We were delighted to attend the AGM & Annual Conference of the Access Association which took place in New Brighton, Wirral on Tuesday 25th September.
The Conference was organised to highlight the ‘Legacy of the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2012 and the Future of Accessible Sport in Great Britain’.
Members of the Access Association of Great Britain travelled from all over the UK to be present.
The Key-Note speaker at the event was Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson DBE who gave a presentation about the 2012 Games and the future of accessible sport in the UK. Other Key Speakers included Joyce Cook OBE, LPF Chair and CAFE Managing Director, and Neil Smith, member of NRAC and the British Standards Institution.
The speakers were joined by other experts including Gary Deards, LPF Vice Chair; Peter Swordy, Senior Operations Manager and Head of Centre of Excellence at Wembley National Stadium; Rob Young, North West Coordinator for the 2012 Games and Iain McKinnon from the London Legacy Development Corporation for a Q and A session from the floor.
An interesting range of access and inclusion topics on sports and access auditing were discussed by the delegates and panel of experts that included several key aspects that should be considered by service providers when commissioning an access audit for a sporting venue. These included the importance of maintaining good practice audit standards by; ensuring that auditors commissioned are peer reviewed and carry all relevant indemnity insurance (such as NRAC auditors); ensuring that audits are conducted with specific reference to building regulations, existing good practice accessible stadia guidance and equality legislation and finally by ensuring that an access audit includes a matchday or live event audit as stadia and other sports venues are often quite different during operation in terms of access and meeting the requirements of disabled spectators and visitors.
For more information on access audits or if you would like to discuss LPF access audits please see here or phone 01244 893 584 or 0845 230 6237.