WC facilities at The Sage Gateshead
by Paul Highman, CAE's Principal Information Officer
After ten years planning and extensive consultation with musicians, music presenters and performers, a new music venue and home for the Northern Sinfonia, The Sage Gateshead opened to the public on 17 December 2004. The building represents a new landmark on Tyneside, and situated adjacent to the Stirling Prize-winning Gateshead Millennium Bridge and the Tyne Bridge, forms the heart of a project to regenerate the area’s river frontage.
The Sage Gateshead includes two auditoria, Halls One and Two, a rehearsal space, the Northern Rock Foundation Hall, and a 25-room Music Education Centre – each conceived as a separate enclosure. A concourse along the waterfront, which includes bars and a café, acts as a foyer for the auditoria and hospitality areas for performers, audiences and students alike. The concourse links the facilities and offers dramatic views out across the river Tyne. The entire complex, including the concourse, is sheltered beneath a broad, enveloping stainless-steel roof that is shrink-wrapped around the building beneath.
The aim was to create both an international centre for musical performance and education, and an accessible public building. Access was key to the design approach, and from the outset, the Council demonstrated a genuine commitment to inclusion. Gateshead Council appointed as access consultant David Burdus, who worked on the project from inception to completion, and The Sage Gateshead Access Panel was established in 2000 to ensure disabled people’s input into the design process.
Evidence of this commitment can be seen in the WC provision. The Sage Gateshead has 36 cubicles which are accessible for wheelchair users. Of these, 18 are for users who transfer from the right, 12 for those who transfer from the left and six feature the peninsular-style layout. Twenty of the accessible cubicles are located in separate unisex rooms. These cubicles are larger in size than the standard Approved Document M layout, to accommodate bigger washbasins. However, the designers were careful to maintain the recommended distance between the basin and the pan. The remaining accessible cubicles are located within the gender-specific WCs.
The level of choice and flexibility is key to the success of The Sage Gateshead. Within the accessible WCs a number of additional features have been installed, for example some of the cubicles feature Clos-o-mat automatic toilets, which provide flushing, warm-water washing and warm-air drying, one has a built-in powered hoist, another has room to accommodate a portable hoist. Other cubicles have showers and height-adjustable bench-changing areas. These facilities are strategically placed throughout the building, to ensure balanced provision.
The inclusive approach is carried through into the gender-specific WCs. In the male areas, lowered urinals have been installed for toddlers, and both the male and female WCs feature lower-level washbasins. All this amounts to a commendable commitment to inclusive design, from the client, Gateshead Council, and the architect, Foster and Partners. There are inevitably some shortfalls – the signage is not as comprehensive as it could be – for example it would be helpful to indicate, perhaps through pictorial signs, which WCs feature a hoist or a shower and where these are located within the building. However, inclusive design is an ongoing process. As we learn more, access can be refined and improved, and in this case the service provider has created a excellent platform from which to develop.
Click here to read a building study of The Sage Gateshead from CAE’s journal Access by Design.