Wheelchair user’s car park building dilemma
Lynne Birnie had to sit in her wheelchair and wait for someone to open the door so she could exit the new car park building near Christchurch Hospital.
The car park, called Tū Waka-Waipapa, with 463 spaces, has 11 mobility spaces and a ramp, but no automated door.
Birnie had an appointment at Christchurch Hospital outpatients, and parked in the nearby car park at the corner of St Asaph St and Hagley Ave. She parked on the first floor and took the lift down to the ground floor – but could not leave the building.
The doors in the lobby are heavy push/ pull doors with no automated opening, so Birnie had to wait until someone held the door open for her.
“I thought, ‘Surely it can’t be possible to build a building these days that doesn’t have disability access’. They’ve obviously thought of ramps but they haven’t had that final connection of, if I was getting out of a car into a wheelchair, how would I get out?”
Tū Waka-Waipapa, which opened in November, was built to help ease the hospital parking debacle, providing a new parking option for those accessing the hospital and Hagley Park.
The building project was a partnership involving Paenga Kupenga – the commercial arm of Te Ngā Tūāhuriri Rūnanga, Rau Paenga (formerly Ōtākaro), Ngāi Tahu Property and Te Whatu Ora Waitaha. Wilson Parking is contracted to manage the day-to-day operations.
There are 11 mobility parking spaces within Tū Waka-Waipapa. They are all located close to the lifts, but all lifts lead to a lobby, with no automated door for people in wheelchairs to exit.
Just one mobility space is located on the ground floor, but users still need to enter the ground floor lobby through the doors to pay for parking.
Birnie, who can walk, could try to manoeuvre herself and her chair in and out of the building if it came to it, but she said she was worried about those who didn’t have that option.
“If you’re permanently in your chair, maybe you’re more skilled at getting through push doors than me, but you shouldn’t have to.”
She said that although it was nice that people would offer to open the door for her, she would rather have the option to do it herself.
“It makes you feel like rubbish. I already feel quite vulnerable being in a chair,” she said.
In response to questions from The Press, a Ngāi Tahu Property spokesperson said it was investigating an automated solution while ensuring the building remained code compliant.
Birnie has made a building compliance complaint to the Christchurch City Council, but was told there were no issues with it, she said.
Access adviser and educator at Disability Information Service, John Marrable, said that going by the building compliance code, the building owner did not have to install automated doors, but owners and councils should be going “above and beyond” to make public buildings more accessible.
“The building owner only has to do the bare minimum.
“We would like to see the council take a more proactive role and talk to the local disability groups.”
Ngāi Tahu Property had received a complaint that the doors at the ground floor lift lobby were difficult to open, and had made adjustments to make them easier to push open, the spokesperson said.
“We are also looking into adding more mobility car parks on the ground floor.”
Birnie wants public buildings to be more accessible for people with disabilities. “I would like the designers ideally to consult with the disabled community.”