Cadbury World Caters For Diversity

The UK’s only purpose-built visitor centre dedicated to chocolate has taken innovative steps to optimise visitor diversity. Cadbury World, in Bournville, Birmingham originally opened twenty years ago, and is enjoying increasing visitor numbers with over ½ million visitors pa. To continue to offer ‘something different’, and to ensure all visitors enjoy their visit to the full, the venue has completely refurbished and improved its toilets, adding new options previously unavailable, including a Changing Places toilet. With equipment supplied and installed by Clos-o-Mat, the UK’s leading disabled toileting solutions provider, the new facility compliments the attraction’s new accessible (Document M) compliant toilet. To give two different access toilet facilities, Cadbury World’s Changing Places room offers additional features over the standard ‘disabled’ toilet, including a height adjustable adult sized changing bench, height adjustable wash basin, hoist and a Clos-o-Mat ‘wash and dry’ automatic toilet. Tim Gimbert, Cadbury World operations manager explained, “Our toilets were originally installed when Cadbury World first opened, which was before even Document M existed! We felt they were outdated and didn’t have the range of facilities to a standard that is required or expected today. “We have often been asked in the past if we have a hoist in any of the toilets, so that led us to go beyond the legal requirement and install a Changing Places toilet, which is ‘good practice’ under BS8300. Further adding the Clos-o-Mat, which again goes beyond the requirement, means we are accommodating the FULL diversity of visitors. We hope our new toilets will help us win the prestigious Loo of the Year Award in 2013….!” The Changing Places campaign calls for ‘bigger and better’ accessible toilets that enable people who need the help of a carer to have the space, and equipment, to undertake personal hygiene in an appropriate, clean environment when away from home. Since the campaign began, over 400 have been opened at venues across the UK. Clos-o-Mat manufactures the Clos-o-Mat wash and dry automatic toilet, the only unit of its type developed specifically for disabled people: since the WC’s concept was initially developed, Clos-o-Mat has sold over 40,000, many of which are still in daily use 30 years after first being fitted.