AN ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF UNIVERSAL DESIGN PRINCIPLES IN THE PROVISION OF BUILDING SERVICES IN MULTI-STOREY BUILDINGS

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF UNIVERSAL DESIGN PRINCIPLES IN THE PROVISION OF BUILDING SERVICES IN MULTI-STOREY BUILDINGS
 
Universal design (UD) can be described as the design of products and environments to be usable by all people to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design, thus bridging the gap between housing and disability though the concept of Universal Design or ‘Design for all’ has been neglected in most developing countries including Nigeria. This study assesses the implementation of universal design principles in the provision of building services in multi-storey buildings. It also seeks assess conformity of thedesign of building services in multi- storey buildings to Document M (disability standard of the United Kingdom) and establish if Statutory Authorities check designs to ascertain its conformity to universal design principles. Questionnaires were distributed to building designers and a checklist structured using disability standard of the United Kingdom was used as a guide to assess these buildings services for conformity to universal design. Also, Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse the data generated from the questionnaires. It was established that most designers of building services became familiar with UD through personal study or on-the-job trainings as very few of the building services designers in Abuja learned about UD in the university. Development control agencies have equally added to the non-implementation of UD as most designs are rarely or never checked for conformity to UD. In conclusion, Persons living with temporal or permanent disabilities have been segregated or stigmatized by architectural and building services designs, there is a of shallow knowledge of UD by professionals in the construction industry and most building services provisions have shown low conformity to UD principles.