Home Lifts

Almost every tall building or skyscraper out there has a lift. From the bottom to the top, taking the stairs can be taxing and so, the lift was invented to combat this. We’ve gone from lifts that were powered by hand, to lifts that can dart up 200ft in moments. This is down to the construction and technology of today.

Our engineering capabilities now allow us to edge even higher, and lift technology isn’t just for commercial buildings anymore. Home lifts are making their debut; mainly homes with more than two floors.

Outside your front door, you can witness the mastery of technology and engineering in buildings like The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and The Shard in London. These buildings stand very proudly tall, but even the Shard doesn’t have a lift that takes you from the bottom right to the top. You currently have to get out at the Sky Lobby to change lifts entirely, and that’s not always impressive. It’s a necessary inconvenience, but an inconvenience nonetheless. It also shows a symptom of the limits of the commercial lifts of today.

As The Shard is only 306m tall, there needs to be some innovation happening if people want to ascend a mile-high (1.6km) tower using the same technology. This could end up with up to 10 lift changes just to get to the top! The other downside of changing floors is that these transfer floors take up valuable floor space that can’t be let.

One innovation that is changing the lift game is the UltraRope. It’s a new type of lift cable that has been developed by Kone, a Finnish company specialising in lifts. It uses carbon fibre, not steel, is durable and lightweight while being a cable that isn’t really a cable. There’s a chance that this technology could be rolled out to new lifts, and then possibly in the home!

Home lifts have come a long way as land for development becomes more scarce, and engineering and design smarter, building up rather than out is the best way forward both commercially and for residential property. And with a home spread across many floors, to get between them, a home lift is installed.

Home lifts like everything else have improved with time and technology, so you don’t need to build your home around your lift – your lift can be made to measure i.e. customised to suit the design and style of your home.

Just like with tech systems, lifts too can be manufactured with open source or in their jargon: ‘open protocol’ parts and systems and this means you’re not reliant on just one business as the parts are available and made to suit common lift systems. This results in lower maintenance costs and we know lifts do come with an ongoing maintenance schedule for compliance.

We’re living longer, and our homes are going up rather than out, so thankfully we’re don’t need to get into stair climbing training to manage the many trips we’ll be taking between the floors, you can leave that Stairmaster workout for your time in the gym.