Background
At the time of completion in 2002 the then Portman Building located on Richmond Hill, Bournemouth was the tallest building in the area standing at 13 storeys. Today, the building is owned and managed by the Nationwide Building Society, now known as the Nationwide Building, and still had the original four passenger lifts and one goods lift in service. Due to the lifts’ age, reliability and appearance the Nationwide’s building managers decided that a full modernisation of all five lifts was required.
The process
During the early part of 2020, Temple Lifts’ Southern Regional Team operating from our Havant offices were asked to competitively tender for the full modernisation of the building’s four passenger lifts and one goods lift. After detailed site surveys and further discussions with the Nationwide’s building managers, we submitted a detailed tender with proposed time frames. Following our submission, we were pleased to be informed that we had won the modernisation contract for all five lifts.
The modernisation
Our project included the removal of all the original traction lift equipment controllers and ancillaries. These were being replaced with SASSI traction motors, Lester Controls’ lift controllers and all new shaft equipment excluding the guides. New lift car and landing doors, new car and landing signalisation, car operating panels and safety equipment. As the building was fully occupied during the modernisation, to ensure continuous lift availability for the Nationwide’s employees and visitors, we staggered our work, always keeping two of the lifts in service for passengers.