EQUALITYACT The Equality Act was introduced in 2010 (revised 2013) and it brings together and replaces all previous anti-discrimination laws such as the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. The Equality Act places a duty of care on all organisations in Great Britain, that provide a service to the public or a section of the public, and those organisations providing goods and services, to ensure that they take reasonable adjustments to avoid putting disabled employees or users of their services (customers), at a ‘substantial’ disadvantage in comparison to employees or customers who are not disabled. It is important to note that the Equality Act is about people and equal opportunities and it does not contain any performance based or
INCLUSIVE COLOUR
INCLUSIVE COLOUR With a growing number of people in the UK known to be visually impaired (this trend is consolidated by the country’s ageing population), it is critical that specifiers develop a greater understanding of visual impairment, and specifically how impairment can affect a person’s perception and wayfinding behaviour. It has been proven that the visually impaired find it much easier to differentiate a tonal difference between colours (light against dark or vice versa) than between different colour hues such as red and green. Contrasting colours by lightness can be used to highlight separate zones and objects within a space, creating a structure and hierarchy that a visually impaired person can quickly grasp, acclimatise to and function within.
CRITICAL COLOUR Understanding the size and shape of a space for the visually impaired is less of a subconscious process than it is for the fully sighted. When entering an environment, people considered visually impaired rely on their residual vision to seek visual clues, firstly scanning the upper wall and ceiling (the least cluttered areas of a room) to establish its dimensions. Having gathered this information, the visually impaired tend to look for contrast between large or ‘critical’ areas. Therefore, intelligent colour contrasts between ceilings and walls, floors and walls, as well as between doors and architraves can help make an environment easier and safer to navigate. The critical element to remember when creating visual contrast for a colour scheme is to ensure that adjacent colours on critical surface areas vary in tonal contrast by 30 points or more.
CREATING CONTRAST With Crown Paints’ SCAN® colour codification system, the middle two digits of the colour code show the light reflectance value (LRV) of a colour. The light reflectance value (LRV) is the proportion of useful light reflected by a surface when illuminated by a light source. Light colours will therefore have a higher LRV. The surface of dark colours will absorb rather than reflect light and therefore have a lower LRV. LRV is calculated on a scale from 0 - 100, where 0 is a perfect black, or total absorption of light, and 100 is a perfect white, or total reflection of light. In reality, white paint has a light reflectance value of 90 points. A difference of 30 points is considered to be adequate to distinguish between two surfaces, although the bigger the difference, the stronger the contrast will be. In certain well lit environments, 20 points may suffice.
BETTER FOR ALL To achieve effective colour contrast in practice, the design of an interior environment needs to be broken down and surfaces addressed individually. Key items such as handrails, switches and stair nosings should also be emphasised through colour contrast, with greater colour difference required for smaller items. By adopting the principles of colour contrast in this way, it is possible to make a real difference for people with visual impairments, and still create an aesthetically pleasing colour scheme. As contrast can be produced more subtly through tonal contrast, the result is a colour scheme that is both practical and desirable to those with normal vision. This allows architects, designers and specifiers to create inclusive environments that fully embrace the concept of access for all, without compromising
technical specifications for buildings, facilities or environment. In terms of the physical built environment, guidance on what may constitute reasonable provision for disabled people can be obtained from several sources, the main ones being the BS8300:2009+A1:2010
‘Design of buildings and their approaches to meet the needs of disabled people – Code of practice’ and Building Regulations 2010, Access to and Use of Buildings, Approved Document M (revised 2013). For projects where due consideration to the needs of visually impaired people is required, the BS8300:2009+A1:2010 stipulates that sufficient visual contrast will be achieved if the difference in Light Reflectance Value (LRV) between adjacent critical surfaces, such as walls, ceilings, doors and floors, is 30 points or more. In some instances, it reports evidence that if there is sufficient illuminance, 200 Lux or more, a 20 point minimum is required. With the Crown Paints Scan colour codification system, the middle two digits of the colour code show the light reflectance value of a colour.
the interior design of a building. For further information contact
the Specification Services team on 0330 024 0310.
It’s not just paint.
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