Example of a classroom with the door handles between the main entrance and classroom set at 1,500mm. Phil and Tiffany Smith, owners of Smith Architects, have specialised in designing world-class education architecture for over 20 years in NZ, Australia and the UK. They believe in crafting beautiful human spaces based on research that brings together architecture and evolutionary psychology. They have been recognised for their achievements in sustainable early childhood architecture with their designs achieving many local and international awards for centres including St Kentigern Preschool, Kakapo Creek Children’s Garden, Gaia Forest Preschool, Manawa Children’s Centre, Three Trees Learning Centre, Campbells Bay Early Learning Centre, Fantails Childcare, Chrysalis Early Learning Centre, Kristin Early Learning, New Shoots Children's Centres and Te Mirumiru Childhood Education Centre. Website: www.smitharchitects.nz installation of a gate across the hallway entrance, with a handle at the standard 1200mm height. The gate itself is designed to be slightly higher and solid, ensuring that someone in a wheelchair can open it from the entrance side but may require assistance to exit – a solution deemed appropriate by MBIE. This is a reasonable compromise, especially for existing centres, but it is not a foolproof solution as determined children can reach the handle with a chair, just as they can with elevated door handles. The only fully effective and compliant solution we have found to date is electronic access control. This system involves equipping parents and teachers with swipe cards, granting them exclusive access to the space. Door handles remain at standard heights. In the event of a fire, the electronic access control system can be programmed to automatically open all doors, facilitating a swift and orderly evacuation for everyone. While compliant and effective, this system is expensive and needs to be added to the specified safety systems of the building, requiring regular checks on the BWOF schedule. We have had recent comments from building consenting officers, particularly against raising handles after the Loafers Lodge fire in Wellington – although we are not exactly sure why, as there doesn’t appear to be an issue with anything like that in that case. Nonetheless, they are correct that raising handles contravenes accessibility standards. However, as the building code is a performance standard, we have tried arguing that child safety should take precedence in early childhood centres and, therefore, classroom handles can be raised and meet compliance through an Alternative Solution to the building code – we haven’t yet had this argument accepted! So, our current advice would be to look at the MBIE determination to see if this could work for you to stop children leaving the centre (or at least slow them down to give enough time to realise they are out of the room). If you are building a new centre, I would recommend looking at a swipe card system as prices have come down a lot in recent years, and with any multi-level centre, you will need to link the doors to the fire alarm anyway, so the card access becomes much more cost-effective. And if you are still wanting to put classroom door handles at 1,500mm high just get it checked and agreed with your local council – so it does not cause issues for building insurers. March 2024 { 32 }
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