Case Study
The barrier-free campus of the SMS group

The company employs around 14,500 people worldwide and around 4,500 in Germany and is active in the steel and metal industry (e.g. metallurgy, forming, finishing and maintenance / servicing), mechanical production with pre-assembly of components and plant engineering. An inclusion agreement was concluded to ensure equal job opportunities and support for people with disabilities. Its contents also include aspects of barrier-free design for the company's employees and were taken into account accordingly when building the new campus.
The new campus in Mönchengladbach has brought together the employees of the many business divisions, who were previously spread across other locations in the surrounding area, under one roof for optimal collaboration.
The five modules of the campus, which are connected in a circle by a transparent membrane roof, were completed after four years of construction and offer around 1,500 modern, ergonomic and human-friendly workplaces in a barrier-free working environment on 44,000 square meters (Fig. 1). The aim is also to create working conditions that promote health and reduce stress for employees who are getting older due to demographic change, for employees with disabilities and for the workforce in general. In addition, aspects of increasing digitalization and the associated paperless working are taken into account and supported via comprehensive Wi-Fi and 5G network coverage at the workplaces and in the sense of "remote work" in all areas of the campus - including outside.
The modules of the campus house the management, the 20 main departments with their numerous sub-departments with mainly office workstations as well as, for example, meeting rooms, social and communication areas, conference zones and a virtual reality center. The company's production and manufacturing halls are located in the immediate vicinity of the campus.

The people with disabilities in the company predominantly have physical or sensory impairments. For employees with a physical disability, this leads to restrictions in terms of their ability to move, mobility and reach, and for employees with a sensory disability, this leads to restrictions in the perception of visual or acoustic information.
These aspects therefore played an important role in the barrier-free design of the campus and its immediate surroundings.

The campus, its facilities and its surroundings were designed and equipped accordingly to compensate for the impairments of employees with disabilities, so that employees can find, access and use them without barriers. Employees can therefore move around the campus and use all facilities without restrictions.
To make this possible, the following have been taken into account and designed to be barrier-free:
parking spaces,
paths and access points,
lifts,
rooms,
workplaces and

assurance and orientation.

Close to the main entrance to the campus is a large, multi-storey parking garage with specially designated and enlarged parking spaces on two levels (Fig. 2), so that mobility-impaired and wheelchair-bound employees have enough space to get in and out of their vehicles and to load and unload their wheelchairs. With the help of a barrier-free lift with satisfactory maneuvering space in front of the lift, these employees can then reach the level with the exit. Unlike other employees, they do not have to pass through a standard turnstile, but a special and correspondingly wide one with only one turnstile leaf, which can be opened using a transponder via a panel in the restricted reach area (Fig. 3). After passing through, they are directly on the campus grounds or on an access path to the main campus entrance.

The access path from the exit of the parking garage to the main campus entrance is covered and thus protects wheelchair users in particular from the weather, for example. The access path, like all other access paths and paths in the outdoor area, also has a tactile guidance system with floor indicators for people with blindness or severe visual impairment to help them find their way with the help of their long cane or cane for the blind (Fig. 4). The actual entrance to the main campus entrance is at ground level and is accessed via larger, automatically opening doors so that people with mobility impairments can use them without any problems. The reception in the entrance area is staffed during normal working hours and has a reception desk with a low area that can be driven under for wheelchair users. After the reception area, there is another access control point to pass through. Employees with mobility impairments can use a turnstile suitable for disabled people, which can be easily opened using a transponder (Fig. 5).
The wide doors in the individual campus modules with their floors and departments are each equipped with an electric door opener and door closer, which are automatically opened by sensors or motion detectors and closed again after passing through. Existing stairs or steps in the campus modules have high-contrast markings on their front edge for people with visual impairments to make them easier to recognize.

In addition to the stairwells in the campus modules and in the multi-storey parking lot, there are barrier-free passenger elevators with satisfactory manoeuvring spaces in front of them to reach the individual floors. The doors of the lifts and the elevator car are dimensioned accordingly for use by employees in wheelchairs, and the elevator doors also generally have an extended closing interval for employees with mobility impairments. A mirror is attached to the inside of the lift wall opposite the lift door so that employees who have previously entered the lift forwards in their wheelchair can see what is behind them when reversing to leave the lift. To operate the lift, the buttons have been positioned low enough so that they are within the restricted reach of wheelchair users and people with restricted growth. The information on the buttons is large, high-contrast, raised and also displayed in Braille so that employees with a visual impairment or blindness can also read or feel the information on the buttons. For these employees, the floor in the lift is also indicated acoustically via loudspeakers.

In general, all rooms have satisfactory maneuvering space for employees in wheelchairs. In some rooms, such as the meeting rooms and toilets, further adaptations have been made to ensure accessibility. For example, the large conference room has an induction loop in the walls so that speech spoken at the microphone can be transmitted inductively from the loops directly to the hearing aids of employees with hearing impairments - without any background noise or reverberation. Meetings in the other designated rooms are always held in conjunction with the hardware and software for an online video meeting. This means that employees in the home office who rely on hearing aids can have the sound and speech transmitted directly from their laptop to their hearing aids via Bluetooth for optimal understanding. In face-to-face meetings, participants who rely on hearing aids can use their company smartphone for better acoustic understanding if required. They take part in the online meeting with their company smartphone and have the sound transmitted directly to their hearing aids via Bluetooth for optimal understanding, while they follow the meeting visually on site.
Due to the increasing digitalization of the working world and manufacturing processes, the company has also set up a virtual reality center (VR center) in whose premises operational production processes can be simulated, displayed on a large screen and viewed in virtual reality using VR glasses (Fig. 6). VR can also be used for employees with additional needs to understand and learn, for example, changed or new processes and procedures, in order to provide them with targeted "real" induction or training with the necessary support requirements without being directly involved in production. In addition, the company's highly qualified and mobility-impaired specialists, who cannot easily travel worldwide, can support customers from the campus via VR and show the customers' specialists on site in the countries, for example, how to rectify errors in production.
The wheelchair-accessible toilets have a washbasin that can be driven under with a wheelchair and a tilting tilting mirror above it, so that even smaller people and people in wheelchairs can see each other. Soap and paper dispensers are also arranged in such a way that they can be easily reached and used by smaller people and people in wheelchairs.
There are foldable grab rails on the toilet that wheelchair users can use to support themselves and transfer from the wheelchair to the toilet and vice versa independently. There is also a red emergency strap between the washbasin and toilet, which can be pulled in an emergency to call for help.

The large modern offices in the departments consist of different areas. For example, there are areas with the actual computer workstations, social and communication areas as well as quiet areas with so-called "cubes". The open office concept is based on "desk sharing", where employees can book their workplace for the respective working day in their "home zone" via their company smartphone. Employees have access to a locker in the departments where they can store their work equipment (mouse, keyboard, laptop, etc.). All VDU workstations have satisfactory space for wheelchair users and are equipped with ergonomic work equipment such as a work chair, height-adjustable work table, two large screens on a monitor swivel arm, a special back-friendly / cushioning carpet and room dividers for demarcation and noise reduction (Fig. 7). In addition, there are wall cushions near the workplaces to relieve back strain with a description of their use that can be accessed via a QR code (Fig. 8). The office areas with their computer workstations thus support accessibility, the adoption of an ergonomic working posture and the reduction of strain.
Special barrier-free "cubes" or special smaller rooms are available in the office areas for activities that require an increased number of telephone calls. This makes it possible, for example, to avoid possible acoustic disturbances for other employees in the office area due to a lot of telephone calls or to carry out work that requires a particularly quiet environment in terms of concentration.

For people with visual impairments, larger and high-contrast information boards and contrast strips for the front edge of stairs are used to improve visibility. For people with blindness, a guidance system with floor indicators is used in the outdoor area to guide them into the campus modules with the help of their long cane or cane for the blind.
In the event of an emergency (e.g. fire) where people need to be evacuated from the building, an emergency plan has been drawn up for people with reduced mobility. All employees have been instructed in the procedure and are involved as supporters.

The barrier-free design during the construction phase was supported by a team consisting of the representative body for the severely disabled, an architect from the city's Inclusion Unit, the internal planning managers and the external architects.
The costs for the construction of the new campus and thus also the barrier-free design were borne by the company.