Latest news with #ChangingPlaces
Scoop
17-06-2025
- General
- Scoop
Inglewood Place Toilets Bring Colour, Accessibility And Convenience To The Area
A new public toilet block opened this morning on the corner of Taranaki and Dixon Street which includes colourful lighting and Wellington's first Changing Places facility for people with disabilities. The site includes two standard and three accessible toilets with baby-changing facilities, automated timed doors and hands-free controls. Two will be open 24/7, the other three from 7am-11pm. The sixth is the Changing Places facility, a place where people with multiple or complex disabilities can use the toilet, change, and shower. The Changing Places facility is available for access only by those registered with the organisation. Wellington City Council's Chief Operating Officer James Roberts says the toilets have been placed where they are to make them more visible, accessible and attractive. 'Putting the block in a more visible place, installing new CCTV cameras in the area and adding beautiful lighting will help reduce anti-social behaviour – while also providing a much-needed toilet stop for the public in this busy spot. 'The building, with its ribbed timber facade, looks great during the day – and is transformed into a special light show at night.' Advertisement - scroll to continue reading The exterior lighting by Angus Muir Design is managed by the Council and will be changed to reflect awareness campaigns like Breast Cancer Awareness month, and major events like Anzac Day, Christmas, Wellington Anniversary, WOW, and the Jazz Festival. Changing Places was founded in New Zealand in 2017 by Jenn Hooper, whose daughter Charley (19) has profound and complex disabilities that require full-time care and support. Jenn feels immense pride in honouring her daughter and celebrating the opening of the 10th Changing Places room in Aotearoa, and the first for the capital. 'If I brought Charley down to Wellington with my family, as I have, she doesn't get a shower until we go home. Now she can go to this toilet block and have a shower during a week-long visit to Wellington, and I as her carer have the right equipment to safely provide that care. It's game changing. Wellington City Council has done an amazing thing here by catering to this specific part of society. 'Restricting access prevents vandalism and ensures the room is clean and available for those who so desperately need it. It's not about excluding those who don't need them. These rooms are about including those who do.' The new $2.3 million facility replaces the toilets removed from nearby Te Aro Park. They are designed by Council's architectural team to support crime prevention through environmental design as well as being aesthetically pleasing. The Te Aro Park toilets were removed in November 2022 largely due to their position making the space susceptible to crime and anti-social behaviour. Find out more about Te Āwe Mapara - Our Community Facilties Action Plan - Te Awe Māpara - Community Facilities Plan - Plans, policies and bylaws - Wellington City Council.
BBC News
15-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Improved disabled toilet at Noble's Hospital opens
The upgrade of toilet facilities at a hospital to increase accessibility for people with a disability has been on the ground floor of Noble's Hospital, the Changing Places bathroom caters for those with additional needs who require personal assistance to use the toilet or refurbishment, which began in February, included the installation of a hoist, privacy screens and a changing bench that will be available 24-hours a £45,000 improvement works were funded by the Noble's Hospital Patient Comforts Fund. Barbara Scott of the trustees of the Noble's Hospital Trust said it was a "much-needed space".The refurbishment provided a "checkpoint" that could be "accessed at any time of the day and have everything that they may require", she added. Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.
BBC News
18-04-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Renovations begin on Priory Centre in St Neots
Construction work has started to renovate a building that was losing £300,000 Priory Centre is being renovated as part of a £15m investment to revamp the centre of St Neots, Cambridgeshire's largest market community space, built on a former brewery site in the 1980s, had been running at a commercial loss, said owners St Neots Town with Huntingdonshire District Council, it has led the project, which the authorities said "will give this much-loved venue a bold new future at the heart of the town." A "comprehensive refurbishment" of the centre was proposed at a district council committee meeting in was to be delivered alongside the regeneration of the town's Market Square, funded by bodies including Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, Huntingdonshire District Council, Cambridgeshire County Council and National plans for the Priory Centre aim to enhance community use, and encourage increased private hire, with facilities including a bar and cafe bistro and new town council space was previously used by community groups and could be hired for conferences or Korolev, project delivery manager with the town council, said the renovated centre could have its name changed and would likely be open for early autumn 2026."We believe the new Priory Centre will provide everything anyone in the town might need and we do hope people will spend a lot of time there," he said. Liz Owen, founder of Access in St Neots, spent three years campaigning for a Changing Places accessible facility in the town. She celebrated the installation of the accessible unisex toilet at Riverside Park car park last year and said it was "exciting" to hear a similar facility would be built into the new Priory facility is larger than a regular toilet and has equipment, including a changing bench and hoist, designed to support disabled people who need Owen said the town council had supported her cause to make the area more accessible and believed the new centre would be "absolutely amazing". Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
