Following on from Flat Living Issue 53 where we reviewed some of the services associated with lift installations within residential developments, this month’s edition of Flat Living looks towards the near future and some of the changes that may be just around the corner.
Evacuation Lifts
The London Plan Guidance Sheet Policy D5(B5) (Greater London Authority) was published on 2 March 2021, the document states that in all developments where lifts are installed, as a minimum, at least one lift per core (or more subject to capacity assessments) should be a suitably sized evacuation lift.
Whilst this document is currently London centric and only applies to new developments, it is a clear statement that developers should be mindful of providing step free egress from a building in the event of emergency, to enable persons to make a safe and dignified exit from the property.
The retrospective enforcement of a policy such as this is not anticipated. But with a move for commercial properties to be redeveloped as residential developments, seeming a likely outcome of the Covid 19 pandemic and people now working from home more often, changes in use will need to obtain planning permissions and this guidance should be considered.
Asset Maintenance and Life Cycle
One of the largest issues facing designers, particularly when working on residential developments, is the maintenance, testing and reporting for evacuation lifts. The requirements of LOLER will need to be upheld (Flat-Lifting E57) to ensure the lift can be used in normal passenger carrying operations. However, the auxiliary services that differentiate the lift as an evacuation (or firefighting) unit need further testing beyond this and the responsibility for this should be appointed to a ‘duty holder’.
Commercial properties will generally have a person or team responsible for the management of the lifts and auxiliary services in the event of fire or emergency, with clear and concise information on the number of persons within the property who require assistance via an evacuation lift.
However, it is something all residential developments should also consider. Some will have concierge services, whereby porters and other staff will be available for the routine testing required. However, when a development does not have this level of staffing, who will be the person to take on the role of ‘duty holder’?
Would it be the Property Management company or the Directors of the building as the ultimate Client?
The recommendations of BS 9999 for routine inspection and maintenance includes the following advice:
- Weekly testing of the evacuation lift switch to prove the lift recalls to the fire and rescue service access level and goes into evacuation control. If found to be defective, it should be repaired or replaced.
- Monthly simulation of a failure of the primary electricity supply. If a generator provides the standby supply, it needs to energise the lift(s) for at least one hour.
- Arrangements should be made for an annual test of various items including evacuation lifts and a certificate of test is to be obtained and retained by the owner.
BS 8899 makes recommendations for thorough examination of lifts in service including:
- The responsible person should ensure that all evacuation features and functions of the lift are thoroughly examined periodically. The responsible person should ensure that equipment not part of the lift (such as secondary supplies, supply changeover equipment, any pit drainage pumps, firefighting or evacuation communications systems, automatic recall devices, external indicators, and any labelling) is examined and tested where necessary on a similar schedule.
- The competent person undertaking thorough examination may call for equipment not part of the lift to have supplementary testing carried out.
- The responsible person should ensure that such supplementary testing is carried out and the results communicated to the competent person.
Due to the importance the evacuation systems hold within the buildings fire strategy, there are several roles and responsibilities mentioned above which should not be overlooked.
On some of the other technological advances, we spoke with Matt Davies, Market Insight and Innovation Manager at Avire to see how a company such as Avire develops products in a fast-changing environment:
Fibre Lines
Telephone lines are required to maintain the communication between entrapped passengers and the lift service provider in the event of emergency. Whilst many lift lines have transitioned to GSM connections in the last few years, an estimated 200k lifts in the UK are still connected to landlines.
The replacement of copper lines with fibre optic, and the removal of support for older analogue signalling technology from the UK landline networks, will mean that a high proportion of these lifts will require some form of intervention to keep the emergency communication working.
Engaging with the provider of your telephone lines to understand what changes they are making, and by what date, is essential. Your lift service provider should then be able to tell you the age and type of emergency communication equipment installed on your lift.
Depending on the age and model of emergency communication equipment installed on your lift, a variety of different options are available to ensure continuing operation and compliance.
Remote Monitoring
Monitoring of building assets and systems is an increasingly hot topic and traditionally lifts have lagged behind in this space. Despite the fact the lift is an essential part of building accessibility.
Diverse portfolios, with a mix of ages and brands of lifts, have proved to be a particular challenge. Systems for specific manufacturers’ lifts have existed for many years but have often been unsuitable for wider deployment.
As technology has evolved there has been a proliferation of start-up companies offering ‘internet of things’ systems, where sensors can give feedback data from the lift.
The key question to ask is what value do you want to get from a monitoring system? Then use this as the criteria by which you evaluate potential offerings.
These systems are certainly cutting edge, but it is always worth challenging vendors to give real world examples of how the data can be used to improve the operation and maintenance of your lifts.
