FEATURE
WASHROOM DESIGN: PRACTICALITIES AND EXPECTATIONS
Here, Tina Bowden, Sales Manager at Dudley Industries, looks at some of the most important issues that designers and building managers have to consider when planning a washroom; that is to say, its size, layout, and how it is equipped.
Good design makes a critical difference to the cost of managing a washroom and to the user experience. However, the definition of ‘good design’ is never truly fixed. As society changes best practice also needs to evolve.
Legal requirements In a workplace setting, there are specific rules governing the provision of facilities. The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 require that “suitable and sufficient sanitary conveniences shall be provided at readily accessible places.” The accompanying Approved Code of Practice then sets out certain minimum numbers, which vary according to the size of the workforce. It also covers accessibility requirements for people with disabilities.
The Health & Safety Executive offers a helpful free guide on the subject of ‘Welfare at Work’ so, rather than examining the detail of it here, it’s enough to note that adequate provision is a legal requirement backed up by specified numbers of facilities: WCs, basins and the like. For employers, this is perhaps the most fundamental of all requirements.
Cost considerations Another important concern is cost minimisation. There are numerous factors at work here but, in short, those that can have the most direct bearing on costs include: the initial investment; ongoing maintenance and repairs; and, staff or contractor time – inspections, cleaning, waste management and replenishment of consumables.
Cheaper fittings will help to reduce initial investment costs but those early savings will quickly be eroded if the fittings themselves are more susceptible to damage and breakdowns. Robust products will typically cost more but they will tend to deliver larger maintenance and repair savings in the long term.
A similar principle applies to products that require comparatively little effort to clean, refill and maintain. Human intervention always costs money, so the less attention and effort your chosen systems demand, the more the savings will add up.
The particular question of waste management is notable here. There’s an ongoing debate as to which is better – paper towels or electric hand dryers – but the electric option has one undoubted benefit, which is that is does away with the need for large waste bins. That, in turn, means there’s no need for periodic checks on the bins,
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no need to take full refuse bags away, no need to fit replacement bags and – increasingly important these days – less risk of exposing maintenance staff to infection via surface contact.
Designing for safety and hygiene Infection risks are an especially important practical consideration for designers. The Covid-19 pandemic has focused attention on the need for effective and regular handwashing and washrooms clearly have a crucial role to play in facilitating that. However, this same heightened awareness has also seen a notable upsurge in washroom foot traffic. If people are now using washrooms more often, and for longer periods, then the rooms themselves can become problematic, especially if they grow crowded or if queues develop around pinch-points such as hand dryers, bins and doorways.
Self-contained wash stations can be an effective solution here. By providing users with water, soap and drying facilities, all at the same basin, designers can largely eliminate the risk of bottlenecks. Moreover, they can also eliminate the need to walk with wet hands between basin and dryer. That translates into fewer drips, which means dryer, safer floors and fewer consequent demands upon cleaning staff.
Privacy without doors Since infections can be spread via surface contact, door handles and push-plates at the washroom entrance can become hotspots for bacteria. If a door handle must be used to exit the room, the risk can potentially return even if the user has just washed his or her hands. As a result, many washroom designers have begun to remove the need for doors altogether.
This is perhaps most often seen in large, highly trafficked public washrooms – such as in motorway service stations or shopping malls. Here, the careful placement of dividing walls and offset doorways will obstruct sightlines into washrooms without the need for a physical barrier.
This same technique can also contribute to greater accessibility for people living with some form of physical disability or sensory impairment.
Preventing anti-social behaviour This same trend – ‘designing out’ the entrance door – can have a further benefit in certain settings. A more open layout helps to deter antisocial behaviour because
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