How can you redesign and reestablish a lift in a historic building and a specialist educational setting?

Background

Westminster Abbey, SVMAs oldest estate by far, with origins dating back to 960AD. Needing no introduction, The Abbey has seen 40 monarchs crowned over nearly 1,000 years, along with being the final resting place for countless historic figures, including Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Dickens, Stephen Hawking, Edward the Confessor, Elizabeth the First and 16 other monarchs. Surprisingly, the estate has a number of lifts, several of which are in the Abbey itself.

Situated in Dean’s Yard, within the precincts of Westminster Abbey, is the Abbey’s choir school. It is a boarding school dedicated exclusively to educating the choristers of Westminster Abbey’s Choir. It is the only remaining choir school in the UK that serves solely chorister pupils with an international intake.

The original lift in the choir school was installed in the early 1980s, but had been isolated for many years due to its unreliability and lack of alignment to current standards.

The Brief

The Abbey’s management team considered a return to lift service essential despite the building’s relatively low height. It would facilitate tutors carrying musical instruments to lessons and aid in transporting linen, etc., to dormitories.

The lift requirements needed to reflect the school’s special demands.

• It had to operate quietly because a school focused on music needs a quiet environment.
• The lift had to be as large as the lift shaft would allow, as enlarging the lift shaft in the historic building was out of the question.
• Maintenance of the lift should look to minimise the disruption to the school day and not present any hazards to the pupils (some as young as 8 years old)
• Access to the lift had to be easy and quick for authorised users, but prevent pupils and other unauthorised passengers from using the lift

Challenges

The project presented many challenges, some engineering, some logistical and some related to working in a school environment where pupil safeguarding is the utmost priority.

The lift shaft was very small, so the lift equipment needed to consist largely of the lift car and counterweight. The existing lift motor room is adjacent to the teaching space, so reducing noise transmission was a key concern.

With the building located in Deans Yard a precinct of The Abbey, vehicular access was very limited meaning deliveries had to be co-ordinated out of hours, and the equipment moved by hand through the building. The overall programme had to be carefully aligned with the school term, holidays, and work activities. School hours needed to closely correspond with the school timetable to ensure the lift installation would not disrupt the pupils’ learning.

Process

Our initial design input was to determine which lift technology could realistically be applied, so as to ensure the lift contractor’s time was not wasted pursuing a specified outline performance solution that was not achievable. A key early decision was to retain the existing motor room and site the control equipment there, providing a secure plantroom for lift maintenance. The machine would be located within the shaft in a typical machine room configuration, away from the teaching space, adjacent to the motor room. Airborne noise from the machine remained a concern, so we advocated using acoustic treatment at the top of the shaft.

Maximising shaft space, we leveraged cutting-edge lift technology, particularly PESSRAL products, for shaft positioning and monitoring lift-car movement. This allowed us to dispense with shaft limits but, most significantly, introduce electrical safety gear. This delivered two benefits: the absence of a governor and a governor rope, and the ability to locate the safety gear blocks within the sling because they do not require a mechanical linkage, thereby saving space on top of the car. Other space-saving measures included the use of small-diameter plastic-covered rope, which permitted small divertor pulley diameters on the car and counterweight, and a fold-away pit ladder.

Adherence to the required programme, which reflected the school term times, was a key factor in selecting the successful contractor, with some claiming the project delivery was unrealistic. Despite this, the contractor awarded the project demonstrated their approach and technical ability to meet all project objectives.

Outcome

The installation contractor not only met the project delivery target but also exceeded it by two months, partly through close liaison with the school to carry out works when the work areas were available, all within budget.

The lift itself appears unremarkable to users, presenting itself as a ‘standard’ passenger lift, yet it is compliant to current standards, quiet, so it does not disrupt music lessons, is readily maintainable behind doors and has the added benefit of remote access to the control system by authorised engineers, enabling swift fault finding.

The Abbey has also installed a face recognition access system to ensure only authorised lift users can operate the lift. Music tutors can now be assured that their valuable instruments will be transported safely, and lessons are unaffected by any noise that could have been heard from the lift use.