Livable HousingHomes for everyone, everyday, at all stages of life.

Livable Housing Design GuidelinesThe Livable Housing Design Guidelines were created to provide a nationally-consistent, inexpensive and practical set of principles that make homes safer, more comfortable and easier to access for people of all ages and abilities.The Guidelines describe 16 simple livable design features and have been designed with three performance levels. A summary of the features and levels is provided in the table.

For most of us, it’s only when our circumstances change that we realise the design of our home needs to change too.It’s when:• you bring your new baby home from the

hospital and discover you can’t push the pram into your house

• your mother-in-law comes to stay and has trouble turning on the taps

• you struggle to manoeuvre into the shower after pulling your back at work

• your new couch arrives and it won’t fit down the corridor.

Over the years, our houses have been transformed and today are greener, more efficient and safer than ever before.The next step is to design homes to be more livable so that it enhances your quality of life - at each stage of your life.

Download your free copy of the Guidelines from our website: www.lha.org.auOr download the Guidelines app from the AppStore or Google Play.

How do I know if my home is livable?Our Silver, Gold and Platinum ratings represent a trusted quality mark – a seal of approval that gives you confidence that your home has been designed and built with livability in mind.Achieving a rating involves an assessment at the design and/or as built stages of your project by a registered LHA Assessor.Livable Housing Australia’s Registered Assessors are independent consultants who evaluate the design and completed construction of homes against the Livable Housing Design Guidelines.

More information about the assessment process and fees, and the list of LHA’s Registered Assessors can be found at www.lha.org.au

What’s the process?

Summary of the Livable Housing Design Guidelines and Quality Mark criteria

1 There is a safe, continuous, level and step-free path of travel from the street entrance and/or parking area to your home’s entrance.

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PLATINUMSILVER GOLD

2 There is at least one step-free entrance into your home. ✔✔ ✔

3Where access to your home is through the car park, the parking space has been designed to ensure you can fully open your car doors and move around the vehicle with

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4 Internal doors and corridors facilitate comfortable and unimpeded movement between spaces.

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5 A toilet on ground or entry level supports easy access for both home occupants and visitors.

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6 The bathroom and shower has been designed for easy and independent access for everyone in your home.

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12 Light switches and power points are easy for everyone in your home to reach and operate.

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11 There is a space on the ground or entry level that can be used as a bedroom.

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10 The laundry space has been designed to support ease of movement and to support easy adaptation.

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9 The kitchen space has been designed to support ease of movement and to support easy adaptation.

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8 Stairways are designed to reduce the likelihood of injury and also enable future adaptation.

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7 The bathroom and toilet walls are built to enable grabrails to be installed in the future.

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16 Floor coverings are slip resistant to reduce the likelihood of slips, trips and falls in the home.

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15Windows sills are installed at a height that enables you to view the outdoor space from either a seated or standing position.

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14 The family/living room features clear space to enable you to move in and around the room with ease.

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13 Handles and hardware on doors and tapware have been designed to make them easy for you to open and close

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About Livable Housing AustraliaWe are focused on four core activities:

Leadership: we drive industry best practice through the Livable Housing Design Guidelines

Certification: we certify dwellings that comply with the Guidelines

Advocacy: we encourage all levels of government, the residential building industry and consumers to embrace the Guidelines

Education: we provide industry with the education and training needed to design and deliver livable homes.

Established in 2011, Livable Housing Australia is a not-for-profit partnership between community and consumergroups, government and the residential building industry.We want to transform the way homes are designed and built, and we advocate the mainstream adoption of livable housing design principles in all new homes built in Australia.LHA’s nationally-endorsed Livable Housing Design Guidelines describe the features that help make a home more livable.

Livable Housing Australia Board Members

Peter Verwer

Graeme Innes AM

Sophie Pickett-Heaps

Wilhelm Harnisch

Dennis Hogan

David Parken

Ian Yates AM

Fiona Smith

Chair, LivableHousing Australia

Chief Executive Officer, Property Council of Australia

Deputy Chair, Livable Housing Australia

Federal Disability Discrimination Commissioner,Australian Human Rights Commission

National Design Manager - Retirement Living

Stockland

Chief Executive Officer

Master Builders Australia

Acting Director, Technical and Regulation

Victorian Building Authority

Chief Executive Officer

Australian Instituteof Architects

Chief Executive

Council on the AgeingAustralia (COTA)

Disability and regulatory expert