Access to and use of all activities in the built environment to ensure equal participation for people with disabilities is a basic human right, recognised globally in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as well as a fundamental objective in an increasingly ageing society.The Spanish Act on equal opportunities, non-discrimination and universal accessibility (Ley 51/2003) recognised such challenge and established the obligation to ensure accessibility in the built environment 'liable to reasonable adjustment'. The deadline for meeting that obligation was 4 December 2017.This paper formulates a methodology to assist policy makers and urban planning authorities to define the legal concept of 'reasonable adjustment' in relation to small establishments within the existing built environment. No criteria or tools have yet been forthcoming in this area despite the deadline for compliance with the provisions of the act. That regulatory gap exacerbates the complexity in applying and interpreting the legislation on adaptations of the built environment.Starting from a legislative and technical synopsis of the international implementation of the term 'reasonable adjustment' and based on the analysis of 120 works in establishments of Madrid and its metropolitan area, the proposed methodology addresses the characterisation of: flexibility requirements; accessibility adjustments; economic viability by activity involved; and factors affecting overall accessibility.Regardless of the designers and owners ability, the research shows that regulatory developments, urban planning and its control by Public Authorities, both local and national, have facilitated the accessibility improvements. In terms of accessibility requirements, even today the difficulty of accessibility compliance is focused on wheelchair users. In the analysed case study, the investment in accessibility means about 0.5 % of the property values.
That the preservation of twentieth concrete heritage is an area scantly explored can be attributed to a lack of appreciation for such a young material. In most cases conservation is broached from a technical perspective with little regard for heritage value. Ongoing assessment of the condition of structures is the primary strategy to minimise such misguided action. This study involved characterising the condition of the concrete in a number of singular elements forming part of the Eduardo Torroja Institute for Construction Science headquarters at Madrid, Spain, a modernist compound listed by the city of Madrid as a protected asset. The in situ findings using non-destructive and laboratory techniques revealed the core concrete to be in good condition. The surface material, however, exhibits signs of durability issues calling for conservation treatments and techniques compatible with the preservation of the integrity and authenticity of this young heritage material.
La reglamentación española en edificación ha adoptado el moderno enfoque basado en “objetivos o prestaciones” a fin de facilitar la armonización normativa con La Unión Europea. El cambio se produjo en 2006 con la aparición del Código Técnico de la Edificación (CTE). Por una parte las ventajas que presenta este nuevo enfoque, permite dar uma mayor flexibilidad a la aplicación reglamentaria, de forma que se fomente la innovación y el desarrollo tecnológico de nuevas soluciones en edificación, lo que redunda en una mayor libertad del proyectista. Por otra parte, esta estructura reglamentaria requiere una mayor amplitud de conocimientos en su redacción y puesta em práctica, que puede acarrear dificultades em las primeras etapas de implantación. El presente escrito analiza cómo se ha llevado a cabo el cambio reglamentario em España, las dificultades encontradas para la aplicación e interpretación de los distintos agentes al incorporarlo y la línea por la que se está optando para avanzar en la mejora de este enfoque.
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