Today is Changing Places Awareness Day and as part of PAMIS’ work as the lead organisation in Scotland for Changing Places toilets and co chairs of the UK Changing Places toilet consortium alongside Muscular Dystrophy UK, our Inclusive Communities team (Laura Rutherford, Changing Places Campaign Co Ordinator and Fiona Souter, Inclusive Communities Director) have put together a behind the scenes blog to give you a flavour of a typical week in the life of Changing Places toilets development work.

Monday 

Today starts with an architectural enquiry for a project to deliver a new faculty building at a university campus. The building will include teaching, learning, laboratory spaces and a cafe. The architect has some accessibility queries as part of the space planning review. We review the layout proposals and provide feedback and commentary prior to the issue of construction information. There are some initial design constraints but happily these can be overcome to provide a new Changing Places toilet facility in line with Scottish building standard requirements. With university CPT provision being a key area for improvement, it is good to see the recent amendments to the Scottish non-domestic technical handbook and planning legislation making a positive impact.  

Next up is a follow up call to get a fantastic new CPT on one of Scotland’s islands fully registered and added to the UK online map. This is followed by a meeting with the project team who are working on the design of a new build specialist school and wellbeing hub where we discuss the first draft of plans as well as the future vision for the building and surrounding greenspace.   

Laura is on a site visit to look at a new social enterprise community space and test their innovative security system and consider if this could be a useful potential solution for  the future.   

We also follow up on plans for a CPT within a national treatment centre and offer some advice on ways they could amend their equipment selections to maximise the space available and make it as user friendly as possible. 

Tuesday 

We have a catch-up conversation with a local authority greenspace team who are engaged in project work to improve accessibility across several city centre public parks. This follows on from the community engagement phase of the project with contractors being appointed to move forward the next phase.  As part of the project working group, we want to ensure it meets with the joined vision of accessible, useable and community focused amenities and meets the needs of people with PMLD and their families.  

The rest of the day is spent on site visits to meet two different community groups and the health and social care partnership community engagement worker for those areas to learn more about the challenges and barriers the communities face and look at ways of resolving these issues longer term and to provide support to the communities with the development of multiple CPTs across the region.  

Wednesday 

Today begins with following up actions from the previous Cross Party Group for Changing Places toilets and drafting some documents for the group to consider. Next, we have a project meeting to go over the latest amendments to the CPT Practical Guide publication which is under review to reflect recent changes in legislation and equipment.  

We then catch up with the team involved in a national transformation project of a listed building and are thrilled that inclusion and accessibility is at the heart of their vision. We have a new registration underway based in a key motorway location which is exciting as this project has taken three years to come to fruition.  

Thursday 

We meet with our consortium partners to discuss UK wide CPT priorities and plan for an exciting anniversary event. Then we head out of the office to meet with an industry contact and discuss all things CPT design and planning. We are overexcited to learn about some new equipment coming to market which can potentially improve user experience.  

Friday 

We catch up with the PAMIS project team for Clackmannanshire area which is providing a range of services including family support, leisure and cultural activities in that area. We are looking to boost the numbers of CPTs in the area and provide feedback on recent meetings with community stakeholders and plans for new facilities across the region. As an area that currently has no CPT provision this is a key priority as this is a huge barrier for people with PMLD and their families who are not able to fully access their communities at present.   

Next up is some national development work as part of our Accessible Transport Steering group activities. We also meet with colleagues from other organisations who are responding to a key Scottish Government consultation so we can discuss CPTs and how they should be prioritised within the proposed legislation.  

That brings an end to another busy and varied week working on Scotland’s Changing Places toilet development programme.