Before you begin your project, there are 5 questions you should ask your access consultant. One of the decisions that many property developers, builders and architects often rush into is hiring an access consultant and for many, accessibility is more of a checklist item than a strategic priority. However, the reality of building compliance in Australia is a lot more complicated. The right access consultant doesn’t just ensure that you’re on the right side of the law; they can actually save you money, keep your project on schedule and help you create a building that will truly serve all who enter.
The problem, however, is that not all access consultants are the same. A few possess in-depth technical knowledge on multiple building types. Others provide superficial evaluations which leave gaps for others to find later. The best thing you can do for your project is to know the questions to ask before hiring a consultant. Here are five questions you’ll need to ask to determine if the consultant you’re meeting is the right person.
1. What are your Formal Qualifications and Accreditations as an Access Consultant in Australia?
This is where the discussion must begin. Access consulting in Australia is not a free-for-all industry where all construction workers can provide their services. The legislation regulating accessibility, such as the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), the Building Code of Australia (BCA) and the Livable Housing Design Guidelines, is very detailed and is updated frequently. The consultant hired must possess the proper training and be up to date with the proper credentials to understand and apply these standards properly.
A competent access consultant in Australia should be a member of the DDA Access Accredited Professional, have professional indemnity insurance and have a good knowledge of the National Construction Code (NCC) accessibility provisions. Membership of known industry organisations like the Australian Institute of Building Surveyors (AIBS) is another indicator of professionalism.
For instance, AllCert Group is a DDA Access Accredited and NSW Fair Trading Accredited practice, they are AIBS members and fully covered by professional indemnity insurance. These are not merely badges, they are a commitment to a professional and accountable framework for a firm’s operations. Don’t hire anyone until you receive written proof of their credentials and check them yourself. A good consultant will appreciate that sort of scrutiny.
2. Have you ever been involved in projects similar in type and size to mine?
Compliance with accessibility is not the same for all building types. The compliance aspects of a multi-storey commercial office tower in the CBD of Sydney are vastly different to those required for an aged care residence in regional New South Wales, a public transport interchange and a mixed use residential development. The underlying principles may be similar, but how accessible paths of travel are designed, the layout of accessible facilities, where lifts and ramps are located, and what they look like in practice, can differ widely between building types, building users and site conditions.
That’s why it’s important to seek out an access consultant in NSW with experience in your industry. A consultant that has mostly worked on retail fitouts may not be best suited to guide through the complexities of a healthcare facility. Likewise, a consultant who has worked mainly on new construction may not have the necessary problem solving skills to work on a refurbishment of a heritage listed building.
AllCert Group has provided access consulting results in a wide variety of project applications, from commercial buildings, residential developments, healthcare facilities, education facilities, and public infrastructure. They have published case studies on working with a Sydney shopping centre to upgrade accessible entrances, restrooms and wayfinding, and a healthcare client with DDA compliant ward and waiting area layouts. When talking to any access consultant in Sydney or anywhere else, request to look at examples of projects they have worked on and if possible, talk to some of their previous clients.
3. When should you be engaged as an Access Consultant in NSW?
One of the most misunderstood and most important parts of the compliance process is the timing of access consulting engagement. Many developers and builders only involve an access consultant in NSW when it is too late, usually when construction documents have been completed, or when a compliance concern is raised by a certifier during the assessment process. At this point, the cost of fixing the accessibility issues is much greater than if accessibility had been addressed in the initial design.
The right answer to this question is always: as early in the design process as possible. The input from the access consultant should ideally start at the schematic or concept design stage, where architectural decisions are still open and accessibility features can be incorporated without compromising the structural or spatial logic of the building. This is the model that AllCert Group takes access consulting begins with an initial project consultation and scoping review, then advances to a detailed design review of architectural plans and culminates in a formal access report prior to the start of construction. Then, on-site assessments are performed during and after construction to ensure that the designed has been correctly constructed.
If a consultant is happy to be called on to sign off at the end of a project, then it should raise a few questions. A knowledgeable and experienced access consultant will always recommend that you involve them early as they know how much better and cheaper, it is to get it right from the beginning, rather than after it is built.
4. What specific deliverables will I receive, and how will you support my approval pathway?
A key consideration when engaging an access consultant in Australia is that the report and certificate they produce is part of the larger approval process. Access consultant documentation is used by private certifiers, local councils and planning authorities for issuing construction certificates, complying development certificates and occupation certificates. If the documentation that your consultant creates is not specific, generic, or doesn’t cover the compliance requirements specific to your project, it can slow down your entire approval process.
Don’t hire anyone without a clear understanding of all the deliverables that they would be providing. This should include the format and content of the access consultant report, design review notes, on site inspection report and final compliance certificate or sign-off letter. Specifically ask if their reports are project-tailored or templated, and if there are any actionable recommendations as well as identified non-compliances.
AllCert Group creates comprehensive access reports specific to each project, tailored to meet all Australian accessibility requirements and to meet the requirements of private certifiers and council authorities. They also carry out post construction compliance checks, which is a final site inspection prior to handover to ensure that all aspects of the completed build, including accessible parking, entry paths, bathrooms and lift configuration, are compliant. If you have clarity about deliverables in the beginning, there will be no surprises at the approval stage.
5. When a standard solution doesn’t exist, how do you deal with compliance challenges?
This is the difference between good and great access consultants. Ideally, all building sites would be level, large enough, and not subject to any heritage constraints, and perfectly sized for complete prescriptive compliance with the BCA and DDA. But in ;reality, that world doesn’t exist very often.
The need to meet compliance regulations is often limited by heritage listed buildings, restricted inner city sites, unusual structural forms and project budgets. In such situations, performance-based compliance pathways (where the consultant asserts that the purpose of the law is achieved even though the prescriptive technical pathway cannot be followed) are crucial. A consultant who has not gone through these routes will provide an impractical compliance report or may not even realize that there is a problem until it becomes a costly problem when you are being certified.
AllCert Group believes accessibility compliance is a matter of results, not rules. Their consultants work directly with architects, project managers and developers to create practical and workable solutions that meet the legislative intent of the DDA and BCA without reducing design quality or commercial viability. They rely on technology-based assessment tools such as 3D modelling and accessibility simulation software to simulate how a user will experience a building before the first brick is laid, ensuring project teams can anticipate and address compliance issues at the design stage, not when they are on-site.
Selecting a Right Access Consultant is more important than you think.
The questions listed above are not meant to scare off consultants, they are meant to help you decide if you are going to trust a part of your project to someone. If you need an access consultant in Sydney, an access consultant in NSW or a nationally-based access consultant in Australia who has the qualifications and experience to match, the answers to these questions will help you determine if you’re working with an access consultant who really knows what they’re doing or someone just doing the job.
AllCert Group provides professional, accredited and truly experienced access consulting solutions throughout Australia from the initial design review to final compliance sign-off. They have a team that will respond to new project enquiries within 24 business hours, and will offer you tailored proposals based on the specific requirements of your development. With this level of importance to your project’s success, it’s only sensible to work with the right consultant from the start.