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UNIQUE LIFTS TOURISTS CAN’T MISS

This week marks the arrival of British Tourism Week. It’s an annual event that highlights the value of tourism and what the UK can offer in terms of tourism. In the UK, the tourism sector is the third largest employer and it worth more than £100bn a year, which is why there are events that highlight the different experience within the UK throughout this week.

At Axess2, we love to discuss feats of engineering, especially when it comes to lift design and implementation. That’s why we’ve come up with a list of unique lifts that tourists can’t miss when they are visiting a brand-new city or country.

THE SHARD, LONDON

The Shard has been open for over four years and it still stands as being the tallest building in London, dominating the skyline. It is also stated as being the fourth tallest building in Europe, meaning that it must hold some beautiful views of the UK’s capital… And it does!

The Shard features a unique lift system that can travel at six metres per second, which is interesting considering the height of The Shard. One feature that tourists love about The Shard is ‘The View from The Shard’, which is located at level 68. The distance between the ground level and this tourist attraction is 244m, meaning that it takes the passenger lifts within The Shard just under a minute to get to that height – what a feat of engineering!

Unique Lifts Tourists Can't Miss

THE HAMMETSCHWAND LIFT, LUCERNE

This unique lift, located at the Burgenstock mountain at Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, is one of the most spectacular that we have ever seen at Axess2. The lift itself isn’t as high as the lift situated in The Shard but it does have a record in relation to its height; it’s the tallest exterior lift in Europe.

The Hammetschwand lift is located at the edge of a plateau on the mountain that overlooks the stunning lake below. The unique lift is just over 150m high and was originally built over a century ago in 1905, but was then improved upon in 1935, which meant that the lift could travel at speeds of 2.7 metres per second.

Despite that it’s an exterior lift that is situated at the edge of a mountain, it’s an extremely popular tourist attraction.

THE AQUADOM LIFT, BERLIN

This unique lift in Berlin is a fraction of the size of the lifts mentioned previous, but it features something much more special; the AquaDom lift is situated in an acrylic glass cylindrical aquarium. It’s located at the Radisson Blu Hotel and is the main attraction at the Berlin Sea Life Centre.

The AquaDom is the largest cylindrical aquarium in the world in terms of volume and contains over 1,500 fish. When you access the lift, the fish inside the aquarium will be swimming around you, making it an incredibly immersive experience for everyone.

These unique lifts are some of the most successful tourist attractions within these cities, so if you are going to these places anytime soon, make sure to check out these lifts if you love architectural marvels. At Axess2, we specialise in providing high quality platform and access lift systems into homes, offices, and shops across the UK. Why not look at some of our impressive case studies to see what we are capable of?