Shelters

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 shelter slabs are connected to a continuous accessible path of travel (CAPT)to enable equal access for people who use wheelchairs. Ensure that the CAPT is connected to an accessible car park space.
- Provide equal access to shelters with the recommended circulation distances to provide wheelchair access.
- Shelter support posts and furniture should not impede movement for wheeled mobility devices and strollers to access the shelter and furniture.
- Install embellishments associated with shelters at a minimum 500 mm offset from the edge of a pathway, to provide safe clearance for passing pedestrians and cyclists.
- 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.
- Grade turf down gently to meet existing turf levels to prevent potential trip hazards.
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 the following for further guidance:
- Figure 17: Equal access shelter set out with luminance contrast
- LIM Picnic tables and benches.
Figure 17: Equal access shelter set out with luminance contrast

This component is currently in development