Advice from people who also fit the thing.

Traffic analysis, specification writing, tender review and condition surveys — for architects, main contractors, managing agents and estates teams deciding what to put in a building.

Family run since
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RIBA 2–5
Stages we work across
Any
Manufacturer, unbiased
Offices, UK-wide cover
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Traffic analysis

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Specification

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Tender review

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Condition survey

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Due diligence

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Expert witness

Specified before it is sold

The cheapest time to fix a lift is on paper.

Most of the expensive lift problems we are called to were decided years earlier, in a drawing: a shaft too shallow for the pit, a single
car serving a building that needed two, a machine room designed out without the headroom to replace it.

We are unusual in that we consult and install. That means the advice comes from people who have had to physically fit the thing
into the hole afterwards — and we will happily specify a manufacturer we do not supply.

What we are asked for

Four pieces of work.

Each can stand alone, and most projects need two or three of them.

RIBA stage 2–3
Traffic analysis

How many lifts, what capacity and what speed a building actually needs, based on occupancy, floor count and peak patterns. The calculation that decides whether one car is enough.

RIBA stage 4
Specification & tender

A manufacturer-neutral specification you can put out to open tender, plus review of the returns so you can compare like with like rather than on headline price.

Existing buildings
Condition & due diligence

Independent assessment of lifts in a building you own or are buying — remaining life, compliance gaps and the capital cost coming in the next five years.

01 / For architects & contractors

Get the hole right the first time.

Pit depth, headroom, machine-room position, structural loadings and door openings are all cheaper to change in a drawing than in concrete.

We will mark up your shaft drawings at stage 2 or 3 and tell you what the lift you are describing actually needs.

02 / For owners & agents

A view that is not selling you a lift.

When an incumbent maintainer recommends replacement, it is reasonable to want a second opinion from someone with no stake in the outcome.

We provide that in writing, with the reasoning shown, and we are content for it to conclude that the existing lift is fine.

For design teams

Rules of thumb worth checking early.

SL.MNT / TECH
Design starting points

Pit depth, passenger lift

1200–1600 mm

EN 81-20

Headroom, passenger lift

3600 mm

EN 81-20

Minimum car, Part M

1100 × 1400 mm

Part M

Handling capacity, office

12–15% in 5 min

CIBSE D

Second lift threshold

Above 4 storeys

By occupancy

These are starting points for early-stage design, not a specification. Every one of them shifts with building use, occupancy and the lift type finally selected.

Standards we work to
LOLER 1998

Thorough examination at statutory intervals, carried out and certified in house.

EN 81-20 / 81-50

Current lift safety standard for design and installation, with declaration of conformity at handover.

EN 81-70 / Part M

Accessibility — car dimensions, controls, signals and door dwell times.

EN 81-72

Firefighting lifts, including secondary supply and protected lobby requirements.

BS 7255

Safe working on lifts — the code of practice our engineers work to on every site.

ISO 14001 / 45001

Accredited environmental and occupational health and safety management systems.

Consultancy work

Mixed-use development, Manchester
Traffic analysis

Analysis across residential and commercial cores establishing lift count and capacity at RIBA stage 2.

Acquisition due diligence
12 buildings

Condition and compliance review of lifts across a portfolio ahead of purchase, with five-year cost forecast.

School expansion, Hertfordshire
Specification

Manufacturer-neutral specification and tender review for a new accessible lift in a live school.

Listed building, St Albans
Feasibility

Feasibility study on introducing a lift into a protected structure without altering the principal staircase.

Send us the drawing. Early is better.

A twenty-minute look at a shaft detail at stage 3 has saved projects a great deal more than our fee.