Client:
Edmond Shipway Construction Consultants along with Ellenby Construction were appointed to undertake a major refurbishment project on behalf of the NHS at Tameside Hospital in Ashton-Under-Lyme. This general hospital serves a population of approximately 250,000 residents to the east of Manchester with ‘Dignity, Respect, Trust and Partnership’ their underpinning core values. Silver Springs House is an old building on the site, requiring renovation for maintenance purposes and to achieve compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act.

Problem:
Silver Springs House, whilst not a listed building, did reveal a number of challenges with regard to DDA compliance, as Jon Carey, Building Surveyor at Edmond Shipway explains: “Access to the first floor was limited to staircases so we needed to find a way of incorporating a lift for mobility impaired patients, staff and visitors. However, being an old building, space was extremely limited. There was only one solution which was to work externally and we identified quite a tight space outside the main fabric of the building that would enable us to provide this important aspect of the renovation.”

Both contractors had worked with platform lift providers before but their experience had not always been a positive one. “Evo Lifts stood out!” Mr Carey said of his search for a new, reliable supplier.

Solution:
Evo Lifts solution was to supply and install an Evo 400 External Platform Lift to the exterior of Silver Springs House. Robust and reliable, this access lift is specifically designed for outdoor use with a weatherproof roof and shaft to withstand climatic conditions. With a range of platform sizes, the lift offered a small footprint and, with no additional space required for a machine room, this was a practical and cost-effective solution to the space constraints of the building.

The Silver Springs House lift has a travel height of 4250mm from ground to first floor although it is possible to achieve travel of up to 12 metres and up to six stops with this model, as well as entrances and exit options on three sides.

With a wide variety of standard safety features, the Evo 400 also offers a number of bespoke modifications to meet individual project needs. In the case of Silver Springs House, a critical requirement was security: access control needed to integrate with the hospital’s existing security system. This was achieved by installing an intercom between the ground floor lift access point and the office on the first floor.

For users, the Evo 400 External Platform Lift is simple to operate with illuminated tactile control buttons, arrival gong and sensitive edges to the platform edge as well as an alarm, emergency lighting and lowering as reassuring safety features. For the NHS trust, low maintenance and running costs will be key benefits going forward.

Result:
“Fantastic!” said Mr Carey of Evo Lifts’ solution and their customer service. “I found Evo Lifts more than helpful throughout - I would certainly use them again and have no problem recommending them. Their quotation and design specifications were good and I was pleased that they visited our offices to discuss the project and the site itself. Evo lifts met the delivery and installation targets promised, therefore providing certainty to Ellenby Construction on this element of their project programme.”

Mr Simon Baker, Contracts Director, of Ellenby Construction commented: “Our experience of platform lifts suppliers has been variable to say the least. We have experienced issues with accuracy of product literature, delivery times, product quality and post-installation service. In contrast Evo Lifts delivered on all of these fronts and we have been extremely pleased with their attention to detail and delivery at every stage.”

Steve Coak, Managing Director of Evo Platform Lifts, commented: “We were aware that previous bad experiences had made both our client and contractors sceptical of lift companies so it was important to prove that we could deliver on all fronts and I’m delighted that we did so.”