We’re delighted to share more about Kiwi Property’s accessibility journey, as they commit to continuously improving accessibility across all their retail facilities. In this blog, we celebrate access improvements at Te Awa at the Base and the Plaza.
Kiwi Property are the largest diversified property company in New Zealand. Be. Lab are delighted to have been working with them since 2018, and across 10 different properties. Kiwi Property explain that it is a commitment to put the people who engage with their spaces at the heart of their strategy that led them to working with Be. Lab, to ensure that their shopping centres and main commercial buildings are on a path to being as accessible as possible to all New Zealanders.
We love working with Kiwi Property on their accessibility journey, in particular we love their continuous improvement approach, and their ongoing commitment to deepen their engagement with accessibility.
Earlier this month we looked at accessibility at two of their Auckland retail spaces here. In this blog we celebrate some of the awesome accessibility features in another two of their shopping centres from across New Zealand, at Te Awa at the Base, in Hamilton, and the Plaza, in Palmerston North. Find out more below:
Te Awa at the Base is a large award-winning shopping centre, with beautiful and unique design elements referencing the culture of the Waikato-Tainui people. With both the enclosed centre of Te Awa with a cinema complex and more than 150 retailers, as well as large format external retailers, the Base has everything you'll need.
The centre has been designed with pedestrian movement in mind, with entrances controlled by automatic doors, escalators, travelators and lifts providing good access to all levels of the centre. The accessible route is spacious with good LED lighting, and there is public seating with back rest support distributed throughout the centre.
If you need any assistance, the centre’s friendly staff are located at the Customer Service Desk near the main entrance. This desk has an accessible counter, and you’ll also find wheelchairs, walkers and pushchairs available for customer use.
There are plenty of accessible toilets (both allgender and single sex) distributed evenly throughout the complex, and there is also a newly built fully accessible bathroom. Located in the new amenity block on level 1 near Hoyts and Jagotown, this fully accessible space is designed to suit those with more complex needs not met by a standard accessible toilet. You can read more over on the Base blog.
Dedicated mobility parking is available near all street level and parking basement entrances to The Base as well as around the site in the exterior retail areas. Access to outdoor retail areas is also facilitated by wide footpaths and either flush kerb access or kerb ramps.
You can navigate to the accessibility information page from the menu at the bottom of each page, or click on the link below:
https://www.kiwiproperty.com/the-base/en/accessibility/
The Plaza is Manawatu’s premium shopping destination, located in the heart of Palmerston North’s CBD. The centre extends over 32,000 square metres with more than 100 shops providing a wide mix of fashion, food, services and general retailing.
To ensure all customers can navigate around the single retail level centre with ease, aisles are wide with good LED lighting and wayfinding signage. Access to the shops are facilitated by automatic doors, travelators, ramps and lifts, which also provide good access to the centref rom the multi-level carparking.
There are more than 1,250 car parking spaces, with dedicated mobility parking available near both carpark entrances to the Plaza. (You can find details about the locations on the accessibility page on their website). Most of the accessible car parks are under cover and there are kerb ramps for changes in level between car parks and footpath.
The information desk located by the Foodcourt has helpful and welcoming staff. Here you will also find an accessible counter, and four wheelchairs and pushchairs available for customer use. There is also public seating with back and armrest support distributed around the centre.
Accessible toilets and parent rooms are provided in two separate locations, one near the Foodcourt entry to the centre and the other near Farmers. Each location has two separate accessible toilets and one parent room.
We really love the interactive Directory Board which is located at all three entrances, showing users their current location, how to get around the site, and including accessible features. These interactive boards have good colour contrast and can be magnified.
As with all Kiwi Property facility websites, you can navigate to the accessibility information page from the menu at the bottom of each page, or click on the link below:
https://www.kiwiproperty.com/the-plaza/en/accessibility/
We'll be sharing more about Kiwi Property's Accessibility journey over the coming months.
To get in touch with our team to find out more about how we can support you on your journey to accessibility, e-mail info@belab.co.nz