Great Changing Places toilet
5
5
Date of visit: September 2025
I am a disabled person. I have experience of challenges around: accessing toilets and moving around.
I use or have experience of: disabled toilet, wheelchair
Overall Rating
Excellent
This Changing Places toilet is located on the lowest level of Cambridge Street Collective. There is an entrance that brings you into the building right by the hallway to the facility so you don’t have to navigate through the whole building if you are just looking to use the facility. It seemed very well-maintained and had the equipment you would expect with clear signage with instructions on how to use it. The signage to the Changing Places toilet was clear and easy to follow and the hallway leading to it was very well lit.
Disabled Access In and Around
Excellent
As there are two entrances to the building you may need to use one of the lifts to reach the lowest level, where the Changing Places toilet is located. If you enter on the lowest level, there is an automatic door that is activated by a button which brings you into the building right by the hallway to the Changing Places toilet. From the lowest floor there are signs with the Changing Places symbol to show where to go. There are some fire doors that have to be navigated and then the toilet itself if located in a quiet, well-lit corridor.
Accessible facilities: Lift to all areas, Step-free entrance, Step-free access to most areas, Seating at regular intervals
Parking & Transport
Average
I travelled to this place by walk or wheel
The closest tram stop is City Hall which is around 350 metres from Cambridge Street Collective. From this stop, you can access trams on the blue and yellow services. The yellow services travel between Middlewood and Meadowhall. The blue services travel between Malin Bridge and Halfway. There are a number of bus stops on Rockingham Street which is roughly 200 metres away. From these stops the following bus services are available: 6, 30, 30a, 51, 52, 52a, 95, 95s, 120, 120k, 181, 257a, 257b, SC1, and X30. There are some public, paid car parks nearby but there is no designated parking. The Rockingham Street car park is a small, open-air car park that is run by the council. It’s around 220 metres from Leah’s Yard but details about the number of spaces, height restrictions, and whether it has accessible parking spaces is not clear. Another option is the NCP Sheffield Wellington Street which is 250 metres away. This is a paid, multi-storey car park which has a height restriction of 2.11 metres. It has a total of 449 spaces, including four accessible parking spaces. There are lifts in this car park but there are signs saying that it is unsuitable for those in wheelchairs. So the accessible parking spaces are on the lowest floor and the step-free route for pedestrians is via a steep ramp.
Accessible facilities: Public or on street parking
Accessible Toilets
Excellent
The Changing Places toilet door was quite wide and needed a RADAR key to open it. It didn’t have any grab rails on the outside so it relied on someone being able to twist a RADAR key and pull it to open the door. The door wasn’t too heavy though. On the inside, there was horizontal grab rail to assist with shutting the door and the handle needed to be pushed upwards to lock the door. It was a decent sized handle like you usually get with RADAR key locks so it could definitely be operated with a fist or elbow. To the right of the door were some coat hooks at different heights and to the left was a large mirror. To the left of the door was also the ceiling hoist in its charging position. The remote was stored in a holder on the wall at a good height and was directly next to a board with instructions on how to operate the ceiling hoist. This board also indicated that the safe working load of the hoist was 200 kilograms. On the left-hand side, towards the back of the room, was the height-adjustable bench which was folded upright against the wall. The remote control had been hung on the safety rail and was a fairly easy height to reach to be able to then fold the bench down and start using it. To the left of the bench were some instructions on the wall on how to operate the bench. It was also indicated here that the safe working load for the bench was also 200 kilograms. There was a shower that had been placed on the wall at one end of the bench and there was a drainage pipe that could be angled towards the drain on the floor. There was a single chair that had been left underneath the shower so it may have been in the way of it folding out properly. It was a light chair that was easy to move though. To the left of the bench was the toilet. This was a standard toilet rather than a Closomat toilet. While there was space on either side of the toilet, there was a lot more space for a right-side transfer. The space for a left-side transfer was very narrow and one of the emergency red cords was hanging into the space so it would have been difficult to use this space. There was a height-adjustable grab rail on either side of the toilet, as well as a fixed, vertical grab rail mounted to the wall on either side of the toilet. The flush was a lever-style flush with a rounded end, it seemed like it could have been operated with a fist or elbow, and it was mounted on the cistern. It was placed on the left side of the cistern as you looked at it so it was on the side with less space and with the emergency cord so it needed to be reached for carefully. To the left of the toilet was a small colostomy shelf. The height-adjustable sink was located opposite the bench. It was a large basin with two grab holes on the front of it and a single tap. The tap was manually operated and had a slim, lever-style handle which seemed like it would be able to be operated with a fist or elbow. The tap twisted to control both the temperature and flow of the water. There was also a plug that could be placed into the drain. The lever to adjust the height was on the right-hand side of the sink and was easy to use. On either side of the sink, there was a vertical grab rail mounted to the wall and between them was a manual soap dispenser and instructions on how to use the sink. To the right of the sink was an automatic hand dryer and a paper towel dispenser. There was also a large bin to dispose of any waste. A privacy screen had been folded away and was being stored to the left of the sink. The screen had multiple panels on wheels that could be folded out to form a long screen and there was solid metal in the centre of the screens. There were two emergency red cords in this toilet, one by the toilet and one by the shower. They were both hanging freely to the floor and already had Euan’s Guide Red Cord Cards on them.
Facilities: Changing Places toilet, Changing Places toilet with shower
