Council creates exemplar toilet facility

The Changing Places is the first of its kind in the area in an open public space, and goes ‘above and beyond’ being equipped to ‘best practice’ guidelines under British Standards. It features a Closomat Palma Vita shower (wash & dry) toilet in place of a conventional WC, and height adjustable washbasin in addition to the necessary equipment of height adjustable adult-sized changing bench, privacy screen and ceiling track hoist. The facility is accessed via a code. 

Councillor Robert Excell, executive lead for community safety at Torbay Council, said: “This prime seafront location is ideal for an accessible toilet, and will help meet the needs of people with a disability. It represents a total £100,000 investment and is the culmination of efforts by ourselves in conjunction with Torbay Mencap, Torbay & South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, Paignton Rotary Club and Preston Rotary Club to fund, design and implement this great facility.”

The Changing Places means anyone who needs help to go to the toilet when away from home – be it from a carer or who needs special equipment, can now spend time at the seafront knowing there are suitable toilets to hand if needed.

Kelvin Grimes, Closomat away from home project manager, added: “Without Changing Places toilets, people who need them either have to curtail their visit in case they need toilet facilities, or simply cannot visit a destination. Think about it, we go to the toilet on average eight times a day, so chances are, if you are away from home, you will need to ‘go’. It affects not just the tens of thousands of people who need them, but their carers, families and friends too.”

Closomat is a leading provider of away from home assisted toilet solutions. It can deliver a complete project management service, and subsequent service/ maintenance.

Its website (www.clos-o-mat.com) is acknowledged as the ‘go to’ resource for assisted accessible toilets, featuring explanations of the different facilities, their requirements, plus typical layouts, CAD downloads, and NBS specification clauses, plus a raft of supplementary material including white papers, case studies.