Moreton Bay City Council and Belgravia Leisure adopt Cérge digital app to improve disability access at facilities

The City of Moreton Bay and Belgravia Leisure have adopted technology which will give people with a disability the confidence to visit aquatic and recreation centres, knowing it will be easy and they will be treated with respect.

Introduced at 12 Belgravia Leisure managed facilities in the Moreton Bay area, the introduction of the Cérge Companion digital concierge app represents the highest number of locations yet to simultaneously roll out the app across Australia.  

Aimed at reducing the fear, anxiety and discrimination that people with disabilities endure as customers, Cérge Companion is a communications platform which provides app users with a personalised service, alerting staff at participating organisations to the needs of the person with a disability and providing an access pathway. 

Enabling people with disability, support workers, carers and parents to notify a participating destination or venue of specific service preferences ahead of their visit, the free assistive technology removes fears and anxiety about how they or those close to them will be treated.

The Cérge Companion website links directly from a company’s website and contains a visual story and sensory guide, 360 degree virtual tour, audio guide, access guide, keyword sign board, communication board and more.

App developer Cérge’s partnership with Belgravia Leisure is an aquatic and recreation industry first and is a part of a Belgravia Leisure wide rollout which will see over 100 community facilities and thousands of people with a disability across Australia and New Zealand embrace all that the app has to offer.

Co-founder Chris Kerrisk said it was exciting to work so closely with Belgravia Leisure and the Belgravia Foundation to roll out Cérge across the City of Moreton Bay.

Explaining that the concept started out as a tool aiming to help people enjoy a VIP experience when visiting luxury brand locations, with the name being short for concierge, and how, during COVID, he partners White’s IGA and Belgravia Leisure, Kerrisk stated “the response from both was very clear and universal.

“(They said) ‘we don’t really want to use it for VIP entitlement. We’d much prefer to use this technology for customers with disability. If we can use this for customers with disability, we’d be very serious about adopting it’.

“We very quickly realised that what’s a nice, luxury, nice-to-have for some is actually life-changing for so many. The obvious change to it was essential to us.”

Kerrisk said the most important thing was not whether a venue was or wasn’t accessible, it was about how two people treated each other using the technology.

City of Moreton Bay Mayor Peter Flannery said council was on a journey to be the most accessible council in Queensland, particularly in the lead-up to the Olympics and Paralympics in 2032.

Mayor Flannery stated “to Belgravia for taking this application on board, thank you for doing that. We share that vision … you guys actually deliver it.”

Mayor Flannery agreed that having information and imagery available for people to see venues before they visited a venue was useful but to have the customer service to back it up was just as important.

Platinum Pools endorsements
The recent launch also included a presentation by Royal Life Saving Society Queensland State Manager Education and Training Nikki Thornhill.

Awarding Burpengary Regional Aquatic Centre and Albany Creek Aquatic Centre with silver endorsements, recognising the venues’ high safety standards, Thornbill commented “the Platinum Pools program has a focus on endorsing and acknowledging facilities and centres that try to achieve an extremely high standard - industry and Australian standard - on safety and maintaining those high standards throughout the year.”

The venues had to complete a 300-point safety check and achieved at least 90% compliance.

Images: Burpengary Regional Aquatic Centre (top) and Albany Creek Aquatic Centre (below), each now using the Cérge Companion digital concierge app and recipients of Royal Life Saving Platinum Pool status. Credit: City of Moreton Bay.