New Forest Ice Cream

We were approached by New Forest Ice Cream, one of the largest independent ice cream producers in the UK. They were looking to install disabled access to the 1st floor at their head office in Lymington, Hampshire. New Forest Ice Cream is a family run business that was established over 30 years ago and has supplied the nation with the highest quality products. As the business has grown so has the office size and location. In 2013 New Forest Ice Cream moved back to where they started in Lymington to larger premises. With the larger production facility and office they needed disabled access to the first floor. This is when they got in contact with Access Lifts.

After attending site and having a meeting with the client it was clear they wanted a practical lift that would have lots of space. This was so that 1st floor of the office was accessible for disabled members of staff as well as any visitors who used wheelchairs. We installed a disabled platform lift measuring 1100mm x 1400mm - enough space for a wheelchair as well as a carer if necessary in it's own aluminium structure. The total distance the lift travelled was 4.5 metres across the 2 floors. The lift was finished with glass swing landing doors which were painted blue with the rest of the shaft painted white to match the building's interior. The lift was installed within 3 days.

National Theatre

We were approached by the National Theatre as they were undergoing a refurbishment to a large part of the theatre. They needed to provide disabled access throughout the building, unfortunately they couldn't make space for a conventional passenger lift due to the building's Grade II listing. The National Theatre is situated on the Southbank of the Thames and holds a host of productions from Shakespeare to more contemporary plays.

Working with Lendlease, the construction management business, we designed and fitted a lift with automatic doors on adjacent sides. The lift travelled a distance of 12 metres across four floors, with entry points on two of the four sides of the lift shaft. The client had strict criteria that the lift had to meet due to the building's Grade II listing. The ceiling of lift had to be anodised bronze to match the theatre's ceiling that had originally been installed in 1976. In order to match this requirement we used the same anodising company that had originally constructed the theatre's ceiling. We also replicated the handrail from the landings inside the lift car and used the same materials to create a handrail that is identical to those in the theatre. We completed the lift with the same flooring as the rest of the theatre, with the original carpet from 1971 being used in the lift car. The rest of the lift was finished in stainless steel to contrast the wooden panelling and one of the interior sides was fitted with a complete floor to ceiling mirror. Even with the high specification of the lift, it was fitted within 4 weeks.

Medway County Court

We were approached by Medway County Court in Chatham, Kent as they needed to replace their old disabled platform lift with a new one. The old lift that we removed was over 40 years old therefore in really bad condition, our engineers were surprised it even worked! After removal of the old lift we measured the resulting gap so that we could design the new lift. We set out to design a lift that would be robust, affordable and would last. Courts are very busy buildings with a large number of visitors daily. The difficulty of creating a disabled access lift for a public building such as Medway County Court is making it robust enough to stand up to the daily wear and tear as well as finding time to fit it.

We installed a lift with platform dimensions of 900mm x 1480mm, the length of the platform allows both a disabled person in a large wheelchair and carer to travel up together. The lift travels a total distance of 1400mm and was finished with glass automatic doors and side panels. The extruded legs were finished in brushed aluminium. Due to the busy nature of the court, we weren't able to install the lift within the week. The result of this was that we had to fit the lift on the weekend, we started the installation on Saturday morning and were finished by Sunday afternoon. The stainless steel lift car will protect any marking over time and allow the lift to provide disabled access for a number of years.

To see projects similar to Medway County Court click on the following links:

Venture House | Seven Dials | National Army Museum | Chiswell Street | Southwark Council

Paternoster Square

We were approached by the building and real estate group CBRE for a project in one of their buildings in Paternoster Square, Central London. Paternoster Square is in the heart of the financial district in the City of London, playing host to the London Stock Exchange as well as several investment banks. The client wanted a lift that would connect the kitchen on the lower floor to the staff restaurant above. The lift would act as disabled access as well as performing as a goods lift ferrying food to and from the two floors.

The specific requirements that the client wanted were; the lift could take over 300 kg in weight, as they would be transporting several heavy trolleys to and from the kitchen. The second requirement was that the lift had 2 points of access on the lower floor so that trolleys could be loaded into the lift form both sides of the kitchen and the client wanted an affordable product that wouldn’t break the bank.

In order to match these criteria we decided to install a 1100mm x 1460mm screw drive platform lift with a travel of 3.6m between floors. The lift supports a load of up to 410kg so staff could easily transport large trolleys carrying food up in the lift. As requested two doors were fitted on the lower floor to allow goods to be loaded form both sides of the kitchen and then one adjacent door was fitted within the restaurant. The structure and lift car were finished in white with blue floors apart from the restaurant door was finished in black as to match the colours of the restaurant. The installation was completed within 3 days.

Commercial Buildings

New Forest Ice Cream

For more information about lifts like the one above call us on 0800 65 252 65 or email us

National Theatre

For more information about lifts for theatre and stage call us on 0800 65 252 65 or email us

Medway County Court

For more information about lifts like the one above call us on 0800 65 252 65 or email us

Paternoster Square

For more information about lifts like the one above call us on 0800 65 252 65 or email us