Have you ever wondered what it is like to navigate the built environment when a flight of stairs or a higher doorstep presents a challenge? And it doesn’t necessarily take a wheelchair – pushing a pram, old age, or even an accident is enough to change someone’s mobility. Have you ever tried to imagine what it’s like to orient yourself when the information and tools don’t work according to your senses?
15% of the world’s population lives with some form of disability. To promote inclusion, shopping malls and hypermarkets in Hungary are becoming increasingly focused on different accessibility features—meaning that they develop and curate their buildings and services so that they are both accessible and comfortable for everyone.
Access4you helps companies that operate physical spaces with a large number of visitors to properly serve people with disabilities and provide detailed information about the location’s accessibility. We asked the company’s Founder and CEO, Balázs Berecz, about their services and achievements.
When was Access4you founded? What was your goal behind starting the company?
If a real estate or shopping mall does not have reliable accessibility information, people with disabilities are unlikely to venture into the “unknown.” Nonetheless, there is a great deal of uncertainty from the perspective of building owners, operators and tenants: To what extent and for whom is my building accessible?
Access4you means a common language and tool between these two parties, building trust at the same time.
As of today, this is the result of a great team effort. We are developing the product, our processes, and knowledge transfer here at the Access4you HQ in Budapest. Since 2022, we have welcomed accredited partners from the local markets and real estate segments. Today, this accredited partner network encompasses eight countries and 38 professionals across Europe and India.
The team is preparing the American market entry, and we have just signed the first partnership agreement in Mexico.
What kind of accessibility needs does the certificate cover?
It is important to understand that the reliable information provided through the Access4you certificate helps people with disabilities and their relatives plan their visits to unfamiliar buildings, navigate unfamiliar locations, access the services available there, and judge whether the barriers they face can be overcome.
Because everyone has different challenges, even two wheelchair users may not necessarily have the same perspective when it comes to accessibility.
Access4you provides 8+1 separate stakeholder groups with detailed and reliable accessibility information on our website, which can be filtered based on accessibility needs and includes descriptions, images, accurate dimensions and helpful photos:
Wheelchair users; the Elderly and people with limited mobility; the Blind; visually impaired people, the Deaf, people who are hard of hearing; people with cognitive impairments; people pushing prams; and people with service dogs.
Another interesting and lesser-known fact is that people with disabilities make up 15% of the world’s population, which translates to roughly 1.3 billion people worldwide. This group also represents a mostly untapped target group from a business perspective, as the built environment does not meet their accessibility needs. This is why we want to make the built environment more inclusive for all our stakeholder groups.
What was it like in the beginning? How was accessibility in the case of shopping malls and hypermarkets?
Services like these are usually accessible for people using wheelchairs; however, little to no information is available about that. If there is, it’s often only self-declared.
In most cases, there are no accessibility features for other stakeholder groups. This is more of a question of being considerate of technology; we don’t need to think about huge investments.
How did this change in the last few years? Was it easy to find like-minded and cooperative partners in the retail sector (shopping malls, hypermarkets)?
We met many open-minded people who wanted to understand the situation and then take action. Many of the shopping centres in Budapest are already certified; we want to move forward in the countryside, where the first innovators are already present.
Auchan and Mediamarkt are definitely evangelists regarding stores, though there is vastly untapped potential in this sector in Hungary.
Has the advance of the ESG directives given a further boost to accessibility?
It is clear that the growing interest in ESG has brought with it an increasing interest in accessibility as well. One reason for this lies in the fact that including accessibility information about a location fits very well into the transparent reporting of the ‘S’ or Social aspect of ESG – showing commitment toward inclusion and social sustainability at the same time.
Access4you is an ‘out-of-the-box’ product for this. It is a quick solution that requires little management time on the client side.
It’s worth mentioning the European landscape as well, as there is more and more accessibility-related legislation surfacing from the European Union. A few good examples of these are the ‘Social Taxonomy’, which is currently under development based on the ‘EU Taxonomy’; and the European Accessibility Act (EAA), which will come into force in July 2025.
The latter argues that services should be made more accessible and adapted to the needs of people with disabilities and older people. This concerns service providers in sectors listed in the directive, such as banking and transportation.
Incorporating the latest accessibility features at the design stage is easy in a newly built building such as Etele Plaza. How far do you see this being feasible for older buildings, and how willing are owners and operators to invest more?
It is a widespread misconception that integrating accessibility features in older buildings always requires a hefty investment. Naturally, there are solutions that take more extensive financial considerations, but clients can make a huge difference for stakeholder groups even with relatively cheap and easy-to-integrate features. Putting stickers on big glass walls, planting induction loops, and using appropriate signage are among the great examples.
To answer your original question, there is a great variety. Whether clients are willing to develop could depend on various factors: Is it their own building, or are they simply renting?
The customer often ponders, but we see that we are starting to think about it, and if not immediately, then in the next budget year or planning cycle, these improvements can be made, and even if slowly, accessibility will improve. I trust that the gloom and fear around accessibility and toilets will be dispelled. I believe that building a business for shopping centres, department stores and shops in a way that has a positive impact on people’s lives is more than CSR; it is a measurable, positive social impact, the very top of a company’s Maslow’s pyramid.
Of course, the client often weighs their options – but we see that the thought is already planted in their minds. If not immediately, then in the next fiscal year or planning cycle, they are likely to invest in developing accessibility features. Even if it’s a slow process, accessibility is truly improving with all these factors.
I hope that the obscurity and concern around accessibility and people with disabilities will dissolve soon. In my opinion, building a business for a shopping mall, department store, or shop in a way that has a positive impact on people’s lives is more than CSR—it’s a measurable, positive social impact, the top of the corporate Maslow’s pyramid.
Which certificate level is the most common in the retail sector?
For those who haven’t heard much about Access4you and our work, this might be an excellent opportunity to talk about different qualification levels. As I mentioned before, we offer detailed and reliable information for our 8+1 stakeholder groups. After an accessibility audit, our professional auditors qualify the location on a scale of ‘Certified location’, ‘Bronze’, ‘Silver’ and ‘Gold’. The qualification is based on a set of 1000+ criteria that make up the Access4you standards, designed according to the accessibility needs of the 8+1 stakeholder groups and tailored to the functional characteristics of various real estate segments.
In our experience, clients in the retail sector usually receive a ‘Certified location’ ranking certificate. This benefits the industry in two ways: it allows them to engage a larger target audience and offers a significantly better customer experience thanks to accessibility. What is more, this benefits not only disabled people but parents pushing a pram, who take their children shopping. This way, accessibility information benefits them too, because they can confidently visit and navigate the location, as they know what they can expect.
Is there any difference between the capital and the countryside?
The simple answer is no. Because if you look at the big chains, whether it’s a bank branch or a shop of any kind, they tend to work to a central set of rules with a uniform look and feel. In most cases, this is also true for accessibility. There is no difference between the capital and the countryside. However, we only take into account the building and its immediate surroundings when we certify it. There is a difference in the infrastructure and the approach to the building, but this does not affect the certification.
Can you think of a project or a building in our industry where you have achieved really great developments and are proud of them?
It’s difficult to single out a specific client, as most of the projects we have worked on with companies or organisations have been very positive experiences for us. Our clients who opt for the Access4you Certificate are also making a solid commitment to the cause of social sustainability and inclusion by certifying their locations. For this, we are very grateful to all our customers and thank them for their commitment to our values.
Currently, our main business objective is international expansion, and NEPI Rockcastle is one of the newest players in this landscape. They are a real estate development and investment company in Central and Eastern Europe, mainly focused on shopping centres and commercial properties, including Mammut and Arena Mall in Hungary. It is really a great recognition for us that such an international company finds it necessary to be committed to accessibility and inclusion, and what makes this project even more remarkable is that this client came through one of our accredited partners, CBRE.
The Access4you Certificate is being adopted in more and more property assessment systems. What are your expectations?
More and more building rating systems globally are recognising that accessibility is an inescapable issue for a building’s value and usability. In many cases, this is not the focus of a given system, so a dialogue has been initiated with the major rating systems to make Access4you part of their system.
Validation in the WELL system has been done and will be officially announced soon. A similar forward-looking collaboration with GRESB is in place, with Access4you certification worth 0.3 points.
Negotiations are currently in progress with BREEAM, LEED, DGNB, and Activescore.
Original author: Magyar Bevásárlóközpontok Szövetsége (mbsz.hu)
Translator: Dóra Pusztai
Original article in Hungarian: https://www.mbsz.hu/az-akadalymentesseg-egy-megkerulhetetlen-tema/
Access4you is a social impact company: we assess and qualify buildings to provide detailed, credible accessibility information about the built environment for people with disabilities. Based on the results, we issue a certificate stating that the location is entitled to use the Access4you Certificate, and the detailed data of the site will be publicly available in the access4you.io database and mobile application. For more information: https://access4you.io/b2b