Access-led design documentation support for architects (NSW)
GJ Finn & DW Wong trading as Sydney Access Consultants works alongside your architect, designer or building surveyor, not in place of them. The job is access consulting input and documentation support from early feasibility through construction-stage detailing on accessible entries, bathrooms, circulation and egress.
A background in architectural practice means we can read and mark up a construction set the way your architect and your certifier both will, and speak both languages when coordinating changes. That is the live offer. This page is the commercial guide: what this service is versus a lodgement report, when to engage, what gets marked up, and where SDA independence cuts in.
What this service is (and is not)
It is access input into the design documentation process: set review, mark-ups, commentary the design team can action, and coordination notes that help when the certifier asks to see a clearance, a gradient or a sanitary layout.
It is not SAC becoming the project architect or taking design authorship. The project architect remains responsible for the design and the documentation.
It is not a substitute for a lodgement-ready disability access report for DA, CC or CDC. That product lives on disability access reports for DA, CC and CDC. Design documentation support often precedes that report or runs beside it.
It is not independent SDA Design Standard certification. Design advice and certification cannot sit on the same SDA project. See SDA certification.
Role clarity in longer form: what an access consultant actually does.
Working alongside architects
Construction sets are not planning sketches. Door schedules, sanitary set-outs, ramp geometry and hardware notes have to survive both the design team’s coordination meeting and the PCA’s checklist. Architectural-practice background is useful because mark-up can follow drawing conventions the architect already uses, and findings can be framed so they still make sense when the certifier reads them. The posture is pragmatic options and buildable detailing, not a redesign of the scheme.
When to engage
Feasibility, concept and schematic
Spatial demands for accessible paths, entries, ramps, sanitary zones and vertical access are cheap to fix as a redline. Flag overlays early: adaptable housing under AS 4299, livable housing (LHA versus LHDS in NSW), Housing SEPP or seniors controls, and any SDA category nomination as design advice only. See SDA vs livable vs adaptable if the brief mixes those words.
Design development and pre-lodgement
Tighten geometry, door clearances, sanitary set-outs, TGSI and signage strategy, and parking. Align the set so a later DA or CC access report is not fighting the drawings.
Construction documentation and construction-stage detailing
Fittings, schedules and shop-drawing-sensitive items (sanitary set-outs, stair and ramp detailing, signage packages) belong here. When the PCA needs a formal CC-stage access report, commission that report. Do not stretch mark-up notes into a lodgement PDF. See DA vs CC access report and what certifiers want in an access report.
Design documentation support vs DA/CC access report
| Design documentation support (this page) | DA/CC/CDC access report | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary reader | Architect and design team | Council, PCA or certifier, and the design team |
| Job | Mark-up, coordination, buildable detailing | Lodgement-ready compliance documentation |
| Typical timing | Feasibility through construction detailing | DA capability; CC or CDC verification on listed documents |
| Output | Marked-up set plus commentary and actions | Formal access report scoped to the stage |
| Replaces the architect? | No | No |
Many projects need both at different times. They are not interchangeable.
What we mark up and coordinate
Illustrative scope, not an exhaustive catalogue:
- accessible entries and continuous accessible paths of travel
- bathrooms, sanitary facilities and circulation
- ramps, stairs, handrails, lifts and other vertical access
- egress interfaces where access provisions interact
- accessible parking, signage and TGSIs where the class and documents call them up
- housing overlays when they are in the brief: adaptable housing (AS 4299), livable housing, and SDA design-category documentation (certification path on SDA certification)
NSW work is assessed against NCC 2022 Amendment 2 until NSW adopts NCC 2025 on 1 May 2027. Premises Standards, as amended, reference AS 1428.1:2021 from 29 July 2025. Which edition belongs on a given CC is a separate decision tree: AS 1428.1:2009 vs 2021.
How this feeds the certifier
Design coordination reduces RFIs about unresolved clearances, gradients, sanitary layouts and door schedules. Mark-up notes are not the lodgement report. When a consent condition or checklist calls up an access consultant’s report, use the lodgement pillar.
When Deemed-to-Satisfy will not fit
If the geometry cannot meet the referenced DTS provisions, hand off to a Performance Solution while the set is still moving. Do not wait until the access report is asked to paper over a departure.
SDA projects: design advice versus independent certification
SAC can provide access-led design documentation support for SDA dwellings, or act as independent accredited SDA assessor. Not both on the same development. Gary Finn is listed on the NDIS find-an-assessor register as SDA00039. If SAC marks up or advises the dwelling, engage a different independent assessor for certification. If SAC is the assessor, design authorship stays elsewhere. Stages and enrolment sit on SDA design vs as-built certification.
How a documentation-support engagement works
Enquiry, drawings and brief, review and mark-up, written commentary or a coordination discussion, iterate as the set develops, then hand off to a lodgement report, Performance Solution or SDA certification pathway as scoped.
Send the current drawing set for the stage, building classification, a short project description, any certifier RFI or council checklist, previous access advice if any, and nominated overlays (adaptable, livable, SDA category).
Work is based in Hurstville. Mid North Coast projects can involve Sandy Grey at Black Beach. Perth and Western Australia work uses the same documentation discipline against the code in force there. See locations, Mid North Coast and Perth / WA access reports.
Ask about design documentation support on (02) 9586 3111.
Frequently asked questions
Do you replace our project architect?
No. Access consulting input and documentation support sit alongside your architect, designer or building surveyor. The project architect remains responsible for design authorship and documentation. SAC’s role is specialist access review, mark-up and coordination so accessible entries, bathrooms, circulation and egress are documented in a way the design team and the certifier can both work with.
Is design documentation support the same as a DA or CC access report?
No. Design documentation support is collaborative mark-up and stage advice on the drawing set. A disability access report for DA, CC or CDC is a lodgement-ready document prepared for council or a registered certifier against the Premises Standards, NCC access provisions and referenced Australian Standards. Many projects need both.
Can you mark up our construction set and also lodge the certifier access report?
Yes, those are different products on a non-SDA job: mark-up for the design team, then a formal report when the checklist or consent calls for one. Do not treat the marked-up PDF as the lodgement report.
Can you give SDA design advice and certify the same dwelling?
No, not on the same development. NDIS SDA Design Standard certification must be issued by an independent accredited SDA assessor.
What should we send to get started?
The current drawing set, classification, stage (feasibility through construction detailing), any RFI or overlay, and the questions you want marked up first. Call (02) 9586 3111.