New requirements for Changing Places Toilets provision

Building regulations updated with the aim to increase the number of Changing Places Toilets to help make our public places more accessible

The Department for Finance has announced changes to building regulations, which will make provisions requiring Changing Places toilets in certain buildings commonly used by the public.

Changing Places Toilet facilities meet the needs of people with profound and multiple learning disabilities as well as people with other physical disabilities such as spinal injuries, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis. This new requirement for Changing Places Toilets will be in addition to the current requirements for standard accessible toilets and will benefit around 7,000 people here. The new statutory guidance has been published, and will come into effect on 30 June 2022.

Changing Places toilets should be provided in the following types of building:

• Assembly, entertainment and recreation buildings with a capacity of 350 people or more OR a collection of smaller buildings associated with a site used for assembly, entertainment and recreation, such as theme parks, zoos and venues for sport and exhibitions, with a capacity of 2,000 people or more - this includes buildings such as amusement arcades, art galleries, cinemas, concert halls, conference centres, further education colleges, hotels that provide functions, leisure and sport facilities, libraries open to the public, motorway service areas, museums, places of worship, theatres, university buildings open to the public, or any other buildings or sites as defined by these thresholds, which are open to the public and used for the purposes of assembly, entertainment or recreation
• shopping centres / malls, or retail parks with a gross floor area of 30,000 m² or more
• retail premises with a gross floor area of 2500 m² or more
• leisure and sport buildings with a gross floor area of 5000 m² or more
• hospitals and primary care centres
• cemetery and crematorium buildings

The statutory guidance will apply in certain types of new buildings or in existing buildings where there is a material change of use. The Department plans to carry out research in the next mandate on further extending the provision of Changing Places Toilets. This would include requiring Changing Places Toilets in specified buildings where building work is to be carried out to extend or alter an existing building.

Find more information in the building regulations Technical Amendment Booklet AMD 8.

First published 14 March 2022