Part-M Building Regulations and Access Requirements

The Part-M Building Regulations are a set of guidelines approved by the secretary of state, drawing on recommendations from the Disability Discriminations Act (DDA) 1995 and from British Standard 8300:2001 for the design of buildings and their approaches to meet the needs of disabled people. Approved Document M is the supporting guidance document to the new Part M and gives you clear provisions that are considered suitable to meet the requirements of Part M.

It is important to note that Part-M is based on guidelines, and that as long as any proposed access solution is suitably tested and approved by an appropriate body, then Part-M Access Requirements have been satisfied.

The following is an excerpt from the Approved Document M (section 0.23):

"Where an applicant wishes to depart from the guidance in Approved Document M to achieve a better solution using new technologies, to provide a more convenient solution or to address the constraints of an existing building, the Statement should set out the reasons for departing from the guidance and the rationale for the design approach adopted. Examples of evidence that might be cited to support such an approach might include:
- Application of the recommendations in BS 8300 where these differ from the provisions, or are not covered, in AD M;
- Results of current validated research (published (say) in the last 5 years);
- Outcome of consultations with other parties e.g. conservation officers, English Heritage or CADW, local access officers, etc.;
- Convincing arguments that an alternative solution will achieve the same, a better or more convenient outcome."

Part-M external door acces requirements relates to our composite doors in two ways;

1. Clear opening width of the door

2. Height of the threshold of the door

The requirements for each are described below.

1. The "clear opening" is described as the narrowest part of the opening, when the door is open at 90 degrees. The measurement is taken from the face of the door, to the closest part of the frame opposite. The opening has to be a minimum of 775mm to meet the requirements of Part-M builing regulations.
The table below shows the minimum widths that our doors can be manufactured, in varying outer frames, to meet the requirements of Part-M:

Key:
System: The profile system used in the manufacture of the door.
Deduction: The deduction taken from the oaverall manufactured width, to find the clear opening size.
Minimum: The minimum overall manufactured width, to meet Part-M requirements.

2. Part-M guidelines state that; "the threshold is level or, if a raised threshold is unavoidable, it has a total height of not more than 15mm, a minimum number of upstands and slopes, with any upstands higher than 5mm chamfered or rounded"

Both our Profile22 threshold and our Exitex MDS 25/5/R (for Eurocell profile) threshold are Part-M compliant. Our Profile22 threshold falls directly within the stated guidance in the Part-M document. Our Exitex threshold has been independantly tested and has been approved of Part-M compliance. The supporting documents can be found here.