• Handles on internal doors should be of a consistent type throughout.
  • Window catches should be of a consistent type throughout.
  • Large single-pane windows and large areas of glass in glazed doors should be avoided on safety grounds.
  • Key locks should be provided to external doors, to each bedroom, any office(s), food stores, kitchen, boiler rooms, domestic chemical stores (including cupboards used for that purpose) and rooms/cupboards containing electrical switchboards.

    To minimise the number of keys carried by staff and to enable residents to use keys, a lock system should be adopted as follows:
    • A master key system for individual locks on all bedroom doors, food stores, kitchens, boiler rooms and electrical switchboards.
    • A separate master key system for locks to external doors.
    • Separate keys for chemical stores and offices.
    • Multiple-use WC and bath/shower rooms should have a sliding bolt lock that can be opened from the outside in case of emergency.
    • External and ground floor doors and ground floor corridors must be wide enough to permit access by wheelchair, either for people with multiple disabilities or for access by staff using wheelchairs to assist someone recovering from an epileptic seizure. Where ground and floor levels change, shallow ramps should be provided in preference to steps.
    • Where building layout permits, a minimum of one ground floor room should be available for use as a bedroom for a wheelchair user.
    • The need to offer personal support, supervision and training in aspects of personal hygiene requires that at least some WC pans, hand basins and baths are positioned so that staff can stand beside the person they are assisting. All general use bathrooms or WCs must provide this additional space.
    • The dignity and privacy of individual residents in the building requires that they be offered en-suite washing/WC/shower or bath facilities where possible. Each self-contained housing unit should provide a majority of en-suite facilities, with a minimum of one bathroom and one separate WC also available for general use.
    • 'Push bar to open'-type fittings on external doors are unacceptable due to the risk of residents absenting themselves from the building at night.
    • Mechanical door-closers are a continual maintenance problem due to the high proportion of people with autism who try to close the door against the braking mechanism. Swing free closers are cheaper in the long-run.