A Global View

We begin the new year by featuring our 27th Annual Project of the Year winners, providing a good picture of how commercial building is progressing around the world and exactly how the vertical-transportation (VT) industry adds to that picture. Projects span the world, come in all sizes and, in many cases, the VT equipment contributes to the sustainability of the buildings they are in. Based on creativity, innovation, challenges overcome, installation methods and use of Advanced Technology, judging was intense. Some VT equipment is in very old buildings, like London’s Big Ben, and must not affect the historical value of the building. Other projects create “another world” atmosphere by inserting an escalator into an aquarium of regional marine life in the new Grand Cruise Terminal at Doha Port. Challenges included modernizing elevators in a fully occupied, high-traffic building — Prudential Tower in Boston. An unusual building in Dubai (a city filled with unusual buildings) known as One Za’abeel is actually two vertical towers with a horizontal building connecting them and spanning an interstate. The challenges included shaftways differing in shape and size from top to bottom. Sky Bridge, Hong Kong International Airport, is the longest airside bridge and moving walk with room for airplanes to go under. In Australia’s The Esplanade, a luxury residential project demanded a glass elevator and shaft with temperature controls. In France, the Paris Olympics Dive Platform Lift had to be correctly rigid and rise from 1 m to 2 or 3 m for different events. The inclined lift at Merkin Vineyards Hilltop Winery & Trattoria in Cottonwood, Arizona, U.S., had to climb and top the highest hill in the area. Last but certainly not least is the Chongqing Metro Line 2 that required in-truss modernization of 85 escalators in mountainous terrain in China. When all is said and done, we have slightly more than 50 pages devoted to the best of the best projects completed in the last two years, the scope allowed for this year’s submissions. It is a great way to start a new year.

Looking back a bit, at the end of 2024, we attended two major industry events. Sun, Surf and a Symposium by Angie C. Baldwin reports on the latest International Elevator & Escalator Symposium, which focused on the theme of “Consolidation and Globalization’s Impact on Maintenance and Safety.” The intimate, very international event took place at the Atlantis resort in The Bahamas and was a crowd pleaser. ISEE 2024 by Vijay Pandya reports on that event’s second iteration, which was held in Mumbai and reinforced India’s position as a global hub for innovation and sourcing.

Also in this issue, we spotlight major projects developing in Dubai and Cairo. We talk with Sicor Italy’s Commercial Director Enrico Giroldini about the company’s vision for the future and explore AI in VT with the help of ELFIN Technology’s latest article on the topic. There is much more packed into this first issue of the year, and we hope you enjoy it.