Accessibility in construction: obligations and measurements 2026

For new apartment buildings, accessibility applies to the whole route from the street to the dwelling. The obligations vary by location: external common parts, internal common parts, and the interior of the dwelling itself.

External routes must allow anyone using a wheelchair to reach the entrance from the street or from the adapted parking spaces. The minimum width is 1.20 m, reducible to 0.90 m between two isolated obstacles. The surface must be firm, stable, non-slip and free of obstacles to a wheel.

Longitudinal gradients are limited to 5 %, with a tolerance of 8 % over a maximum of 2 m and 12 % over 0.50 m. Cross-falls may not exceed 2 %. Any change of level above 2 cm must be ramped.

Car parking must reserve at least one adapted space in the first 50, then one more per further 50. Adapted spaces are at least 3.30 m wide, against 2.50 m for a standard space, and sit close to the building entrance.

The minimum width of horizontal circulation is 1.20 m. A manoeuvring space allowing a wheelchair to turn — a circle 1.50 m in diameter — is required at each level served and in front of the lifts. Landing doors have a minimum clear opening width of 0.90 m, or 0.83 m for doors with a closer.

A lift is mandatory in any apartment building with more than one level accessible to occupants above or below the ground floor — in practice, as soon as there are dwellings on an upper floor. The car must measure at least 1.00 m × 1.30 m internally for lifts serving up to five levels, and 1.10 m × 1.40 m beyond. The clear door width is at least 0.80 m.

Stairs in the common parts must have a handrail on both sides, visual contrast on the nosing, a maximum riser of 17 cm and a minimum going of 28 cm.

Dwellings on upper floors not served by a lift retain minimum requirements. All dwellings on the ground floor, on the first level reachable by lift, or capable of being served by a lift later, must meet reinforced requirements.

Tourist residences, student residences, hostels and temporary accommodation fall under a specific regime. A defined percentage of units must have reinforced accessible characteristics — up to 100 % in some specialist establishments — supplemented by particular equipment: level-access showers, hoists, 0.90 m door widths, grab rails.

In a new building open to the public, accessibility covers the entire route from the pavement to the facilities in service. This is not an alternative or limited route: the law requires that the services offered to non-disabled people be offered equally to disabled people, on the same terms or through equivalent solutions.

External routes follow the same dimensional rules as for dwellings — 1.40 m minimum width as a general rule here, 2 % cross-fall, limited gradients — with additional requirements on tactile paving for guidance and warning, visual and audible signage at junctions, and accessible parking whose minimum number depends on the total capacity of the car park.

The principal entrance must be accessible. Reception of the public is subject to specific rules, notably on counter height and on the free space beneath.

Horizontal circulation in new buildings open to the public has a minimum width of 1.40 m, reduced to 1.20 m at isolated points. Every stair must have a continuous handrail on both sides, a maximum riser of 16 cm and a minimum going of 28 cm with risers closed.

In new buildings of more than two levels, or as soon as part of the services is reachable only on a level other than the ground floor, a compliant lift or platform lift is mandatory. The car measures at least 1.10 m × 1.40 m for lifts serving more than five levels.

Every new building open to the public must have at least one accessible WC per level receiving the public, even where sanitary accommodation is not otherwise required. The accessible cubicle has a turning space 1.50 m in diameter, a pan set between 0.45 and 0.50 m above the floor, drop-down grab rails, a lateral transfer space of 0.80 m on the accessible side, and a door opening outward or sliding.

Existing buildings — those constructed before the new-build regulation came into force, or located within an existing building — fall under a distinct regime. The obligations apply, but derogations may be granted where compliance works meet an impossibility.

The first rests on a demonstrated technical impossibility arising from the characteristics of the building. If installing a lift in a stairwell too narrow to take one is technically impossible without demolishing load-bearing elements, a derogation may be granted, provided compensating measures are offered — an intercom to the level concerned, a service point at ground floor.

The second concerns constraints tied to preserving architectural or historic heritage, where the modifications required would substantially alter the appearance of the building, notably in protected sectors or near a listed monument.

The third is a manifest disproportion between the cost of the works and the value of the building, assessed case by case. It is granted sparingly and requires a solid, quantified demonstration.

Important: a derogation does not remove the need for a compensating measure

Every derogation granted must be accompanied by compensating measures allowing disabled people to reach the establishment's services by another means. For example, where a stair cannot be replaced by a lift, the establishment may offer a service remotely or at an accessible level. These measures are assessed by the accessibility commission.

The scheduled accessibility programme was introduced in 2014 to let operators of existing public buildings commit to accessibility compliance over a planned period, in exchange for protection against criminal sanction during that period.

Every non-compliant building open to the public, from the first to the fifth category, may — and for the great majority must — file a programme. The filing deadline was set at September 2015, but programmes remain accepted for situations not yet regularised, with a risk of prosecution for those in delay.

The programme is filed with the prefecture, or with the municipality for fifth-category buildings within its remit. It comprises an accessibility survey by a professional, a priced programme of works with phasing, a funding plan and an execution timetable.

Workplaces are subject to the labour code for the accessibility of workstations to disabled people, but the framework differs from that for buildings open to the public. The objective is to make workstations and the ancillary rooms — changing rooms, sanitary accommodation, canteen, rest rooms — accessible, without necessarily covering the whole building.

For new workplaces, the obligation covers the common circulation, the collective rooms, the workstations liable to be occupied by a disabled worker, and at least one adapted sanitary facility per level. The dimensional standards are similar to those for buildings open to the public: 0.90 m clear passage, 1.50 m turning space, controls between 0.90 and 1.30 m above the floor.

Where a workplace also receives the public — offices open to clients, banks, counters — it doubles as a building open to the public and accumulates the obligations of both regimes.

Accessibility obligations generate measurable premiums a construction economist must build into the first estimates. Without that anticipation they are often discovered at developed design, triggering painful changes of brief.

For a standard new apartment building, accessibility premiums generally represent 2 to 5 % of the construction cost excluding land. The principal items are the lift, between 25,000 € and 60,000 € according to height and number of levels; the extra width of the common circulation; compliant lobbies and doors; and the fit-out of the dwellings on the accessible level.

For a new building open to the public the premium is more variable and depends heavily on the use. Those with sleeping accommodation — hotels, residences — carry substantial premiums on the accessible bedrooms: accessible bathroom, turning space, finishes. A hotel must plan for a percentage of its rooms, and its whole service chain — restaurant, pool, spa, reception — to meet the standards.

For an existing building under a scheduled programme, the costs to estimate are the accessibility survey, the compliance works themselves, and the compensating measures where a derogation is granted.

✔ What the economist should anticipate from feasibility

• A lift mandatory from the first upper floor in apartment buildings
• The premium for circulation width in the common parts
• An adaptable bathroom in dwellings at ground floor or served by lift
• An accessible WC per level in buildings open to the public
• An accessibility survey for an existing building's scheduled programme
• The compliance works themselves under that programme

Accessibility compliance is checked at several points. With the planning application the file must include an accessibility statement describing the provisions made. The technical control office, where present — mandatory for buildings of the first four categories — checks the compliance of the drawings.

At completion, an accessibility compliance certificate, endorsed by a technical controller or an architect, accompanies the notice of completion and compliance. Without it the permission is not treated as implemented.

For buildings open to the public, the accessibility commission — often sitting jointly with the fire safety commission at the completion visit — gives an opinion on compliance. An unfavourable opinion blocks the operating consent. Criminal penalties for non-compliance can reach 45,000 € for corporate bodies.

Accessibility is neither optional nor a second-order constraint. It shapes the plan from the first sketch and carries a cost that must be priced early.

The situations most at risk are existing buildings open to the public that have not yet begun their scheduled programme, refurbishments involving a change of use, and programmes including sleeping accommodation, whose specific requirements are often under-assessed.

ℹ Related articles in this cocoon

→ Construction regulations in France: the complete guide

→ Buildings open to the public: types, categories, obligations

→ New apartment regulation: accessibility, fire, environmental

→ Restaurant regulation

→ Hotel regulation

→ The scheduled accessibility programme

Your economist builds the accessibility premiums into the estimate → quostra.com

• The scheduled accessibility programme for existing public buildings