Case Study – Royal Courts of Justice

Project:

Black Lift

Location:

London

Project Details:

The Gerald Honey Partnership were appointed as the Lift Consultant and CDM Coordinator for the major lift project which comprised the complete removal of an existing nine persons lift including the existing lift shaft structure and enclosure work and the subsequent installation of a new 13 persons rated lift housed within new steel and glazed load bearing structure and including all of the associated builders and electrical works.

The practice carried out an initial in-depth survey inspection together with an initial design feasibility to establish the optimum design arrangement, control functions and of course integrate the client’s specific aesthetic and operational requirements.

Following our in-depth investigations and engineering feasibility study we produced comprehensively detailed technical and contractual specification document and completed a competitive tendering exercise.

Subsequent to the careful assessment and evaluation of all tenders received the project contract appointment was awarded to Guideline Lift Services Ltd on the basis of their competitive, compliant and thorough tender submission.

The building has been offered Grade I listing by the English Heritage, consequently extensive discussions became necessary between the client, team and ourselves to ensure that the lift design and aesthetic appearance would be acceptable and in-keeping with the retained special features which included the decorative iron works around the lift entrance (portal) which was required under the Grade I listing.

No alteration to the existing building fabric was permitted and the use of diagonal bracing to the structure had to be avoided in order to achieve a minimalistic structure incorporating laminated glass cladding which allowed a significant level of light into the lift well and in conjunction allowing a view of the internal stone stairwell and balustrade in accordance with the architects original intentions.

The structure was designed, fabricated and constructed to act as a full self-supporting lift housing being attached to the shaft front floor beams only. No fixings or steady bolts into the stairwell stone work or balustrade were permitted.

As part of our engineering consultant and project management duties Guideline Lift Installations were appointed as the ‘Principal Contractor’ controlled under our Project Management CDM Coordinator duties.

The Lift Contractor in conjunction with their specialist sub-contractors commenced with their design and planning operations relative to the structure and enclosure works of the installation which entailed removal of the existing installation in its entirety and the subsequent protection to the stone balustrade and stair case including the excavation to the rear of the lift shaft to accommodate the increased lift shaft dimensions to comply with appropriate Code Standards.

The lift shaft structure was designed to be fully load bearing and self-supporting incorporating the specialist aesthetic finishes in accordance with Gerald Honey Partnership Design Application Technical Specification.

The lift entrance (portal) was retained as part of the Grade I listing with the structure and lift installation having to be set out from the datum line of the portal prior to the installation of the structure in order to provide a 900mm wide x 2000mm high clear entrance opening.

The glazed structure cladding was designed to be symmetrical and incorporate cross members and entrance fronts. However, the wiring panels were onsite measured specifically to provide clean lines to the total structure enclosure.

Following completion of this works the lift was installed during normal working hours although for safety reasons the enclosure glazing was delivered and fitted as a night works operation during which the building was mostly vacated.

The actual lift installation comprised a fully collective microprocessor based control system incorporating full flux vector drive operating at 1.6 m/s operating speed. The door panels are of glass construction with special depth kicking plates powered by a DC door operator motor driving the doors in a sinusoidal action.

The Lift Contractor under the engineering control and project management of the Gerald Honey Partnership completed their installation works fully in accordance with our specification, EN81:1 and the Lift Regulations 1997.

Result:

This project was ultimately successfully completed in being classified as a very interesting and challenging project, in overcoming various engineering and aesthetic finishing problems as a result of the design restrictions of the Grade I listing of the building. The Gerald Honey Partnership witness tested, witness tested, desnagged and signed off the project works for handover into service for the client as a renewal of an existing service to replace the original aged, unreliable and obsolete installation. The new lift and structure fully compliments and remains in-keeping with the original architectural intention and very detailed structural and aesthetic appearance to match the existing architecture.