Changing Places Case Study: MAGNA Science Adventure Centre

Written by Kit Garrett
August 23, 2023

Air. Earth. Fire. Water. Accessibility should be no barrier to education in the basic building blocks of science – and now it isn’t! MAGNA Science Adventure Centre is celebrating a big inclusion win with the opening of a new Changing Places toilet adaptation, built by RISE.

Based in Rotherham, MAGNA Science Adventure Centre occupies the former Templeborough steelworks. Originally launched as a Millennium Commission Project back in 2000, MAGNA brings Sheffield’s steelworking heritage to life with a series of themed pavilions, along with two outdoor play areas. Described as a ‘coats-on experience’, much of the park is based outside in the same structures that once made up the steel mill.

MAGNA is no stranger to plaudits, having won the RIBA Stirling Prize for architecture for its sensitive repurposing of the existing space and the Enjoy England Gold Award for Business Tourism in 2006. As well as the hands-on museum experience, MAGNA also offers large bookable event spaces that play host to concerts, trade shows, awards ceremonies and much more.

Accessibility As A Core Value

Accessibility is a core value for the MAGNA team, and they spend a great deal of care and attention on ensuring their facilities are as inclusive as they possibly can be. The team were taken aback, then, when a customer complained about the accessibility of MAGNA’s toilets. After some reflection and communication with the family and internally, MAGNA came to understand that the existing accessible facilities weren’t sufficient for disabled people with complex needs, like cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy.

Seeing an opportunity to both bolster their inclusive offering and widen community access to MAGNA, and thanks to funding from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, MAGNA opted to install a Changing Places toilet on site.

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We RISE Together

RISE was contracted to adapt a first aid room into a fully BS8300 compliant Changing Places toilet. The build included stripping and demolition within the existing space, sewerage groundworks, and fully refitting the space so it was safe and met relevant building regulations and planning conditions before installing the legally required Changing Places equipment – an adult changing bed, a height-adjustable sink, an accessible toilet, a hoist, grab rails and a privacy screen.

An interesting wrinkle in this project was the groundworks and sewerage. As MAGNA was never originally intended to be a visitor attraction, they have a customised and somewhat idiosyncratic drainage system on site. To ensure sewage works did not affect other parts of the business, RISE had to work very closely with the team at MAGNA to ensure we fully understood the ins and outs of their system so groundworks could be completed safely.

Vital to the project too was that the normal running of the business should not be affected in any significant way. MAGNA Science Adventure is a busy tourist attraction that welcomes over 80,000 visitors a year, so it was very important that negative customer impact was kept to an absolute minimum.

RISE worked closely with MAGNA throughout the whole process, giving them total control over the location, look, feel and finish of the adaptation. Moving quickly, the project was completed within 6 weeks of a contract being signed, with our expert adaptations team spending just 10 days on-site and allowing the business to run smoothly around the work. This resulted in a facility that is totally unique to MAGNA and reflects both its setting and heritage while meeting all the requirements of a Changing Places toilet.

Praise for RISE

“The build process was easy…because we already had an existing room that already fit the floorplan, it was just a case of strip out and rebuild. We targeted 2 weeks for completion, and works were finished within 10 days.

“Dealing with RISE was really easy. What was interesting to me is, going to the website, there were so many possible solutions to our problem. The ability to pick out all of the aspects we needed, along with two versions of the plans to accommodate two possible layouts, was great. Once we knew what we wanted, it was very easy to get done.

“The turnkey solution was key – as we remained open throughout, we had to be mindful of the rest of the business and RISE worked around our needs well.” – Stuart Lee, Operations Director, MAGNA Science Discovery

Increased Demand

MAGNA had over 1,500 disabled people with complex needs visit in 2022 – in 2023, they have had 1,500 in just the first six months. Clearly, there is a massive increase in demand for Changing Places toilets as knowledge of them grows, and we love that MAGNA trusted us to deliver this important project for them.

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