Shade sails

Equal access
Requirements for the integration of equal access for all users
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) defines ‘premises’ as the whole of the built environment and includes existing buildings, new or proposed buildings, transport systems, car parks, pathways, and public parks and gardens.
Note: Consult an access consultant accredited by the Association of Consultants in Access Australia (ACAA).
Elements required for equal access
- Embellishments must be designed in accordance with AS 1428 Design for access and mobility.
- Ensure that an accessible car park space is provided as close as possible to the shade sail.
- Provide access for people who use wheelchairs and mobility aids by means of a ‘continuous accessible path of travel’ to a concrete slab near to a shade sail. Ensure that the path of travel is an all-weather surface.
- Ensure that the connection pathway is aligned so that there is an unobstructed path of travel to furniture near or under a shade sail.
- Average wheelchair footprint is 1300 mm x 800 mm.
- Install shade sail posts at a minimum 500 mm offset from the edge of a pathway, to provide safe clearance for pedestrians and cyclists.
- Consider a luminance contrast/material contrast area at the end of a path of travel to alert vision impaired persons (VIP).
- Shade sail posts are to be set into gardens to prevent trip hazards.
- Avoid finished height difference between a concrete slab and adjoining surfaces to prevent trip hazards and to prevent ‘tramlining’ of pram, bicycle and wheelchair wheels.
Visual/sensory wayfinding
- For people with a vision impairment, provide a minimum 30% luminance contrast between objects and the background they are viewed against, for ease of identification.
- Where luminance contrast may not be achieved (such as grey aluminium furniture on grey concrete), luminance contrast can be addressed by introducing colour into the ground surface providing a minimum 30% luminance contrast with the embellishment base, resulting in the embellishment being more visible for people who have low vision.
- Consider designing nodes with a contrasting coloured concrete, or a variation in surface texture, to enable people with a disability to identify the location of embellishments along a pathway.
See Figure 7: Plan – luminance contrast path area.
Figure 7: Plan – luminance contrast path area

This component is currently in development