Design Considerations / Accessibility / Livable housing
Accessibility and livable housing
A house will be lived in by different people, at different ages, for 50 years or more. Designing it so that someone with a pram, crutches, a walking frame or a wheelchair can get in, move around and use the bathroom costs little at the start and a great deal later. In the ACT, a basic level is now required for every new home.
Design ConsiderationsAccessibilityAt a glance
Most households will need an accessible home at some point, because of age, injury, a pram or a visitor. The ACT now requires every new home to meet a basic standard: step-free entry, wider doors and corridors, an entry-level toilet, a step-free shower, and walls ready for grab rails. It costs little when it's designed in and a lot to add later.
- 21.4% of Australians have a disability, and over half of people aged 65 and over.
- Every new ACT home has had to meet the Livable Housing Design Standard since 15 January 2024. NSW hasn't adopted it.
- Key dimensions: a 1,000 mm step-free path no steeper than 1 in 14, 820 mm clear doorways, 1,000 mm corridors, and a level threshold or a lip of no more than 5 mm.
- You need a toilet on the entry level with clear space in front, a hobless shower, and reinforced walls for grab rails.
- The national estimate for a separate house was 0.5% to 1.9% of the price. Retrofitting later is far more disruptive.
- Floor levels, thresholds, drainage and showers need deciding at the first sketch, especially on sloping Canberra blocks.
- For a home you'll age in, go further: an entry-level bedroom, more circulation space, lever handles and good lighting.
Who it's forEveryone, eventually
In 2022, 21.4% of Australians, about 5.5 million people, had a disability. The rate rises steeply with age: over half of people aged 65 and over have one, rising to more than four in five over 90. Add the temporary cases, such as a broken leg, recovery from surgery, a pram or an elderly visitor, and most households will need an accessible home at some point.
A house usually outlasts the household that builds it. A home that can be entered without steps, with doors and corridors wide enough to move through and a bathroom that can take grab rails, lets people stay in it as their needs change.
The rulesACT yes, NSW no
The National Construction Code includes the Livable Housing Design Standard, a minimum level of accessibility for new homes. Each state and territory decides whether to apply it.
- ACT: applies to all new homes from 15 January 2024, with no exemptions beyond the national ones.
- NSW: not adopted. The government still lists it as under consideration, so the standard is voluntary for houses. Many councils do require a share of adaptable dwellings in multi-unit developments under their own planning controls.
- Elsewhere: Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory also apply it. Western Australia has deferred it.
The national exemption covers the step-free path only. It doesn't apply where there's no step-free route through a garage or parking space, where the site averages steeper than 1 in 14, or where a ramp wouldn't fit.
The requirementsWhat the standard asks for
| Element | What's required |
|---|---|
| Path to the door | A continuous, step-free path from the street entry or the parking space to the entrance. At least 1,000 mm wide, no steeper than 1 in 14 along its length and 1 in 40 across it. One short step ramp is allowed, up to 190 mm high at 1 in 10. |
| Parking | Where there's a parking space on the path, at least 3,200 × 5,400 mm, close to level |
| Entrance | At least one entrance door with a clear opening of 820 mm. A level threshold, or a lip of no more than 5 mm, or up to 15 mm where weatherproofing needs it. A level landing of 1,200 × 1,200 mm outside, drained or covered. |
| Internal doors and corridors | Clear openings of 820 mm (typically an 870 mm door leaf) to the entry-level living area, toilet and shower. Corridors at least 1,000 mm wide between finished walls. |
| Toilet | A toilet on the ground or entry level, with at least 900 mm between walls and a clear space of 1,200 × 900 mm in front of the pan, outside the door swing |
| Shower | At least one hobless, step-free shower, with a lip of no more than 5 mm |
| Wall reinforcement | Walls around the toilet, shower and bath reinforced so grab rails can be fitted later, using at least 12 mm structural plywood or 25 mm timber noggings |
None of this makes a house look institutional. Most visitors would never notice a 1,000 mm corridor, an 870 mm door or plywood behind the bathroom tiles.
DesignWhere it shapes the house
The requirements are simple, but several of them affect the house from the first sketch:
- Floor levels and the ground. A step-free entrance means the floor sits close to the ground at the front door. That has to be reconciled with drainage, termite protection, weatherproofing and, on sloping blocks, the fall of the land. On a steep site, the step-free path may come through the garage instead.
- Thresholds in Canberra weather. A level threshold needs the landing outside to be drained with a channel drain or a slatted deck, or covered by a roof of at least 1,200 × 1,200 mm. An entry porch does both jobs, and doubles as the airlock the energy guides recommend.
- Corridors and doors. A 1,000 mm corridor and 870 mm doors take a little more floor area than the old minimums. Short, direct corridors keep that cost down.
- The entry-level toilet. A two-storey house needs a toilet downstairs that meets the clearance rules. In practice that is often a powder room or a downstairs bathroom.
- Showers. A hobless shower needs the floor set down or graded so water stays in the shower. That's a structural and waterproofing detail, decided at design stage.
- Garages. If the step-free path runs through an attached garage, the door from the garage needs the same clear width and level threshold.
What it costs
When the standard was assessed nationally, the extra cost for a separate house built to it was estimated at roughly 0.5% to 1.9% of the price of a typical dwelling. Adding the same features to an existing house means opening walls to fit reinforcement, rebuilding a bathroom to remove a shower hob, or regrading paths and entries. That is far more disruptive and usually far dearer.
Beyond the minimumDesigning for ageing in place
The standard sets a floor. For a home you plan to stay in, it's worth going further:
- A bedroom on the entry level, or a study that can become one, next to the accessible bathroom
- Wider doors and more circulation space in the kitchen and bathroom, for a wheelchair or walking frame to turn
- Lever handles and tapware, and light switches and power points at heights reachable from a seated position
- Good lighting on paths, steps and entries, and contrasting edges on any steps
- Space beside the bed and toilet for a carer, if one is ever needed
The Livable Housing Design guidelines describe higher Gold and Platinum levels for homes designed with these needs in mind.
RenovationsThe cheapest moment to add it
The standard applies to new homes. A renovation is still the best chance to bring an older home closer to it:
- Reinforce the walls whenever a bathroom is relined.
- Build a level shower when a bathroom is rebuilt.
- Widen doorways when walls are already being opened.
- Rework the front path and entry when the garden or driveway is redone.
Each of these costs very little as part of other work, and a great deal as a separate job later.
Applying it locallyCanberra and New South Wales
Canberra. Every new home must meet the Livable Housing Design Standard, so the requirements need to be built into the design from the start. Sloping blocks and split-level designs need early thought about where the step-free path and entrance go.
NSW. The standard isn't required for houses, but it's still worth designing to for any home you plan to stay in. For multi-dwelling developments, check the council's controls for adaptable housing, which often require a share of dwellings to meet the adaptable housing standard, AS 4299.