Firstly, as a company we are very grateful to visit some beautiful historic and listed buildings that warrant national and international acclaim. We also love working in this fantastic locations and tackling the complicated problems that for the most part centuries old buildings can throw at us. We all know that they can be tricky to deal with whether you're the building's owner, a construction management company or even a lift engineering business like us. In this following article we're going to look at the challenges that can present themselves when working in a historic or listed buildings and how we can overcome them.

It's all well and good being asked to come to site to measure and provide a quotation for a lift for a historic or listed building. However due to listings even getting a lift into position can prove challenging. Unlike normal buildings where you could simply remove part of a wall or make a small change, do that on a listed building and you'll have hell to pay for it. Sometimes this can be good as it allows us to use our creative side to design and develop a lift that has to overcome this tricky obstacle. We do love working in historic and listed buildings and designing lifts that seamlessly blend into the surrounding aesthetics.

These are the issues that can stop your project before it's even got started or put the start date back by several months or even years. In buildings that are several hundreds of years old you should expect to find something of historic importance but it is always a surprise when they appear. The "surprises" can vary from a secretive Jacobean era priest hole that needs to be preserved or even bones of a 11th Century monk. Excavation is a very important part of the initial building process especially when lifts require a pit below the floor level. Churches seem to have the greatest risk of presenting surprises due to the age and the quantity of people being buried in the building or in the grounds. You always have your fingers crossed when you get a phone call from the site management company when you know they've just excavated where the lift is supposedly going. 

We've had lifts delivered to tiny areas or put into very small spaces but listed buildings can be another kettle of fish. The simple task of moving the lift from where it was delivered to where it is actually going to be can take hours to navigate tiny passageways. We are usually one of the last trades on site as the builders have laid our structure, the plasterers have already done their job and the decorators are splashing the walls with paint so we are up against a time constraint. This combined with a difficult to navigate site means it can extend lift installation. In order to make it more manageable and easier to move around site we can have our lifts delivered in smaller parts however that can extend the process of installation.

For the most part publicly owned historic or listed buildings are fairly well covered with modern wiring found around the whole of the building. However in private projects the story can be the polar opposite. I live in a Grade II listed house and know the difficulties of trying to modernise even basic features. A lot of the privately owned listed buildings that we have had a pleasure of working on are from 18th Century or before and sometimes it seems like their wiring is also from these times. The majority of our lifts run off single phase 240V actuators and so are easy to connect to the mains and are energy efficient. However in some listed buildings even this can prove difficult. Every single listed site that we visit is unique and poses its own challenges and part of the fun of the job is tackling these issues and adding more skills to our repertoire.

Ok so this isn't really issue and we love creating lifts that are "hidden" in plain sight but some designs can be more difficult than others. In the past we've had to use the exact same materials or original suppliers. For example at the National Theatre on London's Southbank we had to have the ceiling anodised bronze, it was done by the same company that anodised the original ceiling in 1976, we even used the same original carpet from 1971 on the lift's floor. For more about that particular project click here. Historic and listed buildings provide us the opportunity to create a very high specification of product which we love doing, being able to put all our skills on show is why we're in this business. To give you an example of what the work we're currently undertaking is that we're retrofitting an 1850s lift into a modern lift, using the same rosewood panelling and even the same Victorian lift curtain. We love creating unique lifts that are tailor made to the highest standards and quality.

For more information about our projects in historic and listed buildings click here and to see photos of our lifts in historic and listed buildings click here

Before we start, this list is completely objective and we know that our clients and customers get lifts for many different unique reasons. So in no particular order the first reason is...

1. Accessibility

One of the main reasons why someone would look to have a lift installed is due to accessibility - this could be in the form of a wheelchair user or if you've recently had an accident and now find it difficult to walk. A home lift helps you access every part of your home without difficulty. Everyone deserves to have freedom in their own home and a home lift can be a life changing benefit without breaking the bank.

2. Functionality

A lot of home lifts are installed as the client wants to be able to use the lift for other purposes then just moving themselves throughout the house. No one likes lugging heavy goods up and down the stairs, a home lift can make those journeys disappear and you'll be surprised by how many things you can get into even the smallest home lift. Whether you're about to go on holiday and have to carry your suitcases or you've just purchased some furniture, a home lift can be the perfect answer. Gone are those horrible early mornings where you're trying to walk the suitcase down the stairs without marking the walls or putting your back out.

3. Staying in Your Own Home

We don't know what life is ever going to throw at us, however we can always prepare for what could happen. If you have a serious accident it can be a life changing experience and make the 1st floor of your home completely inaccessible. This means you face the following options: you can either remodel your home extensively so now you can live on the ground floor, move out of your home to a new house or install a small home lift that would allow you to access every part of your home again. Home lifts are becoming as affordable as ever and can change your life completely and let you find your freedom again.

4. Futureproof

Futureproof is a buzz word in both the lift industry as well as in the housing market. More and more technological advancements are being brought into the home at an alarming rate. Whether it's your fridge giving you a weather update or ordering your food shop through a speaker we are creating fantastic inventions. We all know that we grow up and get older so in order to help us with life's inevitable difficulties a home lift can be the answer. And if you go to sell the house at any point then the addition of a home lift will definitely make it more attractive potential buyers.

5. Adds Value to Your Property

Every person who has spoken to a home lift salesman has probably heard this line during their sales pitch. We hate to say it but it's true, with an ever-ageing population, most buyers expect to get value for money. In the most affluent areas of the country, home lifts are becoming more and more commonplace. Sellers and homeowners are realising that to make their property stand out and be more attractive to buyers they need the convenience of a home lift. Lifts can act as an investment because they are for the most part inexpensive but can add significant value to your home or even be the key difference in a potential buyer putting in an offer.

6. Statement & Style

Gone are the clunky designs of the past, now we have sleek and attractive lift styles and a whole array of finishes to choose from so a client's lift is truly unique. We've been in the lift industry for over 40 years and have seen a massive increase in the features and luxury styles that can now be installed. Rather than being hid away in a cupboard (we do still do hidden lifts) home lifts are now being made into statement pieces in the home, a glamorous luxury in the hallway or a external glass structure fixed to the building. Being based in East Dorset we see the building styles of Sandbanks, Canford Cliffs and Bournemouth each day. Angular houses with glass being a prominent feature are everywhere and now lifts can make a similar statement.

7. Safety

It might sound a bit strange but lifts really can make your home safer especially for the very young and the elderly. The amount of times we hear of young children or the elderly falling down stairs is continuously rising. With an ever-increasing older population we really need to look into ways to make our homes safer and one of these options is to install a home lift. With advancements in technology and parts becoming standardised, the cost of having a home lift is constantly declining. In addition the size of mechanisms is always becoming smaller so there is no need for a large amount of builders' work. 

8. Convenience

It might sound silly but a lot of people look to get a home lift purely for convenience, we see many of our customers who live in converted or refurbished town houses have small home lifts installed. Town houses, particularly those in London can have 4 to 6 floors and so a home lift is the easiest way of getting from floor to floor rather than struggling up a tight staircase.

9. Save Space

Stairs can surprisingly take up a lot of room in your house without you knowing it. It sounds like a strange alternative but a home lift is a perfect as it frees space up on every floor. You can ever have the lift in an external shaft fitted to the outside of your house, saving more space. There are many different options and products available so the size of the lift can be really small - you can even have them in cupboards with your choice of door clad to the lift so it would be hidden in plain sight.

10. Security

A home lift can be used as part of a wider security package. If a home lift is fitted with key switches then the lift can only be operated by those individuals with the right keys. If the lift is the only way of getting from the ground floor to the first floor then it creates a physical barrier so that unwanted individuals cannot reach the first floor and beyond.

For more information about the different types of home lifts that we design and install click here and to see our completed home lift projects click here