Our first post in UKHN, and we wanted to give a little value to larger developers around signage and wayfinding building control. If you're developing student comms or apartments over 30 units, wayfinding becomes a necessity but can also be costly if errors are made. Achieving compliance during design and planning is often overlooked especially if the design work is farmed out cheaply. It’s too late for corrections once any signage on-site is printed. If it doesn’t meet regulations, it will need to be replaced; potentially approaching thousands in sunk cost. The lesson is to always get clarity on your regs prior to engaging a signage company or designer to take care of this. Ensure you have translated the requirements (as they can be extremely wordy) into basic English and understand the feasibility of where signage is required/not required in relation to your architectural plans. Send everything you have and request they confirm the design work is compliant with each requirement. Our particular case study as an example is Burj Digbeth - a block of 160 apartments in central Birmingham. We were commissioned to design and procure install for over 60 unique wayfinding signage items and 160 room numbers to aid navigation around the large property. All signage had to meet strict building control, which filters down to the smallest details in the design phase - lettering height, visibility at distance, contrast ratios, separation of floor and apartment numbering and signage location in relation to stairwells. This process also includes a very crude form of quantity surveying, mapping locations of wayfinding items but also their quantity across all floors, taken from architectural plans. Be meticulous in your analysis of the signage design work before it goes to print. Scrutinise it floor by floor and evaluate what wayfinding is essential and what might be optional down the line. These key steps although time consuming will ensure the work goes according to plan with no nasty repercussions. We're looking forward to going back to The Burj once the property as a whole is completed! Core 1 and 2 of the property is now occupied with signage fitted, ready for Core 3 this year.

Posted by Rich Devenport at 2025-02-04 16:32:27 UTC