Passenger/goods hoists

How does Passenger/goods hoists work, step by step?

1. 1

   Step 1: Work out the demand before choosing the hoist

   Hoist selection starts with the peak workforce and the material flow, not with what the supplier has available. The team estimates how many operatives need to reach the working floors at the start of a shift, how long they can reasonably wait, and what volume of material has to be moved daily. That drives whether the project needs a single car or twin cars, how large the car needs to be, and whether a separate goods-only hoist should sit alongside. Getting this wrong is expensive in a way that does not show up in the hire cost - it shows up as trades standing in a queue every morning.

2. 2

   Step 2: Fix the position with the facade and the frame

   The hoist has to stand where landings can be formed, where the structure can carry the ties, where the base can be founded and where the facade can eventually be closed after the hoist leaves. On most projects the position is a negotiation between logistics, the facade designer and the structural engineer, and it is settled early because moving it later is a major operation. The sequence for taking the hoist down and completing the facade behind it is agreed at the same time, since a hoist that cannot be removed until the building is finished creates a hole nobody planned to close.

3. 3

   Step 3: Design the base and the ties

   The hoist base sits on a slab or foundation designed for it, and the mast is tied back into the permanent structure at intervals through a tie arrangement designed by the temporary works designer and checked by the structural engineer against the frame that will exist when each tie is installed. On concrete frames this brings the same timing problem as tower crane ties, and it is resolved in advance. The design covers the loads the mast puts into the building, including under wind, and it is signed off in writing before erection begins.

4. 4

   Step 4: Erect and extend with specialist teams

   The hoist is erected by the supplier's trained crews, usually with a crane for the base and initial mast, and it is extended in stages as the frame rises. Each extension is a planned operation that takes the hoist out of service, so it is scheduled deliberately rather than squeezed in. Before the hoist is used it is thoroughly examined and handed over with records. The project provides the ground, the exclusion, the power supply and the access the erection team needs, and does not put its own people on to the mast.

5. 5

   Step 5: Form the landings and the gates

   Every floor the hoist serves needs a landing: a platform or opening in the facade line with a gate that is interlocked so it cannot be opened when the car is not there, with edge protection either side, with a level and clear approach, and with lighting. Landings are a temporary works item in their own right and are frequently the weak point, because they get formed early, then get modified by other trades, then get left with a gap. They are inspected on the same regime as the hoist itself.

6. 6

   Step 6: Run the hoist as a managed service

   In service the hoist is operated by trained and authorised people, loaded within its limits with materials restrained, and run to a published schedule that the project manages: peak times for people, booked slots for materials, and a rule about what is allowed to travel. Long loads, gas, hazardous materials and anything that will not fit inside the car need their own arrangement. Someone owns the schedule, and on a busy project that person spends real time on it. Breakdowns are treated as a project emergency because the whole workforce depends on the machine.

7. 7

   Step 7: Maintain, inspect and eventually remove

   The hoist is maintained by the supplier, inspected at set intervals and thoroughly examined by a competent person, with all records held on site. When the project no longer needs it, it is dismantled by specialist teams working down the mast, the ties are removed, and the fixings and the facade behind them are made good to the agreed detail. The last floors are then served by the permanent lifts under a builder's-use arrangement, which is planned in advance with the lift installer rather than assumed.