Client:
The Jubilee Community Centre, located on Charlwoods Road, East Grinstead was established in 2008, converted from an old pharmaceutical warehouse. It aims to be a real centre of life in the community for people of all ages and from all walks of life. The Centre provides a meeting place each Sunday for the New Life Church and a broadcast centre for a local radio station, as well as housing a number of meeting rooms for hire and an indoor sports hall, used for a variety of sports, fitness and dance classes. In excess of 500 people use the centre each and every week.

Problem:
Rod Green is responsible for the Jubilee Community Centre’s maintenance and facilities management. Mr Green wished to improve access to the building’s first floor where there was space for larger meeting rooms and a dance studio. Furthermore, it was important that this work was carried out prior to a busy Christmas and New Year period.

Mr Green said: “There are some competing facilities in East Grinstead but none are able to offer the same level of flexible and high quality facilities that we do. The Centre is modern, bright and welcoming and we are continuing to develop our facilities to make sure that they are ahead of the game. I believe that providing the highest quality facilities and opening them up to all sectors of the community are the key to our success. Being able to offer full accessibility will help us to reach out to, and appeal to even more local people.”

Three lift companies were consulted about the project. Evo Platform Lifts was selected because they offered good value for money and were very helpful throughout. Mr Green was particularly impressed by the Evo representative’s technical knowledge and support throughout.

Solution:
Evo Platform Lifts supplied and installed an Evo 500 Internal Platform Lift, a flexible solution for travel of up to 12 metres or six stops. It provides fast, quiet travel and can be configured in a variety of ways with an extensive list of options to meet individual needs. For the user, it is safe and simple to operate with illuminated tactile controls, soft start and sensitive platform edges. To enhance the user experience further, Mr Green chose to include six glazed panels making the lift feel light and airy and in keeping with its surroundings.

Without the need for a lift shaft, external machine room or extensive builders work, the Evo 500 is an economical and easy-to-install access solution. It’s also one of the first lifts to achieve a certificate of approval under the new machinery directive 2010.

Installation:
The Evo 500 was installed in just three days in November 2009, and throughout the Centre was able to remain open with minimum disruption. The presence of a poorly positioned beam required some carpentry work to open up space for the lift prior to installation but Evo Lifts team worked closely with the other suppliers to enable a seamless installation and quality finish. The entire project took six days.

Result:
Commenting on the end result, Rod Green said: “Everyone seems to be very impressed with our new lift – it’s already proved invaluable for elderly centre users and Mums with pushchairs. In fact, there’s one lady who I see using it every single day!”

Steve Coak, Managing Director of Evo Platform Lifts commented: “The vast majority of our installations are extremely straightforward. The Jubilee Centre was slightly trickier due to the carpentry works required around the first floor beam before we could set to work. Despite this, we still managed a fast and efficient installation and the end result is fantastic. This is a project I’m very proud to have been involved with because this place is a real hub for local people to come together.”