Overview

Friendly staff but sadly, this facility is not welcoming to those with visual and hearing impairment. I use hearing aids and visited the building with a friend who has visual impairment. We both struggled to enjoy the experience because the building did not meet our needs. The building was acoustically uncomfortable, excessively so. Two children were interacting with one of the installations and behaving perfectly appropriately, but the noise they generated spread and echoed off the walls. A few more people arrived and their chatter added to the noise. In total, it took just six people in the room to make it very uncomfortable for me. There is a theatre and there is a hearing loop within it. Great! BUT there is NO signage outside the theatre and only a VERY small sign inside, and it is on the far wall. I only spotted it because i have good eyesight and was looking. The loop itself seems of nice sound quality BUT the volume is set too low. Another hearing aid user (who went in to check my view) agreed with this. For those with visual impairment, there appears to be NO adjustment made to accommodate requirements. There is a huge map, which is the main feature in the building and a digital tablet is provided to engage with it. The font size is small and cannot be adjusted. BAsically, it is usable for those with some degree of sight loss. It also requires people to have GOOD DEXTERITY because it is fiddly to use. All the main installations come with written information. There is also information boards telling the story of Scotland's architectural heritage. The text is fairly small and there appears to be NO audio alternative. I hope that facility managers will re-think their accessibiliy standards. I imagine that our every-increasing older population might find it interesting but given that most older people have some degree of hearing and / or sight loss, the building is pretty unsuitable for them. What a shame!

Transport & Parking

You have to park a bit away as there is no disabled parking space close to the entrance.

Access

Exhibition hall is acoustically very uncomfortable for hearing aid users Poor hearing loop signage in the theatre Hearing loop volume is set too low Digital interaction with the large map installation is inaccessible to those with sight loss and those with poor dexterity Information boards are inaccessible to those with visual impairment

Toilets

I had a quick look and it seemed okay but neither I or my friend have mobility issues so can't properly comment.

Staff

Staff were lovely. Very friendly and welcoming but they couldn't fix the issues that made the facility inaccessible to us.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

The issues we experienced meant that we came away without good memories of the facility so sadly I won't be recommending it. I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone with sensory impairment until the issues we experienced are fixed.