Wheelchair Ramp - Birchcliffe Centre, Hebden Bridge

Design Brief:

To design and install a removable ramp and platform that would allow wheelchair users access to the side entrance to The Birchcliffe Centre in Hebden Bridge.

Project Constraints:

• The entrance was situated on a relatively steep slope so running a ramp directly off of the entrance steps wasn't an option
• The double doors opened outwards so anything we designed to bridge over the bottom step had to allow the doors to swing open unimpeded
• The ramp and platform were going to be left in place on a semi-permanent basis but needed to be able to be moved easily to allow access to manhole covers on the pavement.

The issues to overcome:

• The main issue was designing a solution that bridged from the platform, across to the top step, without causing any obstruction to the outward swinging doors
• We wanted the ramp solution to offer the solidity of a permanent installation, whilst offering the flexibility of a portable system. 

Solution:

We designed the ramp to secure to the platform by locating two pegs, situated on the platform, in two recesses in the underside of the ramp. This meant that the ramp could be secured onto the platform and then removed in a matter of moments. We then engineered it so that all the handrails, on both the platform and ramp, could be secured/removed by turning simple thumb knobs; resulting in the whole system being able to be broken down into component parts in a matter of minutes, with assembly taking a similar amount of time.

To allow transit from the platform across to the top step, we needed to bridge over the bottom step, whilst still allowing the double doors to be able to swing open. The bridging plate was going to be unable to sit on the top step, as this would restrict the door swinging open and the depth of the bottom step was too great to be able to use our normal floating 'Bridge Threshold Plate', so we designed a couple of brackets to accommodate a pair of height adjustable legs to support the bridge plate, it worked perfectly.

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