Colette Fransolet
Chief UA Consultant
With a Master’s Degree specialization in Universal Design, Colette’s working career started in the NGO sector and she quickly moved into the consulting space. Her working experience in Universal Access and Universal Design Consulting started in 2009 and with her independent company, Inclusive Design, she facilitates the development of environments, services and facilities to be inclusive to all people, with a focus on vulnerable users, including people with disabilities, with the higher objective of changing the world for the better. Her work areas of proficiency related to Universal Design include research, guidelines and standards, implementation plans, onsite access auditing, plan reviews, training and training material development and specialist consulting. Her client list includes tourism, national and local government departments, universities, heritage and historical sites, museums, and cultural places, as well as working with large consulting and engineering companies, as well as in the private and business sectors. Colette works extensively with local authorities to implement Integrated Public Transport Networks to achieve Universal Access throughout the travel chain, including operations, marketing and communication, customer care, vehicles, transit orientated development, fare management, skills transfer, passenger information and wayfinding.
Colette’s expertise in Universal Design ranges from the built environment and infrastructure, information dissemination and communication, in South Africa and internationally. She is passionate about research, teaching and knowledge sharing on the paradigm of Universal Access, guideline and standard development, to facilitate the broader implementation of Universal Access in various sectors. Since 2015, Colette has been the South African Representative for SC4A (SmartCities4All) and she was among the first of international applicants to receive the highest echelon of accreditation, Level 3 Advanced Accessibility Consultant for the International Certification of Professionals in Accessible Built Environments (CPABE) Program. Colette was subsequently invited to be a member of the Expert Panel to evaluate and grade applicants of the CPABE Program for IAAP as well as assist in the development of an international body of knowledge and the associated content for the grading of international applicant for the different levels of certification through IAAP, along with other international experts in Universal Access. As of February 2020, Colette was been requested to join as a board member for GUDC (Global Universal Design Commission), who are a not-for-profit corporation, which was established to develop global Universal Design standards for buildings, products and services. Since 2021 Colette was unanimously endorsed to join the Global Leadership Council by the existing membership council.
Colette also currently serves on two working groups as part of SABS (South African Bureau of Standards) and she is also a welcomed annual guest lecturer on Universal Access at the University of Cape Town (UCT) for the Disability Studies Program (MDIS) and is a regular guest lecturer at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). In 2020 Colette was invited as a knowledge expert on UD by the South African Minister of Justice and Correctional Services to serve on South African Law Reform Commission Advisory Committee to participate in the investigation of the domestication of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in South Africa, and in 2022 she was invited as a Universal Design expert to join the task team established by SADA (South African Disability Alliance) to write and submit the UNCRPD Shadow Report for South Africa.
IGOR RIX
UA Consultant
Igor, a qualified Internal Auditor, resigned from his business in August 2016 and took a sabbatical year, during which he self-renovated and adapted his new family home to accommodate his daughter with spinal paraplegia. During this process he became aware of the multitude barriers and ignorance to accessibility and recognised the opportunity to qualify himself in the field of universal accessibility in the built environment, to change the way key role players think about access and how to bring about change in the building industry.
​
In August 2017, he attended a CPD workshop on Universal Access, presented by Colette Fransolet and Phillip Thomson from Universal Design Africa (UD Africa). Shortly thereafter, his passion to break down the barriers to access, inspired him to pursue to a new career in Universal Access Consulting and he registered Tri Access Consultants in February 2018.
In July 2018 he completed a course in Universal Design & Public Transportation via the Centre for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access at the Buffalo University (New York) and also obtained a National Diploma in Access Consulting from the Access Institute in Melbourne, Australia. He is a current registered professional member and Certified Professional in Accessible Build Environments (CPABE Level 2 – Advanced) with the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP).
​
Emanating from his studies, experience and personal reference, Igor has con knowledge in terms of the various forms of impairment and related access barriers, universal accessibility, as well as organizational and business-related access compliances and risk management. These include the interpretation, recommendation and application of various national and international access legislation and building codes, universal design principles and goals, access auditing, plan reading and architectural reviews and disability awareness.
His abilities also extend to risk assessment and management, client relationships, team effectiveness and cultural awareness in the built environment, age care facilities, transport, education, retail, outdoor spaces and recreation. He is consciously taking into account the diverse access needs and human centered design considerations for each individual to live, learn, work and play with equal opportunities as enjoyed by the majority of society.
Igor is a people’s person with integrity, ethics, patience, empathy and a caring nature, which underpin his understanding and valuing of future human centered needs with insight and he enjoys applying his knowledge and creativity to solve problems. Igor enjoys challenging projects and works well within teams, applying innovation and creativity.
He is an elegant communicator, both verbally and in writing and use relationships to communicate values.
As a qualified and certified Universal Access Consultant, Igor is now working in the field of Universal Access Consultancy and Auditing alongside the qualified, accredited and experienced consultant, Ms. Colette Fransolet, the founder and owner of Inclusive Design.
​