Warehouse / Office Building

The Opportunity

adi VT were instructed by a leading UK M&S engineering consultancy to undertake a survey of a passenger lift and dumbwaiter, located in a large warehouse/office space in Nottingham, to ascertain the equipment’s current condition and expected working life.

During our site visit, we found the eight person passenger lift to be working. The dumbwaiter, however, was isolated and not in operation with the lower-level landing entrance boarded up.

There were no statutory LOLER reports to be seen for either lift, and it appeared that the equipment did not have any current maintenance regime in place or contract, although there was a previous lift maintenance contractor’s log card on site.

We reported that the hydraulic passenger lift was some 33 years old and had exceeded its original design life of 15-20 years. Due to the age of the lift, we advised that spare parts/replacement components would be increasingly difficult to obtain. We recommended that the lift was totally replaced in the near future with a modern lift of energy-efficient design, using traction machine room-less equipment.

We reported that the lift, in its current condition, was not fully compliant with current health and safety recommendations. We advised that the lift could be managed with RAMS (risk assessments and method statements) until a replacement was undertaken.

We noted that the lift had a carpet flooring and this would require appropriate fire/flame resistance. We recommended complete replacement of the dumbwaiter, which was also over 30 years old.

The Solution

We provided the client with a budget recommendation for the replacement of the two lifts and an outline programme for complete replacement which included preparation and approval of a specification for tender, the expected tendering period, an analysis, and recommendation, instruction, the procurement period and the removal and installation period. 

We provided the client with a portfolio of supporting photographs with our recommendations.