Modernising lifts in occupied buildings and loss of lift service

Lift Modernisation Consultancy – Lift Modernisation in Occupied Buildings – Loss of Lift Service, Lift Reliability and Pro-active Lift Maintenance

The loss or deterioration in the lift service

Lift modernisations in existing, occupied buildings will detrimentally and significantly impact the lift service.

This is the case, whether on a single lift or on a group of lifts.

If the lifts are already heavily used this reduction in lift service can be very severe.

Unhappy staff and a poor impression for visiting clients can result.

Other issues to consider

Health and Safety should always be a paramount consideration with major works going on and large pieces of equipment needing to be removed and replaced.
If the lifts supply and/or the lift isolators are also being replaced this can require power down periods in the building.
The lifts may integrate with building services, such as fire alarms and building management systems which will need to be tested.

How can the impact be mitigated?

Thorough planning
Detailed programming
Great communication at all levels
These are essential to minimise the disruption caused by major lift modernisation or lift refurbishment work.

Our lift modernisation consultancy work with these challenges all the time. A good tip is to manage expectations from the outset. Be open and honest about the potential impact and communicate, communicate, communicate.

Loss of lift Service

The main loss of lift service is due to one or more lifts being out of action whilst being modernised.

For small two and three car groups of lifts this can be drastic and unfortunately there is little that can be done about this.

However, it is possible to understand the impact before it happens by carrying out a Lift Traffic Analysis. A lift traffic analysis can accurately estimate what the waiting times and capacity of the lifts will be with a reduced number of lifts.

Lift Reliability

Consider the example of a triplex, three-car group of lifts and modernising one lift at a time. When the first lift is taken out for lift modernisation, the remaining two old, un-modernised lifts will bear the full brunt of the traffic that previously three had coped with!

A consequence of this increased load is that they are likely to become more unreliable. They are already probably old and very worn, which is the reason for the lift modernisation.

Proactive Maintenance

A key remedy is to work closely with the lift maintenance company to ensure they are more proactive with the maintenance.

Before the lift modernisation starts the maintenance company should spend time on the old lifts thoroughly cleaning and adjusting them.
Doors should be a focus because the doors usually account for around half of all breakdowns on lifts.
The frequency of maintenance can also be increased from monthly to perhaps bi-weekly or even weekly.
If this is agreed up front during the negotiation before an order is placed for the lift modernisation, then often a lift company will include this at no or little cost.

A plus side is that once the first lift is being modernised there is cache of spare parts available.

However, the ‘service’ and ‘modernisation’ side of many lift companies in our experience could often communicate better and the lift company may need to be directed to retain certain components from the old lift being modernised rather than dispose of them directly.

How can we help?

If you are considering a lift modernisation then one of our lift modernisation consultancy team are on hand to assist at all stages.

We are experienced not only technically, but in handling modernisations in existing buildings. We do it all the time, in buildings from single lifts to buildings with many lifts.

Our experience says plan and consider up front all the likely implications. And manage expectations.