Large Goods Lift Removal – Hilton Park Lane - Jan 2020
In January 2020, Elevator Solutions Ltd were instructed by one of our main clients, Specialist lifts LTD, To carry out the partial removal of a large goods lift, At the Hilton, Park Lane in London.
The Brief
removal of the existing 8 Ton lift car, The removal of all existing shaft pulleys and installing the new machine room equipment while our team was on site.
The Enabling Works
Firstly our site survey was carried out, this included arranging for all existing lifting beams to be tested and the lift car to be weighed so that the correct lifting equipment could be bought to site. we then carried out the lift shaft and motor room painting using the existing lift as a working platform, this improves the visibility in the making it a safer environment to carry out the next phase of the programme, the shaft is also sealed further from dust making future maintenance a safer and easier task. All “dirty work” was completed before any new equipment was installed.
Lift Removal
The counter weight was positioned on two 10 ton super props so that the lift car could be tackled using a 10 ton chain block. the car is then tackled and de roped.
To allow the removal large diverter pulley in the top of the lift shaft, a scaffold had to be erected temporarily using the roof of the lift car as a base platform allowing our team to reach and safely lower the large pulley wheel down and remove it from the lift shaft.
The temporary scaffold was then struck and cleared leaving the car ready to be lowered down the lift shaft into the pit area.
Now the car had been de-roped at the top of the shaft, we hung extra lifting equipment required to dismantle such a large lift car, some long drop chain blocks and electric hoists were positioned to allow the car to be dismantled safely and efficiently.
another chain block was positioned in the top of the lift shaft over the counterweight, to allow the counter weight diverter pulley to be lifted out of its frame and removed from site. the car was then lowered and positioned ready for dismantling.
the next challenge was that this lift served two floors below where the loading bay it served was located.
using the pre hung lifting equipment, as the car was dismantled, pieces of the lift car were hoisted up the lift shaft and stored at the loading bay area ready for clearance.
once all the works in the shaft had been completed, we then carried out a site clearance, disposing off all waste in a safe and environmentally responsible manner, providing waste disposal and recycling certificates to the client.
The Machine Room
Firstly the existing lift machine and panel were cleared from the motor room and taken off site to allow a clean work space for all new equipment to be installed
the new machine room equipment was then delivered to site.
the new “Thyssen TW160” machine, bedplate and new control panel all arrived. next a safe route had to be navigated through the building up into the motor room, the motor room was in a difficult location meaning extra lifting equipment would be required.
Portable gantries, more short chain blocks, beam clamps, beam trollies and pallet trucks were now delivered to site to carry out the material handling stage of the works.
we supplied all extra equipment needed for the tasks to be completed. the new machine and bedplate were then taken to the 4th floor roof area and moved through the plant rooms to an area where the first gantry, setup to allow us to lift over some obstacles and out onto the roof was positioned.
the 1000kg machine equipment was then slung using 2000kg polyester round slings and tackled into position below the motor room entrance.
we then repeated the process with other equipment.
Next the motor room door way was extremely low, meaning we had to have a beam that would reach up 2 metres but also have a low height of lift at one end to allow the beam to reach through the motor room door.
Once this had been overcome and one of our custom made gantries was positioned, all equipment was tackled using a 2 ton chain block and beam trolley and positioned in the lift motor room. A portable gantry was then re-positioned so the motor room equipment could be assembled by our team leaving the site ready for our clients installation team to take over and start on site efficiently with most of the heavy work already being completed.
Lifting gear supplied by ourselves and Safety Lifting Gear
Our team of experienced lift engineers can carry out any lift removal, of any size lift, being experienced in lift installation gives us the capabilities to carry out any extra works our clients require from us, making our team a very useful service to many lift companies in London and the south of England.
