Access ramps

Access ramps and threshold ramps for accessibility

Access ramps bridge the level difference that stops a wheelchair user, a parent with a pushchair or a delivery driver with a sack truck. A threshold of a few centimetres looks like nothing, but in practice it is the difference between a building that is accessible and a building that is not. A ramp solves that without building work, and often in a single day.

We supply access ramps and threshold ramps to local authorities, schools, care institutions, retailers and companies. Sometimes it is a fixed ramp at a main entrance, sometimes a portable ramp plate that only comes out during opening hours, and sometimes a temporary solution during works or an event.

Where you use them

• Entrances to shops, hospitality venues, offices and public buildings with a threshold or a step
• Care institutions and residential care centres, indoors and outdoors
• Loading and unloading areas, where roll containers and sack trucks have to cross a lip

Versions

Threshold ramps

Compact ramps for small height differences, from a few centimetres up to an ordinary step. They are laid loose or fixed down, and they are the quickest way to make a door usable.

Portable ramp plates

Loose plates, folding or telescopic, that you put down when needed. Useful where the ramp must not stay in place permanently, for instance on a footpath or a fire service access route. Watch the weight: a plate that one person cannot lay on their own ends up not being used.

Fixed ramps

For larger height differences and daily use. They are anchored down and, where the height calls for it, completed with handrails and upstands. The durable choice at a main entrance.

Material and construction

Aluminium is the most widely used material: light, rust-free and strong enough for wheelchairs, trolleys and usually light vehicles as well. Rubber and composite plastic are used for threshold ramps, because they stay in place and are quiet under load. The running surface is always anti-slip, usually through a ribbed structure. Outdoors that counts double: a slippery ramp is more dangerous in the rain than the threshold it replaces. A contrasting edge at the top and the bottom helps people with limited sight, and it is a small measure with a lot of effect.

In practice

• The gradient is decisive: the longer the ramp for the same height, the more independently a wheelchair user can manage it. What you have to achieve follows from the applicable regulations and from what the tender specification imposes
• Provide a level landing before and after the ramp, so that a door can be operated without standing on the slope
• Does the door open outwards? Take that into account in the layout, otherwise the door pushes the user off the ramp
• Keep the running surface free of snow and leaves, and check the anti-slip structure periodically

When an access ramp is not the solution

Where there is a large height difference over a short distance, a ramp becomes too steep and therefore unusable; a platform lift or a reworked entrance is then the right answer. And a ramp that staff only put down on request is not an accessible entrance but a stopgap. We would rather tell you that straight away than sell you a plate that does not solve the problem.

What determines the price?

The price depends on the height difference to be bridged, the length and width required, the material, the load capacity, whether it is a loose, folding or permanently anchored version, and whether handrails, upstands or platforms are needed. The substrate, the anchoring, the installation and the number of units also weigh in.

Have your entrance assessed

Send us the height of the threshold, the length available and a few photos of the situation. We will propose a workable solution and provide a quotation to suit.