A North Tyneside Customer First Centre will undergo work from next week to make it more disability-friendly. Starting Monday 16 January, North Tyneside Council’s partner Kier North Tyneside will begin work on a brand new Changing Places facility at Wallsend Customer First Centre. The work involves extending the current disabled access toilet into the children’s area and reconfiguring the interior to house a hoist and shower facilities. The new facility will comfortably provide space for one person and up to two carers, as well as a safe and clean environment with a non-slip floor. Current baby changing facilities will be moved to the public toilets on the first day and for the duration of the project, the staff disabled toilet will be made available to the public. Delighted with the work, North Tyneside’s Elected Mayor Norma Redfearn said: “It’s fantastic that we are able to start work on this brand new Changing Places facility at Wallsend Customer First Centre. “We know that the Changing Places scheme does so much for people with disabilities and I’m extremely happy that we are supporting it here in North Tyneside. “It is important that we make sure the borough’s facilities are as accessible as possible for anyone who may want to use them and this development will go a long way to helping us do that.” Kier regional director, Mike Furze, said: “We are proud to be delivering this specialist project, which will be of significant benefit to service users for years to come. “By working in partnership with our colleagues at North Tyneside Council we are making a real difference to improving the quality of specialist community facilities for residents across the borough.” Due for completion at the end of February, services at the centre will not be affected but there may be some noise disruption while the work is carried out. Read more at http://neconnected.co.uk/big-changes-customer-first-centre/