Universal Accessibility Best Practices
The Government of Canada recognizes the importance of ensuring the renewal of the Parliamentary Precinct not only meets but exceeds the current minimum standards for accessibility. The Universal Accessibility Strategy and Action Plan (the Strategy) was developed to ensure that renewal activities within the Parliamentary Precinct go above and beyond to address accessibility in a holistic manner.
Working as part of the NORR DIALOG JV team, a comprehensive Background and Benchmarking Report was completed to drive the compilation of UA best practices and the development of the UA Monitoring Tool. Research included an analysis of 74 documents within seven categories; · National sources (6 documents); · Provincial and Territorial Sources (14 documents); · Departmental sources (7 documents); · Other Canadian Sources and Best Practices (7 documents); · International Sources and Best Practices (25 documents); and; · Heritage Sources and Best Practices. (5 documents) The goal of the research was to identify sources and best practices that embrace Universal Accessibility concepts and strategies, instead of simply being an accessibility code.
These UABP requirements, when implemented together, can result in a building that goes ‘above and beyond’ what is required by all mandatory codes and standards. No existing code includes all the UA requirements that have been compiled as part of the Universal Accessibility Strategy and Action Plan. The best practices were compiled from Canadian and international sources and identify the very best practices for UA, resulting in the most universally accessible facilities.
They have been conducted for projects related to
new design/build projects
projects undergoing substantial renovation
for the development of audit checklists
to guide the development of legislation
