List of design guidance
CAE design guidance
Designing for Accessibility
Designing for Accessibility, the Centre's best-selling design guide, is now published as a joint venture with RIBA Publishing. It is the acknowledged benchmark reference and is used as an access standard for grant providers and other organisations. Includes extensive plans and dimensional data illustrating internal and external features that commonly need attention in public buildings.
Alison Grant, 2012 (ISBN 978 1 85946364 2)
Price £30.00 (Hard copy)
Stairs, ramps and escalators: Inclusive design guidance
Designed to be ‘dipped into’, the handbook outlines the background legislation, regulations and associated best practice guidance. It explains how good practice can mitigate hazards and improve accessibility. Sections on design issues and technical implementation are supported by illustrations and case studies that demonstrate solutions for different situations. Where particular building types have unique requirements covered by separate guidelines, these are highlighted. A final section considers the operational and maintenance issues that need to be addressed.
Ann Alderson 2010 (ISBN 978 1 85946 365 9)
Price £30.00 (PDF version)
Access Audit Handbook
The Access Audit Handbook is an multimedia planning tool for auditing the accessibility of buildings and services, and writing reports in the context of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, funding requirements and best practice in building management. It offers straightforward guidance about undertaking access audits and writing reports to communicate recommendations. The book comes with a series of auditing checklists and a DVD of the award-winning film 'Access Audits: a planning tool for businesses '.
Alison Grant 2005 (ISBN 1-85946-177-8)
Price £35.00 (PDF copy)
Hard copies are available from the RIBA Bookshops website
Good Loo Design Guide
Good Loo Design Guide, also published with RIBA Publishing. Now updated in line with Part M of the Building Regulations and BS 8300:2001, the Good Loo Design Guide takes an inclusive approach to the provision of WCs to suit a wide range of users, and gives guidance on various WC layouts.
Andrew Lacey 2004 (ISBN 1 85946 144 1)
Price £22.50 (PDF copy)
Hard copies are available from the RIBA Bookshops website
Museums and Art Galleries: Making Existing Buildings Accessible
This book confronts the dilemmas faced by architects and their clients in making museums and art galleries located in historic buildings more inclusive in response to contemporary access standards and regulations. Includes 14 varied case studies.
Adrian Cave 2007 (ISBN 978 1 85946 175 4)
Price £35.00 (PDF copy)
Hard copies are available from the RIBA Bookshops website
Specifiers' Handbooks for Inclusive Design
The Specifiers' Handbooks for Inclusive Design series comprises a set of design guides which look in detail at the technical aspects of key building elements. The series expands on the guidance given in Designing for Accessibility, a leading CAE/RIBA Publishing publication. Buy all five Specifiers' Handbooks for £49.95.
Architectural Ironmongery
Price Covers detailed aspects of door ironmongery, including manually operated door handles, locks, latches, self-closing devices, pull handles, door thresholds, door protection, window fittings and some specialist ironmongery.
Alison Grant 2005 (ISBN 1 85946 170 0)
£15.00 (PDF copy)
Hard copies are available from the RIBA Bookshops website
Automatic Door Systems
Covers detailed aspects of automatic door systems, including automatic sliding, folding, swing and balanced doors and low-energy swing doors, for use in non-domestic buildings.
Alison Grant 2005 (ISBN 1 85946 171 9)
Price £15.00 (PDF copy)
Hard copies are available from the RIBA Bookshops website
Internal Floor Finishes
Covers detailed aspects of internal floor finishes, including staircases, in non-domestic buildings. It covers general design issues common to most types of flooring as well as particular requirements for specific locations such as entrances, kitchens and sports halls. Operation and maintenance issues, including cleaning, that need to be considered at the design stage are also indicated.
Ann Alderson 2006 (ISBN-10 1 85946 255 5)
Price £15.00 (PDF copy)
Hard copies are available from the RIBA Bookshops website
Glass in Buildings
Covers the design criteria and detailed aspects of the different use of glass in
buildings, including windows,
doors, walls and partitions, balustrades, glazed entrance ways, floors, stairs, lifts, vision panels, protective screens, rooflights, display cases, conservatories, shower screens, signs and mirrors.
Ann Alderson 2006 (ISBN-10 1 85946 254 5)
Price £15.00 (PDF copy)
Hard copies are available from the RIBA Bookshops website
Platform Lifts
Covers the design and access opportunities that platform lifts offer in improving physical access to and within non-domestic buildings. Covers a range of platform lift types, including vertical platform lifts, wheelchair platform stairlifts and step lifts.
Alison Grant 2005 (ISBN 1 85946 172 7)
Price £15.00 (PDF copy)
Hard copies are available from the RIBA Bookshops website
Access Audits: a planning tool for business
This film, sponsored by Barclays PLC and launched for the European Year of Disabled People 2003, provides a thorough understanding of what access audits are, what they are for and how to carry one out appropriately and effective.
DVD/CD ROM (subtitled and BSL interpreted versions available)
Price £12.00
Reading and Using Plans
This information pack explains to non-architects how to interpret and use architects' drawings, with a particular emphasis on features that help make buildings accessible to disabled people. It will support anyone monitoring planning and building regulations applications, advising building control officers, or anyone discussing design proposals with architects and clients. It will also be of value to occupational therapists advising on house adaptations.
Steven Thorpe 1994 (ISBN 0 903976 26 9)
Price £15.00
Access to ATMs: UK design guidelines
The 2002 edition of our authoritative design guide provides research-based information to ensure that Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) meet the needs of all users. Access to ATMs: UK design guidelines is based on ergonomic research and testing, offering design principles and guidelines for those who design, manufacture, install and maintain ATMs.
Robert Feeney 2002 (ISBN 0 903976 33 1)
Price £20.00
Planning your home for safety and convenience – practical advice for disabled and older people
Making decisions based on informed choices will help people live more easily in their homes. This guide contains useful recommendations for disabled and older people on how to make their homes safer and more suitable for both their present and future needs.
Andrew Lacey 2002 (ISBN 0 903976 34 X)
Price £7.50
Safety, security and environmental controls – a specifier's guide to Electronic Assistive Technology in the home
A guide for specifiers of electronic Assistive Technology (AT) products and systems for older and disabled clients in their homes, including door controls and entry systems, environmental controls and smart homes.
Introduction to the range of AT solutions available, description of product types, case studies of AT solutions in action, manufacturers/suppliers, contact details and useful organisations.
Andrew Lacey 2002 (ISBN 0 903976 35 8)
£10.50
House Adaptations: a working file for occupational therapists (PDF version only)
The working file is a source of information on all aspects of house adaptations. It is primarily for occupational therapists but also for other professionals involved in the process of adapting houses and flats to meet the needs of those who live in them. It is a loose-leaf ring binder covering all aspects of the process including:
- the roles and responsibilities of all those involved in an adaptation
- the building process, regulations and funding
- how buildings are constructed and supplied with services
- selecting products and elements of a building to suit a client's needs
The text is highly illustrated and there is a comprehensive index of key terms.
Stephen Thorpe, 1999 (ISBN 0 903976 26 3)
£15.00 (PDF version only)
Keeping up with the past: making historical buildings accessible to everyone
Reconciling the needs of disabled people with the conservation of historic buildings sometimes poses seemingly insurmountable problems. However, this film conveys the message that improvement is nearly always possible provided that it is done thoughtfully. It emphasises the importance of early consultation, good design and a full overview of the options in the management of change and inevitable alteration. It is intended to raise awareness and to help access groups, conservation officers and design professionals to improve access to historic properties for everyone. This film has been produced jointly by CAE and English Heritage.
Price: VHS £1.50
Other design guidance
All new publications are available in alternative formats. Customers may also purchase a copyright licence to customise appropriate design guides for their own purpose. Contact CAE for further details.
To order publications, fill out the order form and fax or post it to us.
Building Bulletin 102 – Designing for disabled children and children with special educational needs: Guidance for mainstream and special schools
This publication replaces BB 77, BB 91 and BB 94. It provides non-statutory design guidance on creating environments for disabled and SEN children for special school and mainstream school projects.
Department for Children, Schools and Families, 2001 (ISBN 978 0 117 039 346)
PDF copies can be downloaded free of charge from the Teachernet website
Personal Emergency Egress Plans
A practical manual on how to plan and implement the management elements of a fire safety strategy for the safe evacuation of disabled people. Available only from CAE.
Northern Officer Group, 1993 (ISBN 0 9521792 02)
Price £6.00