Changing Places Case Study: West Mersea Town Council

Island Location

West Mersea is a popular seaside town in Essex – the larger of two settlements on Mersea Island. Voted one of the best places to live in the UK, West Mersea is accessible by car at low tide and attracts day-trippers with a range of restaurants, shops, and of course lovely beaches.

West Mersea Town Council decided to install a Changing Places toilet in a prominent car park location to make the island more attractive and accessible to disabled people.

Installation Of A Modular CP Pod

RISE were awarded the project following a tender process where suppliers were invited to submit plans for a Changing Places toilet to be installed in the island’s Victoria Esplanade car park. The project would also involve the demolition of an unused parking attendant’s hut, as well as comprehensive groundworks.

Our priority at RISE is to provide accessible toilet facilities that meet the needs of the most vulnerable people in society – also a high priority for Councillor Sophie Weaver at West Mersea Town Council. Sophie, who manages her own disabilities, played a large part in driving this project forward and offered her perspective as a disabled person.

It was agreed with Sophie and her colleagues that the new facility would be built under permitted development. We conducted our usual risk assessments prior to works commencing, and following an asbestos survey, we instructed a specialist contractor to safely demolish and remove the existing building onsite.

Groundworks commenced quickly after, including the installation of new concrete foundations, connecting of all services (including new septic tank), and installation of new stairs, ramping and handrails.

We installed one of our standard modular Changing Places toilets, built at our Doncaster factory and delivered to site by Hiab. The council opted to have the pod kitted out with premium equipment and finished with an attractive, bespoke feature wall.