Universal Design at Statsbygg
Development of a new ICT-system for registration and assessment of accessibility to
public buildings
By: Kirsten Lindberg and Mai Anh Thi Lê, Property Management, Statsbygg
Abstract
Statsbygg acts on behalf of the Norwegian government as owner, manager and advisor in construction and property affairs. Statsbygg offers governmental organisations premises suited to their needs, either in new or existing buildings.In 2004 and 2005 Statsbygg has carried out a survey of accessibility and universal design in more than 1.6 mill. sqms of public property. Similar registration project was carried out for universities and colleges in Norway that included 1,6 mill. sqms. These two surveys provide a broad overview of accessibility status and costs of the necessary improvements. The software used was You-Too. Furthermore, in 2004, we have implemented requirements of universal design in Statsbygg’s new building projects. In 2005, Statsbygg has a pilot project to implement the requirements of universal design in dRofus, which is a building programming tool.
Statsbygg has experienced that the cost of improving the accessibility in existing premises, is not as expensive as expected. We have also concluded that there is a need to make more specific requirements, in order to make the principles of universal designing possible to develop in real life.
This paper will present some of Statsbygg’s experiences based on the registrations, the use of the collected data, and the need for development of a new system for assessment of accessibility to public buildings.
Statsbygg
Statsbygg acts on behalf of the Norwegian government as the owner, manager and advisor in construction and property affairs. We offer governmental organisations premises suited to their needs, either in new or existing buildings.
Statsbygg manages around 2.2 million sqm. of floor space, both in Norway and abroad.
Our property portfolio consists of office buildings, schools and colleges, accommodation
and specialised buildings throughout the country, and embassies and residences outside of Norway.
The definition of Universal Design at Statsbygg
The Centre of Universal Design defines universal design as designing products and surroundings in a way that everybody can use them without any special formulation
For Statsbygg, Universal Design not only means that a building should be available for people who are disabled, it also means that we should design buildings and their surroundings so that anyonecan enjoyand use our premises in an equal way.
Universal Design at Statsbygg
Statsbygg has traditionally worked to improve accessibility to new buildings, by focusing on accessibility and by applying the regulations and guidelines in the national building code.
It is, however, becoming evident that this is not enough. Even new premises appear to have accessibility problems, and some have been criticised by organisations for disabled people. A better approach to these problems is therefore needed.
In existing properties several initiatives have been taken during the last decade to register and improve accessibility. More systematic surveys, however, have uncovered that some challenges have not been addressed and poor accessibility was still present. There is clearly a need for a better system to identify problems and to develop good solutions. Alongside this work the Norwegian government has launched an action plan for Universal Design, and Statsbygg, as a governmental directorate, will have to implement the plan in our area of responsibility.
The action plan of Universal Design at Statsbygg
The work started in 2002 with a small survey of some of Statsbygg properties in the western region of Norway. The survey resulted in a list of initiatives. A pilot project was set up in 2003 to reveal any insufficiencies in the system used.
In January 2004 Statsbygg approved of an action plan on Universal Design. It covered both the development of new premises and the upgrading and development of existing premises. The overall aims of this project are to ensure that new buildings are designed according to the principles of Universal Design, and to gradually improve the existing properties.
The main initiatives in 2004 when developing new building projects were:
- To include universal design principles in all general documents and guidelines for programming and construction.
- To develop the general guidelines for architectural work.
- To develop checklists for Universal Design for the programming of buildings.
- To develop tools and methods to secure that planning and design competitions are based on universal design. (Universal design as an evaluation criteria).
During the next few years’ activities to increase the staffs’ knowledge of the issues listed above, and of Universal Design in general, will be carried out.
For nearly all of our existing premises Statsbygg has carried out a survey of accessibility and Universal Design, and also developed a list of measures to be taken.
From 2004 to 2005 Statsbygg initiated a systematicexamination of our properties based on a modified registration system, You-Too. You-Too was originally developed as a European system for information on accessibility to public buildings. This system was modified in Statsbygg so that the survey also covered identification of Universal Design standards, and possible measures and costs. When the registration is completed, a description of the accessibility to all premises will be published on the Internet. As the registration gives the exact measures and not only a “yes” or “no” according to a defined standard, an Internet search can be carried out based on personal requirements related to a specific building.
As a result of this survey, activities for improvement of the properties were defined with cost estimates. These will be included in ordinary maintenance and plans. The goal for 2005 and 2006 is to allocate no less than 4% of the total maintenance budget to Universal Design related tasks.
How can Statsbygg achieve accessibility in existing buildings?
Statsbygg attempts to map needs and carry out initiatives, based on the parameters of Universal Design in existing buildings. Our intentions are to be innovative and a forward-looking owner and property-administrator. We have to ensure that these issues are systematically and structurally carried out in our organisation.
The registration project
The registration of Universal Design in existing buildings included approximately 1.6 million sqm. It was organised as a project with its own budget in Statsbygg.
Vista Utredning AS did the pilot registrations and assisted in the production of the tender material. Opticonsult AS won the tender competition that consisted of registration and reporting.
The systematic registrations
The systematic registration consists of:
-Registering the availability in existing properties
-Reporting the renovation needs for each building
-Identifying the renovation costs
-Incorporating defined initiatives into plans for maintenance
-Carrying out the initiatives
Registration in You-Too
Opticonsult AS has carried out the registration with some assistance from Statsbygg. All data will be registered in a database. The database is built up by targets, which are determined separately for each building. Only the most important and representative functions of the building will be registered. Registrations can be updated after the initiatives have been identified. The registrations were intended to be available on the Internet
The application of the reports
The reports will provide a broad overview of status. In addition, the identified initiatives will be put into our plans for maintenance and renovation of the properties. The property managers will make priorities concerning accessibility initiatives. Finally, the given overview will be reported to the government.
The costs of the identified measures
The identified measures were divided into two different parts. Firstly we wanted to find out the costs for improving the premises up to the national code standard. Secondly we wanted to determine the costs for bringing the premises up to fully universal design standard. For determination of this “standard” we use the recommendations from the different organisations for disabled persons.
The results were approximately as follows:
- Costs for improvements up to the national code standard: 15 Euro/sqm
- Total costs for improving up to Universal Design standard: 34 Euro/sqm
Statsbygg has experienced that the cost of improving the accessibility in existing premises, is not as expensive as expected. Previous calculations were much higher.
Development of a new system for registration
The You-Too database appeared to be very difficult in use. The owner of the database could not give us any guarantees for making the You-Too system work and for upgrading and updating the ICT-platform.
As a matter of fact we felt that we could not rely on the You-Too database. We therefore decided to develop our own system and database. The new system will be based on the You –Too database, but it should be more useful and convenient for disabled people with different kind of needs e.g. the You-Too system is mainly for people who cannot walk and move without a wheel-chair. We also wish the system to include persons who are blind, deaf, mentally retarded or have problems with the environment. On the other hand the You-Too system has many advantages and we want to build the new system on the principles of the You-Too system. The owner of the You-Too system has had no objections to this, and has encouraged our work with the new database.
In July 2006 Objectnet won the tender competition and the development is planned to be finished in January 2007.
How will the new system work?
The new system will be available through an internet portal. It will be easy for visitors to check whether and to what degree a premise is accessible for them.
The system will be flexible and in compliance with new standards and regulations. It will be easy to add new properties.
Statsbygg will be the owner of the system, but a steering group will be responsible for keeping it up to date.
In addition to Statsbygg all the Universities in Norway will also be the users of the system and we hope that a lot of our other public property-managers, e.g. different municipalities will use the system in the future.
The system will be divided into 3 different parts (modules). The first one will be for registration and consists of a program to be used during the registration on site. It can be used without having access to the internet. Information will be transferred into the internet-portal after the registration is finished. The second part is the managing module. It is primarily used by managers and includes a report, pictures and a list of measures to be taken. The user can look at and update the Universal Design information. The last part is the presentation module. This will be the internet-portal and it will be where the public or visitors go to check the accessibility of the building they want to visit.
Figure 2 The Universal design system “Bygg for alle”[1]
Figure 3 The technical solution
Universal design in dRofus
There has also been an attempt to implement Universal Design into dRofus. This is an ICT-tool for supporting different working activities in complex building projects.
The requirements were implemented into the dRofus-database, where it was found to be adequate.
In order to avoid universal design failures and deficiencies in the design stage of a construction project, an R&D project is carried out. By checking the universal design principles in the models of designing, based on IFC[2] standard, as much as 60-70% of the common universal design related failures, can be eliminated.
Collection of good and bad examples
To raise awareness about Universal design we have also made a collection of good and bad examples from Statsbygg existing properties. During the registration work a lot of pictures were taken to illustrate the need for repair and transformation. Some of these pictures could help the architects and planners to learn from the good examples and to avoid the bad ones in the future.
The process so far raises a lot of questions of general interest
We would like to share the experiences we have gained so far, and would like to know what kind of experience other public (or private) bodies may have from similar work. Some of the topics we would like to discuss are:
- How can the differences between traditional approaches (mainly based on the use of building codes) and a deeper understanding and use of Universal Design principles, best be communicated in an organisation like Statsbygg?
- What tools can be used to implement Universal Design into an organisation?
- How can our organisation use the registrations as a basis for repair, reporting and information to clients and visitors with regards to accessibility?
[1] Building for everyone
[2] Industry Foundation Classes