Does the DDA apply to heritage buildings?
Yes. Registration or claim of heritage value in a building or other items does not create an exemption from the DDA and is not in itself a defence. As shown by decisions under the DDA to date, however, heritage issues can be taken into account in determining whether barriers to access are unreasonable (which is one of the elements required before a finding can be made of indirect discrimination), and can also be taken into account in relation to the defence of unjustifiable hardship where this applies. ( See the summaries of complaint termination decisions under the DDA.) If alterations to premises to provide full and equitable access would involve the destruction or removal of significant heritage value, in some circumstances making these alterations could be found to involve unjustifiable hardship. Analysed another way, failure to remove the barriers concerned by making these alterations might be found not to involve any unreasonable condition or requirement. This does not mean that
