"For these people, when they visit anywhere, it needs to be accessible. The right signage needs to be in place, it needs to be easy to get in and out of in a wheelchair or on crutches, and there's mother and child parking. It's all those kinds of services."
The overall design of Bayfair helped it achieve the silver rating, though Mr Ellingford said there is more work to be done.
"The centre has been well designed. It already had some initiatives around access and disability amenities ... That got us the silver rating.
"For us, it's where do we go from here, and that is the platinum rating" said Mr Ellingford.
Making the lifts more tactile for the visually impaired was one thing that needed work to help achieve a higher rating.
Doing this would make it easy for customers who were visually impaired to "know the lift is there and what level they are on", Mr Ellingford said.
The Be. Accessible website describes platinum-rated organisations or businesses as being "first class".
Tauranga Disability Advisory Group chairman Paul Curry was "completely ecstatic" at Bayfair's commitment to "cutting-edge inclusivity".
Bayfair not only achieved the silver rating, but were close to gold, Mr Curry said.
Bayfair management would eventually achieve a platinum rating because it had "put their money where their mouth is" and they had a plan to achieve it, Mr Curry said.
Bayfair had already budgeted for all the changes required for it to achieve the desired platinum-level rating.
"I have been absolutely blown away by it.
"I find that it is real commitment," said Mr Curry.
The Disability Advisory Group works alongside the Tauranga City Council to achieve its vision of making Tauranga the most inclusive and accessible city in New Zealand.
