Part M, S or R

Building regulations relating to disabled access are fiercely debated. Below, we examine how Parts M, S, and R apply to England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland.

Several of our eagle eyed readers pointed out an error in our lead article - "We welcome Part M proposals". Part M does not, as the article suggests, provide a UK wide standard for disabled access to the built environment as it applies only in England and Wales. Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland do, of course, have their own building regulations. The specific sections relating to disabled access are called Part S, Part R and, funnily enough, Part M respectively.

We thought, by way of an apology to our Scottish and Irish subscribers, that we would point out the key differences between the various pieces of legislation, relating to the use of wheel chair lifts.

All four countries’ regulations are specific about the circumstances when a passenger lift needs to be provided. For a two storey building, should the net floor area of the storey, which is not the principal entry floor, exceed 280 square metres (excluding vertical circulation areas, sanitary accommodation and maintenance areas), a lift must be installed. In a building with more than two storeys, each storey having a net floor area greater than 200 square metres must be served by the lift.

At first glance, there appears to be little or no difference in the lift’s specification required to comply in each country. Closer inspection, however, reveals important points, which need to be taken into account to ensure correct compliance. The key areas for comparison in each country are:

Even though the specifications may not differ greatly, ensuring that the lift installation complies with the relevant country’s building regulations is critical. We strongly recommend, therefore, that you obtain the correct legislation for each country, in which you may need to specify a lift.

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