It is difficult to truly encapsulate the extent to which the passenger lift fundamentally changed the shape of the modern world, and as lifts get larger, faster and capable of travelling even greater vertical distances, the types of buildings that can be made will evolve alongside it.

After Elisha Otis’ demonstration of the safety elevator, his eponymous company started to produce lifts for a few relatively small buildings, and conventional wisdom was to design offices as low to the ground as possible to avoid tiring workers through endless flights of stairs.

This changed in 1870 with the construction of the Equitable Life Building, which could debatably be considered the first skyscraper ever made and inarguably considered to be the first modern office building in world history.

It was the headquarters of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, a life insurance firm based in downtown Manhattan, and the success of the rapidly modernising industry allowed it to create modern offices that would serve not only as a place where workers could operate efficiently but also act as a showpiece for the company itself.

In 1865, needing more space and reeling from two fires in its older office buildings, Equitable were initially hesitant to set up a larger building out of fear that it would hurt productivity, with the clear and obvious solution being the installation of lifts.

When the building was first completed in 1870, it had two steam-powered lifts, but within five short years that number had trebled, and by the late 1880s there were ten in total.

This ultimately turned the Equitable Life Building into a late-Victorian landmark and tourist attraction, as the lifts attracted a lot of people into the building just to see the city from a taller vantage point.

Its huge success inspired Equitable’s competitors to start building taller buildings, something only possible due to the lift.

When passenger lifts were made, they fundamentally changed the ways in which buildings, cities and communities were built, in more ways than the most obvious.

Whilst obviously, a lift shaft makes a taller building more accessible and therefore is as much of an enabling factor for the creation of the skyscraper as reinforced concrete, wrought iron, steel girders and the glass curtain, it fundamentally changed how we perceive height in buildings.

Tall buildings existed before the lift to a degree, but typically rooms and apartments on higher floors were treated as far less valuable and luxurious than the ones on the bottom floor.

Rather than penthouse apartments, the top floor of a tall building in the past would be more like a garret, a type of loft conversion found at the very top of the stairs, often featured sloped ceilings and was considered to be by far the least luxurious and prestigious rooms, second only to living on the street.

This was particularly common in the French Second Empire of the mid-19th century, as the different floors of larger Parisian buildings were quite strictly separated by class, and the higher up the stairs you lived, the lower your social status.

The garret, far from being a penthouse apartment, was treated as a nesting ground for starving artists and poets who essentially lived within the walls in leaky apartments, sharing space with birds and vermin.

The lift’s widespread adoption in the latter part of the 19th century changed all of that, particularly given that in the early days of the concept it was treated not only as a convenient way to travel between floors but a luxury feature in its own right.

That helped change the perception of the different floors of a building completely upside down, and to this day, the more time you spend in a lift getting to your floor, the more luxurious and valuable the destination is believed to be.

The importance of step-free access to the public transport system is widely recognised in this day and age. It is why, for instance, all 41 stations on the Crossrail Elizabeth line have it. But while a new railway, underground, or tram system can be built with this included, retrofitting can be a challenge.

Nonetheless, it is a challenge that Transport for London is taking on. The latest works include the revamp of Colindale Station on the Northern line, which will include both step-free access and a new ticket office.

The scheme includes a lift to the platform, which will enable those in wheelchairs and with other mobility needs to get from the ticket office area down to the platform. This is required even though the station is on the surface, as passengers still need to descend from the roadside entry to the platform below.

This project is one of several taking place as the Tube is gradually upgraded for those of restricted mobility. Better step-free access is part of the Piccadilly line upgrade, as well as a major part of the revamp of Elephant & Castle station.

Elephant & Castle is due for significant expansion and improvement for other reasons too, as the Bakerloo line, which currently terminates there, is set to be extended to the south-east, with four new stations.

Two of these, Burgess Park and Old Kent Road, will be new stations, while there will be interchanges with New Cross Gate Overground Station and Lewisham Rail and Docklands Light Railway station. This section is planned to be running by 2040, with a possible further expansion as far as Hayes by converting existing heavy rail lines.

Needless to say, this expansion will include step-free access, just like the two new stations on the Northern line spur at Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station that opened in 2022.

Some of the work on providing step-free access to older stations built without such considerations may be challenging, but it has been achieved elsewhere; for instance, all 15 stations on Glasgow’s Subway, which dates from 1896 and has never been expanded, have step-free access.

The ride in a passenger lift is fast, comfortable and smooth, as long as it is manufactured to exacting standards and installed by experts.

It is perhaps not entirely surprising that lifts would therefore be linked to a particularly smooth easy-listening Bossa Nova song. Still, the story of how The Girl from Ipanema became a lift music classic is particularly unusual.

Originally composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim, The Girl From Ipanema is believed to be the second-most recorded pop song ever made, with covers by countless artists such as Frank Sinatra.

It has a particularly gentle, smooth sound which does tie it somewhat to the actual genre of lift music that had been linked to the increased popularity of lifts since the 1930s, but even by the 1960s, its initial purpose of making people feel more comfortable in the safe but unfamiliar surroundings of a lift was nonexistent.

The connection between The Girl from Ipanema and lifts was not based on any commonly used lift music playlist, but instead emerged as the result of the 1980 comedy film The Blues Brothers, directed by John Landis.

In one of the film’s signature scenes, Jake and Elwood Blues rush into the Chicago City Hall building just before hundreds of law enforcement officers reach the building and try to break in.

As they attempt to apprehend the eponymous brothers, Jake and Elwood are in the lift, being serenaded by an elevator music cover of The Girl from Ipanema, produced by Norm Geller of FM100, a radio station based in Chicago, Illinois.

The contrast between the calm, silent stare behind the sunglasses of the Blues Brothers in the lift and the chaos outside made it an instant hit with audiences.

It also became an in-joke for Mr Landis, who would subsequently use it for every scene shot inside a lift, and much like other cinematic in-jokes such as the Wilhelm Scream, other directors adopted both the specific song and other similar easy-listening songs as part of the soundtrack for lifts in film, television and computer games.

Ironically, given that few lifts have piped-in music today, it is far more common to see a fictional lift play The Girl from Ipanema than a real one.

There are a lot of elements of passenger lifts that used to be vitally important standards but now only exist as either a memory or a legacy artefact of the way society used to be.

Alongside lift music, the other major part of the early lift experience was the lift attendant, known as an elevator operator in the United States.

Whilst ostensibly their job was simply to push a button or pull a lever in response to a request to change the floor, in practice the job of a lift attendant was somewhat more specialised and multifaceted than it might appear.

Early lifts were lever-operated, with fully automated passenger lifts only starting to appear in 1918, half a century after the invention of the safety lift. Because of this, early lifts were both quite complex and difficult to safely operate by visitors who were still less than familiar with the concept.

It also required skill to stop the lift on the right floor at the right time manually before automated systems made this a formality.

However, whilst most lift attendants were rendered surplus to requirements once automatic lifts reached a level of mature sophistication that most buildings had at least one, they did not entirely go away.

ded them to function, whilst the Stockholm Concert Hall required an operator to be there to check tickets at street level.

High-speed lifts and lifts in luxury buildings such as department stores still have lift attendants, partly as a form of crowd control, partly to act as a greeter or tour guide, and in some cases to help operate the lifts in a safe manner.

In other cases, however, the lift attendant simply stopped being needed; as people became 

more comfortable with lifts and as they became so simple to use that anyone could push a button and get to the floor they wanted, an extra person handling the controls was surplus to requirements.

So many building systems are interconnected in ways that are not always appreciated until one part changes in a way that is incompatible with the rest, which is why a general change in telecommunications could potentially make many passenger lifts in the UK unsafe and possibly illegal without alterations.

The reason for this is a consequence of the landline digital switchover, a transition spearheaded by BT that will switch off the existing Public Switched Telephone Network and use Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP or online calls) for all existing landlines.

This transition has a lot of benefits for the majority of businesses but also has some unintentional side effects for some people, including some of the businesses that would benefit from the upgrades to internet connection speed that come from this work.

The biggest one involves the emergency communications systems that are legally required to be fitted to every lift from 1998 onwards due to the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER).

This legislation requires all lifts to have a line of communication in case of an emergency, given that mobile phone signals are not always strong in a lift.

This device should be easily recognisable, enable two-way communication, require no further action other than activation and have an emergency power supply, and this latter point is where the problem lies.

PSTN and other analogue communications networks carry a low-voltage as part of their use, which allows for basic electrical devices to be powered without having a separate electrical supply.

This is not the case with digital landlines, so a power cut there would leave people trapped in a lift with potentially no way to contact the outside world.

If a building has an older lift, now is the time to check its emergency communication system and potentially replace it with a digital system based on the mobile network, with a battery backup to allow it to run in case of an outage for at least an hour.

People who have limited mobility need help getting around their house if they live on more than one level, which is why many have stairlifts fitted. However, more and more are choosing to have a home lift installed instead these days, and there are many reasons why. 

One factor to consider when thinking about a stairlift is if you have narrow stairs, as this will make it more challenging to get one fitted. The handrail and other features might have to be removed in order for it to fit in. 

They also take up a lot of space and can be difficult to get on or off, putting passengers at risk of falling. 

Installing a wheelchair lift in your house, on the other hand, has lots of benefits. For a start, they allow people to stay in their home for longer, as they can access upstairs and downstairs. 

As users do not need to access stairs if they have a lift, there is less risk of them falling, making it safer for them. 

Home lifts are also appealing to homebuyers, as they make the house look modern and equipped for the future. Therefore, they could add value to the property, while some prospective buyers will look at stairlifts as something to remove, which would be an extra cost for them. 

Even homebuyers who do not have mobility needs at the moment may look at a house with an elevator and view it as something they might need when they get older, without it affecting the aesthetic of the home. Therefore, it could make the asset more appealing, instead of being a deterrent. 

As well as home lifts, an accessible house should include a wet room, low counters, large parking spaces, large enough rooms for a wheelchair to turn around, and wide doors.

It is rare to find a hotel without a lift these days, and there is a good reason for this, as they have become integral to providing great customer experience and improving efficiency. 

When it comes to making sure guests have the best time, it is a good idea to invest in a passenger lift, as these can be used to bring both their luggage and themselves to the floor their room is on. 

In larger hotels where there are lots of floors, it makes a big difference not to have to carry heavy baggage up several flights of stairs, particularly for older or less abled guests. 

Those with mobility needs need to be able to use passenger lifts if the hotel wants to be accessible for all. 

Additionally, a large lift that can take at least eight people can also make the place run more efficiently, as guests are able to make their way to their rooms, the pool, dining area and reception far more quickly than if they had to all take the stairs.

Therefore, even if there is not enough space for a full passenger lift in the hotel, it is worth getting a platform lift at least to improve customer experience and satisfaction. 

Lifts are not only vital for guests though, as they help the business run more efficiently. Having a service lift for staff helps the hotel to create a better impression, as the behind-the-scenes jobs can be done out of view and far more quickly with an elevator. 

For instance, it can enable staff to move food and drink, laundry, supplies and equipment between floors without disrupting those staying at the hotel. Therefore, the hotel can maintain operations out of view of the guests, enabling it to be more efficient and appear faultless. 

The passenger lift is such a critical and foundational part of the skylines of modern cities that many people take it for granted. The incredible mechanisms and precise engineering feats ensure that a person only has to push a button to reach the floor they want to get to.

Interestingly, the first-ever lift in Great Britain was created largely as an afterthought as part of a grand plan between a painter and an MP who ultimately fled the country.

The painter was Thomas Horner, a surveyor by trade who had by 1820 become a landscape painter of some renown due to his versatility and technical skill.

After years of success in Wales, he moved to London to sell a panorama of London as seen from the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral, but after nobody expressed an interest in his paintings, he came up with the ambitious idea to create the biggest panoramic painting of London ever.

To house it, a building named the London Colosseum but designed to look like the Pantheon was constructed in Regent’s Park by Decimus Burton and funded by banker Rowland Stephenson MP at considerable expense.

This purpose-built building would not only house the painting itself, an ambitious work completed by E.T. Parris after four intense years of work and a painting task so arduous and risky that he fell from his scaffold twice, luckily avoiding any serious injury.

The acre of painting was so gargantuan that the best way to view it was from an elevated viewpoint, which is where the idea for an “ascending room” was invented, that could carry twelve people to a vantage point where they could gaze in wonder at the painting that surrounded them.

Sadly, the largest painting ever made no longer exists, as the sheer expense of the project would turn out to have been funded by Mr Stephenson MP stealing from the bank he worked for before fleeing to the United States, with Mr Hornor following soon after.

It fell into decline and was demolished in 1875, with its only lasting legacy being the birthplace of the lift as we know it today.

It is essential that nobody in society feels disadvantaged, no matter their age, gender or health, which is why all businesses need to ensure their buildings are as accessible as possible for everyone who visits. 

This includes putting in a wheelchair platform lift if there is more than one floor, adding ramps to entrances, installing wider doorways, having disabled toilets, and providing assistance technology. 

Having well-lit paths of travel, accessible parking spaces, and grab bars are also very helpful for those who are not fully able-bodied. 

The figures relating to disabled people in the UK show that more need accessibility help than many realise. Indeed, a third of households in England have at least one disabled person living in them. 

There are 16 million disabled people in the UK, which amounts to a quarter of the population, and 23 per cent of working age adults are disabled. This increases to nearly half (45 per cent) of those who have reached pension age.

It is important to remember that many disabilities might not be obvious, with two million people in Britain living with sight loss, 1.5 million having a learning disability, and 12 million having significant hearing loss. 

Other non-visible disabilities include autism, ADHD, sensory processing difficulties, dyslexia, mental health issues, diabetes, chronic pain, respiratory problems, incontinence, and cognitive impairment.

Even if they do not have mobility challenges, anyone with a disability may need more help accessing parts of a building, whether they find escalators or stairs difficult to deal with, they struggle to read signs or directions, or they find crowds challenging. 

That is why it is essential businesses make adjustments to their buildings so they are accessible for everyone.

There are few pieces of building technology that are more tested and more scrutinised as passenger lifts, and one of the most important ways of determining their safety can be found in list testing towers.

Ever since Elisha Otis used an axe and his own body to showcase the power of the safety brake, lift testing has been critical and often dramatic, requiring buildings almost as huge and spectacular in scope as the skyscrapers they are set to be installed in.

The very first lift testing tower was constructed by Mr Otis’ eponymous company 17 years after he died in his hometown of Yonkers, New York. However, the tower that is most fascinating and important for British lifts is based in Northampton.

The National Lift Tower was originally completed in 1980 under the name of the Express Lift Tower, designed by Maurice Walton of the architecture firm Stimpson Walton Bond, becoming one of only two in Europe and the only one in the UK.

It has six different lift shafts, but one of them was exclusively used by the British Standards Institution for testing lift safety components. The vast majority of lifts built in Britain will have had at least one component tested in Northampton because of this.

However, its primary use as a way to test full lift products for the Express Lift Company was short-lived, as this part of the General Electric Company was bought by Otis, who opted to use their own lift towers in the United States instead.

Even after just 17 years though, the Lift Tower had become a landmark of Northampton, nicknamed the “Northampton lighthouse” by the late Terry Wogan. 

Because of this, it became in 1997 the country’s youngest listed building, and had one of the shortest durations between construction and listed status. It has since become  used not only for lift component testing but drainage testing and even abseiling.

If you have taken a trip in a passenger lift in a set of offices, apartments or retail properties in recent years, they tend to be soundtracked by the smooth, relaxing hum of the lift mechanisms working perfectly, interspersed with a calm, clear voice announcing the next floor.

In some cases, these lifts may also be quietly playing a very distinctive type of music that is a mix of inherently familiar, calming and so unintrusive that you may not even have noticed it was there.

This is known as lift music or elevator music depending on which side of the Atlantic you happen to be on, and is believed to have originated with Muzak, a company founded by George Squier under the original name Wired Radio.

Whilst it was pitched and sold for a variety of public spaces, its most common usage was in lifts because the soft, soothing music helped to ease the nerves of lift riders during a time when riding in a lift was still a relatively new experience for a lot of the population.

Back in the 1930s, lifts were far less smooth and there was less of a focus on passenger experience than there is now, so the loud, whirring mechanisms could be somewhat unnerving.

Adding a relatively relaxing soundtrack that combines smooth jazz, easy listening and other light music genre formats helped to soothe these worries and an argument could be made that it helped the adoption and widespread use of lifts.

It turned lifts from a frightening unknown into another part of the furniture, and whilst this betrays the incredible complexity and brilliance of lifts, lifts needed to become as ubiquitous as they are today

The lift music concept became more widespread when the psychological basis for why soothing lift music calms people down was figured out, and Muzak was used everywhere, from shops trying to inspire an additional sale to “Stimulus Progression” works that claimed to boost productivity.

Ultimately, whilst Muzak themselves went bankrupt in 2009, the lift music legacy still endures to this day.

Safety has been at the core of the passenger lift for nearly two centuries, with an incalculable number of features, sensors and mechanisms designed to protect the inhabitants of a lift from practically any scenario one could consider.

This is not a new phenomenon either; Elisha Otis famously showed off the safety brake he innovated by having an assistant cut the rope supporting him during a trade exhibition in New York.

This focus on safety is part of the reason why one of the most common issues in older lift designs is doors that are either slow to open, stick or simply fail to open entirely, as one of several safety features has been activated to make this happen.

This can be caused simply by a power outage or power trip, which is fixed as soon as the power supply is restored. Sometimes it can cause a fuse to blow or a circuit breaker to trip, but once this is fixed, the lift should continue to move normally and open as expected.

Other than this, there are a few hardware faults that can manifest with doors failing to open or close properly.

It can sometimes be caused by an issue with the door sensors, which should be regularly cleaned and maintained to ensure they function properly and do not lead to false positives that stop the lift from functioning. This is less common with modern lifts but older lifts can progressively see this issue.

Alternatively, the door tracks should be checked to ensure they are properly aligned with nothing obstructing them and no damage that would require professional repair.

Typically a stuck door will be a one-off occurrence as long as the lift is properly maintained, but there might be a point where an old lift needs to be replaced with a newer, faster, safer alternative.

Passenger lifts can take many different shapes and sizes, and their ubiquity in cityscapes centred around high-rise buildings means that a lot of architects and designers have the space and opportunity to create exceptionally unusual and unique variations.

One of the most unusual lifts ever made, as well as one of the most difficult to refurbish was the AquaDom Berlin, Germany, a hotel lift at a Radisson Blu hotel that also happens to be surrounded by the largest freestanding cylindrical aquarium in the world.

From 2003 until 2023, AquaDom was a lift that called 100 different species of fish home and required three full-time divers to constantly care for the tank.

Whilst an astonishing achievement that cost an estimated €13m to build, the reasons why an aquarium lift was made are relatively simple.

AquaDom was located in the DomAquarée complex owned by Union Investment, a building that also housed Berlin’s Sea Life Centre, so the huge project was a cross-promotional exercise for the main aquarium.

At the same time, architect Sergei Tchoban wanted to add a unique feature that no other hotel would attempt, requiring a process known as radical polymerisation to put the 41 segments of the aquarium together, with 26 forming the outer layer and 15 the inner cylinder around the lift shaft itself.

The AquaDom was a very complex achievement that in some respects outshined the Sea Life aquarium instead. It would end up becoming a very unorthodox wedding venue, with the minister, couple and 15 guests having a full wedding ceremony amidst the aquatic life.

Unfortunately, the AquaDom was closed for refurbishments in 2020 that would take nearly two years to complete, and on 16th December 2022, the tank itself burst due to a failure in the outer part of the tank unrelated to the lift mechanics.

Whilst Berlin Sea-Life has remained open, the AquaDom was closed and with an investigation into the failure ending inconclusively, it is unlikely to ever open again.

It can sometimes be difficult to see which technologies are the building blocks of the future and which are development dead ends, as both are often met with a mix of excitement and scepticism.

The passenger lift was no different, and whilst it is now known as an interesting platform for both reliable transportation and unique innovations when the lift was first developed this was not entirely the case.

Some people were wary of the concept at first, because of a concern about the safety of technology that was rapidly evolving. With lifts at the time, there was a concern about what would happen if the hoisting cable snapped, but the answer lay in the developments of an inventor named Elisha Otis.

In 1852, Mr Otis was working for a bedstead factory company in Yonkers, New York, which relied heavily on a heavy-duty platform lift.

To make the system safer for everyone, Mr Otis devised a safety brake system that would automatically stop the lift from falling, but to sell it to other businesses he needed to develop a dramatic demonstration of its abilities.

The showcase in question happened at New York’s Crystal Palace during the New York Exposition in 1854, at an exhibit hosted by Mr Otis' newly-established eponymous Elevator Company.

First of all, he demonstrated the platform moving up and down a test shaft, open-sided so the many onlookers could see the inner workings.

When he reached halfway up the shaft, he picked up an axe and cut the cable holding the lift up, to the gasps of shocked onlookers who believed he had put himself in the gravest of danger.

Much to their surprise, however, the brakes quickly kicked in and he barely moved from his position. The gasps turned to applause and the lift went from a concerning piece of future technology to the building block of the city as we know it today.

Supermarkets provide a vital service for most of us, selling the essentials we need to live our daily lives, plus useful extras such as pharmacy facilities, homeware and cafes. 

Everyone should be able to access these services easily without obstruction, and most able-bodied people probably have few difficulties with navigating them beyond the usual clutter of trolleys in the aisles and frustrating checkout queues. 

However, disabled people can face a range of barriers that are invisible to others. This is especially true for wheelchair users who visit larger supermarkets over multiple levels, or those that are integrated into larger shopping complexes. 

It is likely that escalators and steps will provide the main links between floors, but these are impossible to navigate in a wheelchair, and also for customers with loaded trolleys or prams and pushchairs. Designers and owners of all buildings with public access in the UK have an obligation to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ under the Equality Act 2010. 

In the case of a large multi-storey retail outlet such as a supermarket, commercial wheelchair lifts should be planned for from the very first stages of the design process rather than added as an afterthought. 

They should be user-friendly and spacious enough to accommodate all types and sizes of chair without the user needing to move position. The lift should have easy to understand controls that can be operated from a seated position. Other features to consider include braille indicators and audible announcements for vision and hearing impaired customers. 

The lifts should be strategically positioned throughout the supermarket so that they are in the most convenient and accessible place for disabled customers. Factors that may influence the location of the lifts include the proximity to entrance and exit points and parking areas, and the overall layout and direction of customer traffic. 

The entrance point of the lift should be free of obstructions and there should be enough space for the wheelchair user to enter and exit the lift while remaining seated in the chair, with no awkward angles or tight turning spaces. These lifts not only benefit wheelchair users, but also customers with mobility scooters, pushchairs, and loaded shopping trolleys. 

The lift should be regularly inspected and maintained to ensure that it is safe and reliable. Out of order lifts send out the message that the supermarket does not care about inclusivity, and it may deter customers from returning. The lifts should be routinely checked for the proper functioning of doors, internal mechanisms, buttons, and emergency communications. 

Cleanliness and hygiene are also important, and can be enhanced with touchless technology. This is particularly important in a supermarket environment where it is imperative to mitigate against the spread of bacteria and viruses. 

By making accessibility a priority, supermarkets can widen their customer base, improve the flow of traffic around the store, and ensure that they are compliant with regulations.

Stations in the UK are in need of more wheelchair platform lifts to make them more inclusive, as they have been found to be the least accessible in Europe. 

The unflattering label was given to British stations by German travel booking company Omio, which compared the accessibility of 16 countries, reported New Civil Engineer.

While 99 per cent of stations in The Netherlands have facilities for disabled people, only 60 per cent of UK ones have accessibility tools. 

“British railway operators and decision-makers still have much work to do to achieve complete accessibility in the railway system,” the company stated. 

This is despite the Department for Transport’s (DfT) Access For All programme, which provides funding to improve accessibility in UK rail stations. 

It was launched in 2006 with a budget of £390 million, with £163 million extra being given to the fund in 2014. Since its launch, over 150 stations have been updated with accessibility features and an additional 68 projects are yet to be completed. 

Mid-scale improvements, including tactile paving and handrails, also began in 2020 across 124 stations, while smaller projects improved 1,500 stations across the UK. These changes included fitting customer information screens and automatic doors. 

A spokesperson from DfT told the publication that there is a further £350 million available to improve accessibility in UK stations now, as a result of the northern legs of the HS2 line being scrapped. 

Britain still has a long way to go to compete with the likes of The Netherlands in terms of accessibility and inclusivity, however, as nearly all of its stations have facilities such as pathways for the visually impaired and digital information screens that are frequently updated for those who cannot hear the announcements.

Supermarkets provide a vital service for most of us, selling the essentials we need to live our daily lives, plus useful extras such as pharmacy facilities, homeware and cafes. 

Everyone should be able to access these services easily without obstruction, and most able-bodied people probably have few difficulties with navigating them beyond the usual clutter of trolleys in the aisles and frustrating checkout queues. 

However, disabled people can face a range of barriers that are invisible to others. This is especially true for wheelchair users who visit larger supermarkets over multiple levels, or those that are integrated into larger shopping complexes. 

It is likely that escalators and steps will provide the main links between floors, but these are impossible to navigate in a wheelchair, and also for customers with loaded trolleys or prams and pushchairs. Designers and owners of all buildings with public access in the UK have an obligation to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ under the Equality Act 2010. 

In the case of a large multi-storey retail outlet such as a supermarket, commercial wheelchair lifts should be planned for from the very first stages of the design process rather than added as an afterthought. 

They should be user-friendly and spacious enough to accommodate all types and sizes of chair without the user needing to move position. The lift should have easy to understand controls that can be operated from a seated position. Other features to consider include braille indicators and audible announcements for vision and hearing impaired customers. 

The lifts should be strategically positioned throughout the supermarket so that they are in the most convenient and accessible place for disabled customers. Factors that may influence the location of the lifts include the proximity to entrance and exit points and parking areas, and the overall layout and direction of customer traffic. 

The entrance point of the lift should be free of obstructions and there should be enough space for the wheelchair user to enter and exit the lift while remaining seated in the chair, with no awkward angles or tight turning spaces. These lifts not only benefit wheelchair users, but also customers with mobility scooters, pushchairs, and loaded shopping trolleys. 

The lift should be regularly inspected and maintained to ensure that it is safe and reliable. Out of order lifts send out the message that the supermarket does not care about inclusivity, and it may deter customers from returning. The lifts should be routinely checked for the proper functioning of doors, internal mechanisms, buttons, and emergency communications. 

Cleanliness and hygiene are also important, and can be enhanced with touchless technology. This is particularly important in a supermarket environment where it is imperative to mitigate against the spread of bacteria and viruses. 

By making accessibility a priority, supermarkets can widen their customer base, improve the flow of traffic around the store, and ensure that they are compliant with regulations.

There is now more emphasis than ever on creating inclusive and accessible spaces, as we live in a society with an ageing population and there is greater public awareness of disability rights. 

This is especially important in commercial spaces, both for legal reasons and to open up a wider customer base. Here are four benefits a wheelchair platform lift can bring to your business. 

Customer loyalty and reputation

By demonstrating that you are committed to providing equal access for all customers, your business will inspire loyalty and repeat business. People with restricted mobility face multiple barriers in society, and many businesses still make very inadequate efforts to accommodate their needs.

Therefore by making your premises as accessible as possible, you can stand out and enhance your reputation for being inclusive and welcoming. Customers who have had a positive experience are likely to share their views with family, friends and acquaintances, both in person and online, providing further good publicity.

Compliance with regulations

Under the Equality Act 2010, it is mandatory for businesses and service providers to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ for wheelchair users. This includes providing step-free access to all wheelchair users, whether through ramps, lifts, or lifting platforms. 

The type of equipment is not specified in the legislation, but when travel between one or more storeys is required, then a mechanical lift of some type will be necessary. Existing lifts must be large enough to accommodate a wheelchair user. 

It may be necessary to upgrade current equipment to a purpose-made wheelchair lift to ensure that your business is compliant with the Equality Act and also Health & Safety regulations. 

Security and efficiency

By installing a platform lift that is purposely designed to accommodate wheelchair users, you will have peace of mind that they are being transported in the safest and most efficient manner possible. 

The platform will be designed to be easy to operate with clearly labelled controls and safety devices at a convenient height, and the user will not need to get out of their chair to travel. This minimises the risk of injuries and possible accidents or incorrect use of the lift, ensuring a good customer experience and minimising the risk of legal claims.

Extra revenue

It is estimated that there are around 1.2 million wheelchair users in the UK, and many more people with restricted mobility who struggle to use stairs. Platform lifts are also used by parents with prams and pushchairs, and customers with heavy loads to carry. 

By opening up your customer base with greater accessibility, you are not only enhancing your reputation, but are likely to boost the number of in-store visitors as you are providing a service not readily available elsewhere. This in turn leads to a higher volume of sales and increases profits, offsetting the cost of installing and maintaining the lift. 

It is estimated that about 16 million people in the UK are living with a disability, amounting to 24% of the population. This is an upward trend and Britain has an ageing population, so this figure is likely to increase in the future. Disabled people face a range of inequalities that affect their quality of life. 

One of the biggest issues faced by disabled people in society are physical barriers that prevent or make it difficult for them to access a range of services or travel freely. Often, able-bodied people do not even notice or consider these barriers and disabled people are not given a voice in the planning and design process.

There are laws in place under the Equality Act 2010 that require public bodies and organisations to take ‘reasonable steps’ to remove physical barriers that may impede access for disabled people. However, these laws are not always strictly adhered to or enforced. 

Examples of physical barriers include steps and stairways at building entrances or between different levels and floors in a building; exterior kerbs, steps, or unlevel surfaces; narrow doorways and corridors that cannot accommodate a wheelchair; rooms with cluttered layouts; toilets that are not wheelchair accessible, and unsuitable floor coverings.

Public organisations or service providers are required by the Equality Act to remove or change the physical barrier, or provide a means of avoiding it wherever it is reasonably possible to do so. When it is not possible to do so, the service provider should consider putting an alternative means of making the service accessible in place.

Examples of ‘reasonable provision’ include installing a wheelchair platform lift to allow disabled users to avoid steps and stairs; widening doorways, removing furniture that is impeding access; providing ramps for wheelchairs to provide step-free access at building entrances; and installing accessible toilets.

Unfortunately, some service providers do not make adequate provisions for disabled users and they are not challenged about the efforts that they have made. Often, a provider will argue that the building is leased and they do not have a right to make alterations or adaptations, for example.

However, it is often the case that the organisation has made little or no attempt to contact the landlord, which they should have done in writing to ask for consent. If a user cannot access a building or some of its facilities, they have a right to make a complaint or take legal action.

It is often the best course of action to make a complaint in the first instance and wait for a response. The company may make an apology and explain why the access was found to be inadequate, and they may promise to make improvements in the future.

If no satisfactory response is received and it is clear that the law has not been followed, the user has the right to take legal action. This may be more costly but there may be assistance available from disability rights organisations. In return, the user may receive monetary compensation and the provider may receive an injunction to make the required changes.