What a universal-design bathroom is
A universal-design bathroom is an ordinary, good-looking bathroom in which five things have been sorted in advance: a shower with no step, room to turn around, reinforced walls for future grab bars, a door that can be opened from outside, and taps that are easy to use with wet hands. It looks like any good bathroom, with nothing clinical about it.
This is decided during the renovation. With the wall open, blocking for a grab bar costs very little. Five years later, when the bar is needed, you will be taking off finished tiles, and matching the same batch of the same tile will no longer be possible.
A level-access shower in an older building
The main technical challenge is drainage. For water to leave the floor without a shower tray you need a fall and a drain, and below the drain enough depth to run the pipe to the stack. In a new house this is built into the floor slab. In an older Eixample flat the floor sits on timber beams or Catalan vaulting, and cutting down into the structure is usually not an option.
There are two solutions. Raise the whole bathroom floor by a few centimetres and make a smooth transition to the corridor, with no step. Or use a linear drain along the wall, which needs less depth than a point drain. Which works becomes clear at the measurement visit, once you know where the stack runs and what is under the floor. Shower-area tiles should be slip-resistant, and in the sloped zone large formats give way to smaller tiles so the fall can be formed without ridges.
Turning space and the door
As a guide, a bathroom where you can turn with a walking frame or wheelchair needs a clear circle of around 150 cm between fittings. In a small city flat that is not always achievable, but even 120 cm of clear space in front of the WC and basin makes a real difference.
The door deserves separate thought. A hinged door opening inwards is dangerous: if someone falls, their body blocks it. A pocket sliding door or a door opening outwards is safer, with a lock that can be released from outside with a coin. Aim for a clear opening of at least 80 cm. A threshold between corridor and bathroom is unnecessary if the waterproofing and falls are done properly.
Blocking for grab bars and a seat
A grab bar carries a person's weight, and neither plasterboard nor the thin brick of an old partition will hold it. So during the renovation a reinforcement goes into the wall, a board or a steel section behind the tiles. The locations are standard: beside the WC, on the shower wall with the mixer, and at the height where you steady yourself on the way in.
You do not have to fit the bar now. The points are photographed and marked on the as-built drawings so that years later the installer knows where to drill. In the shower, plan for a fold-down seat too, or at least the blocking for one. Towel rails and toilet-roll holders are available in models that double as a support.
Taps, WC, basin and lighting
A thermostatic mixer in the shower prevents scalding when someone in the kitchen opens the hot tap. Lever handles are easier than screw-down taps for painful joints. A handheld shower on an adjustable rail works for a child and for an adult who showers seated.
A wall-hung WC can be mounted at a comfortable height, slightly above standard, and leaves the floor clear for cleaning. A basin with no vanity below, or with an open recess, leaves knee room for someone approaching in a wheelchair.
Lighting should be even, with no dark corners, the switch by the door at the usual height and a night light at floor level. Contrast between floor, walls and fittings helps anyone with poor eyesight: a white WC on a white floor is hard to make out in low light.
Common mistakes and where to start
Typical mistakes: a shower that is "almost level" with a 2 cm lip people trip over; a glass screen that narrows the shower entrance to 60 cm; grab bars fixed with plugs into plasterboard; an inward-opening door in a 3 m² bathroom.
If you plan to stay in the flat for many years, or there are elderly parents in the family, say so at the first meeting. At the measurement visit we check the floor level and the drainage route, and the quote will show them as separate items: raised floor, drain, blocking and door. One person runs the job, in Russian or Spanish, with staged payments under the contract. We reply to enquiries within an hour.