Correspondence: Jack Rostron, Solicitor and senior lecturer, Liverpool John Moores University, Peter Joste Centre, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK. E-mail: j.rostron@ljmu.ac.uk

¹is a retail property surveyor, Liverpool, UK.

²is assistant professor at Yildiz Technical University Istanbul, Turkey.

³is a senior lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University, Peter Joste Centre, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK.

Received 27 January 2009; Revised 27 January 2009.

Abstract

In the area of refurbishment of properties problems can often be encountered in conforming to the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). The aims of this research were to focus on the DDA's impact on refurbishment of small-scale retail premises and to examine implementation problems encountered in the process. The analysis examined pre-contract, contract and post-contract occupancy phases of small-scale retail premises using three case studies. This study revealed that risk of emergence of problems can increase because of: projects location being on sloping site, lack of space, incomplete DDA design work, lack of architect's involvement. Subcontractors', labourers' and operatives' knowledge on the Part M requirements of the Building Regulations can help in coping with DDA implementation difficulties. Architect's and contractor's involvement in design stage is observed to facilitate the DDA work of the project and determination of the scope of 'reasonable' changes. The success of refurbishment process can influence the success of DDA regulations' implementations. The readers will benefit from this paper by getting an idea of possible difficulties which can be encountered during the execution of similar projects.