Posted 11.02.2021

It was great to see in the news this week to see that Tesco has significantly raised the profile of the UK’s Changing Place campaign with national advertising celebrating the installation of 100 Changing Place toilets in its network of stores.

Closer to home it was also good to see that the construction on the Stormont Estate Changing Places toilet is well underway (photo above), and My Way Access also reported that Changing Places is being rolled out in the West of the province.

Disability Action's Orla McCann, who has been co-opted on to the Northern Ireland Building Regulations Advisory Committee (NIBRAC) technical sub-committee that has been established to provide advice on the inclusion of Changing Places in the Building Regulations in NI, said:

There has been a steady rise in the number of Changing Places facilities across NI largely thanks to the sustained effort over many years of disability charities such as MDUK, Mencap, IMTAC, Disability Sport and Disability Action.  Further to the commitment made in September 2020 by Finance Minister Conor Murphy, the Department is currently looking at how Changing Places may be included as a requirement in the building regulations.  What is great to see is a private company pre-empt regulation and take the initiative to put these facilities in place, especially one like Tesco that is open early to late and has many sites across NI including in more rural areas.  At the moment the Tesco stores with a Changing Places facility are Carrickfergus Castle Extra, Enniskillen Superstore, Cookstown Broadfield Superstore and Ballygomartin Superstore.

Read the full Tesco story