My  partially sighted father used to try and reset MCBs with his walking stick when they tripped due to bulbs blowing. The consumer unit was about 9ft from the floor adjacent to the ceiling and the lights would be out. He usually failed and would be without lights until the home care person arrived the next morning. They would have to get a chair to stand on to reset the MCB which is  hardly a safe practice.

As far as I am concerned the building regs height regulations should be followed for a new build and rewires. Even if a couple of the MCBs are outside the recommended height range at least they can be easily accessed by most people..

I did try replacing the incandescent bulbs with CFLs but they did not last very long and usually tripped the MCB when failing! 

When working, now retired, I did get very fed up  when trying to fix problems when the consumer unit was against the ceiling above the toilet in a tiny downstairs toilet. Impossible to get the step ladders in properly,  impossible to get my big head close to see what was where and very tiring having to work at arms length. Plus the precautions needed to ensure the toilet did not get broken by a dropped tool. 

My  partially sighted father used to try and reset MCBs with his walking stick when they tripped due to bulbs blowing. The consumer unit was about 9ft from the floor adjacent to the ceiling and the lights would be out. He usually failed and would be without lights until the home care person arrived the next morning. They would have to get a chair to stand on to reset the MCB which is  hardly a safe practice.

As far as I am concerned the building regs height regulations should be followed for a new build and rewires. Even if a couple of the MCBs are outside the recommended height range at least they can be easily accessed by most people..

I did try replacing the incandescent bulbs with CFLs but they did not last very long and usually tripped the MCB when failing! 

When working, now retired, I did get very fed up  when trying to fix problems when the consumer unit was against the ceiling above the toilet in a tiny downstairs toilet. Impossible to get the step ladders in properly,  impossible to get my big head close to see what was where and very tiring having to work at arms length. Plus the precautions needed to ensure the toilet did not get broken by a dropped tool.