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News Release from: Gartec | Subject: Gartec Behind Bars In HMP Risley
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 27 October 2003
Gartec Behind Bars In HMP Risley
Gartec has installed two Strategos wheelchair lifts in HM Prison Risley, Cheshire, to enable inmates, officers or visitors with impaired mobility to access different levels within the prison.
Opened in 1964 as a remand centre for both male and female offenders, the prison is now a Category C male training prison with an integrated VP (Vulnerable Prisoners) regime With an operational capacity of 835 prisoners, principally kept in three-tier single cell accommodation, prisoners spend an average of 14 hours a day confined to their cells, with 10 hours free for activities and association
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 11 Dec 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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Acting on the requirements of the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), the prison installed two Strategos wheelchair lifts.
One is in the association area of the main block which as well as providing wheelchair access, is also used to move goods and furniture over different levels.
The second lift has been installed in the multi-faith remand centre and is used to access a lower level floor containing showers and changing rooms' etc Prisoners may only use the lifts when under the supervision of a prison officer.
The DDA requires progressive improvements in the way that all owners and property managers of public facilities, buildings, shops, offices, prisons etc make provision for people who have a disability to gain access to their premises.
Introduced in 1995, the Act has required building occupiers and owners to begin making provision for disabled people since October 1999 and to be fully compliant by 2004.
Barry Rose, Gartec's Northern Regional Sales Manager, said: " The architect for this installation was Ray Liu of Taylor Young in Wilmslow and the contractors were PCSL.
What the prison service particularly liked about these lifts, and what made them especially suitable for this installation, was the fact that all their walls and doors are made of transparent polycarbonate.
This means prison officers can see through and round the lift and there are no ambush points as is impossible for a prisoner or anyone else to hide within it." "Suitable for use indoors or out, the Strategos lift can transport a maximum load of 300kg (2 persons plus a wheelchair) and raise or lower them over a distance of 0.5 - 3.0 metres.
Its double screw and nut drive system makes for safe and easy operation.
Its soft start and stop mechanism gives a gentle lifting speed of 0.06m/s and the Strategos also offers a choice of controls, door position variations, flooring and colour finishes, with virtually no building work required to install it.".
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