and delivery of accessibility for all
• Addressed design developments of interest to the ‘Industry’
• Took inclusion into the management domain, extending accessibility beyond design (ticket pricing, provision of mobility aids, free performances and the public can sit in on rehearsals)
• Had access consultancy on the project from inception to completion
• Building layout and wayfinding is simple enabling exemplary accessibility for people with mobility impairments

ACCESS MANAGEMENT

The Access Consultant, Burdus Access Management, was the first design team member appointed after the architect and worked on the project from 1998 to 2004.  Important elements of the consultancy included:

• Production of the North Music Trust Access Policy to be applied to the design team
• Peparation of the SAGE access reports for the National Lottery Fund application.
• The development of an early and close working relationship with the Architect and properly timed input to all RIBA work stages
• Regular Disability Discrimination Act compliance meetings with the Client and Architect
• Site meetings and snagging during construction and fit out with written reports, photographs and CAD sketches to the Client and the Architect
• Final report including a detailed Approved Document M of the Building Regulations, ‘Access to Buildings’ compliance and departure record

The design had to be ahead of its time – particularly when planning the dramatic increase in space standards that hit the project in the form of the new British Standard (2001) and the Building Regulations (2004) for access, not to mention the upgrade in the Arts Council Access Checklists. Of importance at RIBA stages C and D was to ensure that all reasonable detail design matters were anticipated and allowed for in the cost plan so there were no ‘access cost shocks’ later in the project.

ACCESS PANEL

The 25 people strong Access Panel was established in 2000 to ensure disabled people’s input to the design process.

Burdus Access Management were engaged to service the Sage Access Panel and represent panel views at Design Team. 

During the design and construction period there were 14 panel meetings and 4 site visits.  The panel had a significant influence on the design of:

• Means of escape
• Passenger lifts
• Toilets
• Manifestation to glass

A significant piece of research carried out by the Access Panel discovered that stainless steel and a matt black finish does provide an acceptable colour and tonal contrast.  This was long before research published the same findings using scientifically measured light reflectance.

One member, Clarence Adoo works for the Northern Sinfonia as an Education Animateur.  He uses a powered wheelchair operated by chin and mouth controls.  Clarence’s input to the design was vital to maximise his independent access to the building, including parking, toilets, power door opening and lifts, which has had direct benefits for other mobility impaired visitors to the building.

EXAMPLES OF FINAL PROVISION

• Very large passenger lifts that can be used for evacuation of disabled people
• ‘Intelligent lifts’ that can communicate with Possum systems
• Large unisex toilet cubicles with shower, bench change and hoists to cater for people who have personal assistants and use large powered wheelchairs
• Low level sinks, toilets and handrails for smaller people and children
• Wayfinding features including tactile symbols on stair and passenger lift handrails
• Powered stair climber to supplement means of escape from the basement
• Two tone manifestation to glass to both sides of glass panels
• A second low level alarm buttons in lift cars at 150mm above floor level
• Use of stainless steel and black finish as visual definition to step nosing, counter edges, ironmongery
• Use of lighting elements in concourse for wayfinding.

ONGOING MATTERS

The Sage continues to look to ways of maximising access to the building and its activities for disabled people, for example:

• A venue access guide is produced
• Wheelchairs including powered chairs from the Gateshead Shopmobility scheme are available to link up to the nearby Baltic Contemporary Arts Centre
• A report is to be produced for the Sage Gateshead outlining good process at design team.

Naturally, there are some areas where the design team could have achieved more and at the time of writing this case study, The SAGE Gateshead project team is busy reviewing the final access report for post fit-out improvements to:

• Colour contrast and Light Reflective Values for vision impaired people (in some areas there is simply not enough colour and tonal contrast to walls, floors and doors)
• The location of accessible and legible signs (the rush to design and install the main signs before the building opened resulted in the Access Panel missing out on proper input)
• Specification of more accessible fixtures and fittings (uninformed changes to the specification of some fixtures and fittings to save on budget resulted in a reduction in the usability by disabled people.