Here at Axess 2, we have installed lifts into a range of properties, from brand new buildings to historic locations. Although lifts were relatively well-known pieces of technology in the mid- to late- 19th Century, they were not really in what you could call common use for many years. They would be found in particularly tall buildings and early skyscrapers, and in factories and warehouses – but not in the average person’s home or in most high street shops.
In recent years, however, with disabled access more of a consideration than it was then, it has become more and more common to install lifts in smaller buildings – for access to only one storey, or even just to surmount a few steps at the entrance.
Naturally, it is much easier to install a lift into a building at the point of its original design, and our lifts are used in many modern buildings where they’ve been included in the blueprint from day one, but we are also able to install lifts into older buildings too, often without any drastic changes to the architecture.
Many of our platform lifts are designed to fit into a building with minimal building work – they don’t require a separate machine room, and they don’t require a large pit at the ground floor. All they need is the space in which the shaft sits, and in many cases this can be found easily – for example, in the space left by the stairwell.
One of our most successful projects in a historic building was in the Charles Dickens Museum in London. When the museum expanded from the original Charles Dickens House at 48 Doughty Street to incorporate a modern visitor centre in the building next door, we were called upon to install a lift to provide access to all four floors of the museum. Our Rafael lift was an excellent fit, requiring only a small amount of building work at 49 Doughty Street in order to allow mobility-impaired individuals access to both the modern and the period halves of the attraction.
For more information on our lifts, or to make an enquiry and get a quotation for installing a lift in your property, call us on 01200 405 005 or contact us online today.