Making sure City Hall visits are easy for disabled people

If you're disabled, City Hall has a number of features designed to make your visit easier and more enjoyable:

Help for Deaf and hearing/visually impaired visitors

• Sign language: a videophone link at City Hall's ground floor reception desk connects deaf visitors to a British Sign Language interpreter to help them with enquiries.
• Induction loops: hearing impaired visitors can find induction loops at reception and at the Visitor Centre. Induction loops can also be arranged for many meeting rooms at City Hall.  Please give advance notice to the Facilities Management team on 020 7983 4000.
• Tactile maps: blind and visually impaired visitors can now use a series of tactile maps while in City Hall. The moulded plastic maps are designed to be used with an audio guide on CD. The CD explains how the maps work, and how to find where you are on the maps once you are in the building.
  The audio guide and tactile maps are available free for loan. You can request them ahead of your visit by calling the GLA Public Liaison Unit on 020 7983 4100 (Minicom 020 7983 4458).

Ramps and lifts

City Hall's ramps have handrails and landings, but some people find them quite long and steep. Visitors wanting to be cautious can avoid the ramps completely by using the lifts at the back of the building (away from the river).

• One ramp leads up to the right from the ground floor reception to the Chamber on the second floor.
• Another ramp leads down to the left to the cafeteria, Visitor Centre and meeting rooms on the lower ground floor.

City Hall has two public lifts at the back of the building. These go to the lower ground floor, ground floor, second floor and ninth floor (when there is an event on). An audio announcement tells you which floor you’re on. There are large tactile buttons in the lift, but no Braille descriptions.

If there is no public access to the ninth floor, the 9 button will not work and will not light up when pressed.

Accessible toilets

There are unisex wheelchair-accessible toilets on the ground floor, lower ground floor near the cafe, and on the second and ninth floors. These toilets have sliding doors.

Telephone and textphone

There is a public payphone and textphone on the lower ground floor near the wheelchair-accessible toilet. The textphone also has hands-free and headset capability. A headset is available from reception.

Fire safety

There is no visual alarm system in City Hall. If the fire alarm sounds and you cannot use the stairs, follow emergency signs to the refuge area on your floor and wait there. Refuge areas are on each floor next to the fire escape stairs.

Each refuge area has a telephone for you to call the fire control room to let them know that you need to use the fire lift to evacuate. Please wait in the refuge area and someone will come to help you.