bathrooms by bristan
Erasing the stigma of walk-in baths By Bristan
The accepted image of walk-in baths, as utilitarian and clinical, has been swept aside thanks to a consortium of West Midlands’ users, care professionals, academics and the UK’s largest supplier of high-quality bathrooms and bathroom accessories, the Bristan Group.
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esearch and development experts at the Bristan Group’s Tamworth-based Head Office, worked alongside respected occupational therapist, Kate Sheehan, to ensure its new Belmonte walk-in bath was the ultimate combination of sleek design and functionality. Kate says: “Bristan has a great
reputation for contemporary design and its latest walk-in bath sets a new standard for products aimed at people with mobility issues. It shows that as well as functionality, product designers must consider the look and feel of the end product and ensure every facet of the design has been considered to ensure maximum accessibility, comfort and style.” During the design process, the Bristan Group looked at areas that had previously been of particular concern among users including ease of access, comfort, convenience, safety temperature control and aesthetic appearance.
Having produced a prototype, the Bristan Group approached one of the country’s leading community healthcare research institutes, the Health Design & Technology Institute (HDTI) at Coventry University, to help validate and refine its design through end user testing. Researchers at HDTI conducted a comparative study of the new Belmonte walk-in bath alongside a competing model with trial participants aged between 60 and 96 who had a range of mobility issues from none to severe. Each of the participants was accompanied by a carer who was also involved in the study.
Guy Smallman, Commercial Development Director at HDTI, describes the process: “Working closely with a local daycare centre, we were able to bring together a representative focus group of potential users to assess product attributes. Users were given the opportunity to get into and out of the baths and, once the functions were described, asked to rate their usability, accessibility and appearance. The result was extremely positive for Bristan Group with users praising its new bath’s ‘sleek design,’ ‘improved accessibility’ and ‘ease of use’. Participants were also impressed by some of the bath’s value added
features, which included an ultra- low step, temperature controlled taps (to prevent extreme changes in temperature), as well as quick fill and drainage and seat warming, designed to prevent users getting cold unnecessarily.” Bristan Group’s David Savage concludes: “A quiet revolution has been happening in bathroom design. More products are now being launched that are not just concerned with function, but that have been carefully developed to combine style with ease of use for people of any age or ability. Bathrooms for people with disabilities have traditionally been based on the Doc M style packs we see in hospitals, with ugly utilitarian WCs and grab rails, and taps with adaptations such as extended levers bolted on to them. Today it’s a different story; the traditional white painted grab bars are being replaced with smart chrome styles, sanitaryware shapes are becoming softer and the overall design is getting much more stylish. This new focus on design is great news for the many people who are looking for a bathroom that meets not only their usability needs, but also their home décor aspirations too and we’re pleased to be able to provide functional as well as stylish bathroom accessories to everyone.”■
The West Midlands Interiors & Lifestyle Cluster Bristan is one of more than 2500 businesses in the West Midlands Interiors and Lifestyle Cluster, which employs 37,000 people. These companies demonstrate the region’s capacity for the exploitation of high value markets based on the primacy of design, innovation, quality and style. The cluster encompasses an impressive range of markets including: interior design and specification, interior architecture, fixtures and fittings, furniture and furnishings, carpets, floor coverings, ceramic tiles, kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms and associated products together with glass and ceramic table, hotel and giftware, silverware and jewellery. The presence of leading and globally recognised brands, together with many other design rich creative companies serving the growing contract and consumer markets both in the UK and overseas, shows the strength of this regional cluster. It is acknowledged and supported by Advantage West Midlands as one of its priority clusters.
Architects Choice 25
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