Changing Places helps create world class travel hub
Network Rail is putting disabled travellers’ needs at the centre of a £multi-million project to transform Welsh railway and make it a ‘world-class’ facility.
The transformation of Port Talbot Parkway is progressing, with some amenities already improved, under the £11.4m regeneration by Network Rail as part of the Wales Station Improvement Scheme. Latest to be unveiled are a new information hub, bridge, an updated waiting room and new toilets with baby changing facilities and disabled access.
Disabled facilities now also incorporate a Changing Places toilet, conveniently located on Platform 1 alongside the waiting room. The toilet is accessed via a RADAR key, and open seven days a week and Bank Holidays.
Supplied and installed by Clos-o-Mat, Britain’s leading provider of accessible toilet solutions, the Changing Places goes beyond the standard requirements for the specialist assisted accessible toilet. In addition to Changing Places specified equipment of a ceiling track hoist and adult-sized height adjustable changing bench, the new room includes a Clos-o-Mat Palma Vita wash & dry toilet, with a touch-sensitive switch and a height adjustable wash basin.
Network Rail’s Hannah McCarthy explained: “The new station has been designed to be as accessible as possible for all travellers, and help transform Welsh railway into a world-class travel network. Port Talbot Parkway features a full range of modern toilets, including conventional accessible, male and female toilets alongside the Changing Places. And to provide as full a range of toilet facilities as possible, we incorporated the Clos-o-Mat.”
A Changing Places toilet is for anyone who needs the help of a carer to undertake their personal hygiene. It gives more space than standard wheelchair accessible toilets, and the equipment to accommodate the needs of people who need changing. The Clos-o-Mat can be used as a conventional WC but, with its in-built wash and dry facilities, goes beyond, and helps ensure optimum cleanliness without the need to wipe clean, or be wiped clean, with toilet tissue.
Under current building guidelines and legislation, Changing Places toilets are now ‘desirable’ in any building to which the public has access. Since the concept was devised, over 700 have been opened in venues across the country.
Clos-o-Mat has a proven track record in the supply and installation of fully accessible toilets, including a substantial number of Changing Places facilities. It is unique in its ability to deliver – in-house – design advice, supply, installation, commissioning, project management and maintenance across the ambit of accessible toileting equipment, including the Clos-o-Mat wash and dry (automatic) toilet. To help travel hubs ‘get it right’ it has a raft of downloadable information on its website, www.clos-o-mat.com, including sector-specific white papers, CAD blocks, room renders and videos.
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Tel: 0161 969 1199
Web: http://www.clos-o-mat.com
Email: info@clos-o-mat.com
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