CIBSE Lift Group Happenings

CIBSE Lift Group Happenings Members reflect on busy 2013, look to 2014.

At its 2014 Annual General Meeting on February 11, the CIBSE Lifts Group elected officers for 2014. They are:

• John Bashford, chairman
• Len Halsey, vice chairman
• Richard D. Peters, secretary
• Michael Bottomley, treasurer
• Adam Scott, British Standards Institution representative
• Gina Barney, events organizer
• Elizabeth Evans, publicity
• David Cooper, Lift Academy
• Phil Pearson, events team
• WeeChuan Lim, events team

CIBSE Lifts Group hosted a full schedule of events in 2013. The February 2013 meeting addressed the real cost of lift maintenance and reviewed engineering behind the 9350-mT Strépy-Thieu boat lift in Le Rœulx, Belgium. The March 2013 seminar addressed a range of design issues and BS 722:2012, a code for working safely on lifts. June 2013 saw a visit to the paternoster lift in the Arts Tower at the University of Sheffield (ELEVATOR WORLD, September 2013). Presentations covered topics including paternoster history, refurbishment and the possibility of a next generation of high-handling-capacity devices.

September saw the third in a series of open forums on traffic analysis and simulation that brought together many of the leading experts from all over the world. Discussion focused on simulation templates and service-criteria quality, with a view to informing the development of the next edition of CIBSE Guide D: Transportation Systems in Buildings.

The open forum was immediately followed by the Third Annual Symposium on Lift and Escalator Technologies, held jointly with the University of Northampton (EW, December 2013). This two-day conference attracted international speakers and attendees, with 17 peer-reviewed technical papers presented. The now well-established symposium returns on September 25-26, 2014, when it again promises to bring together vertical-transportation experts and offer an opportunity for speakers to present peer-reviewed papers. Speakers include industry experts, academics and postgraduate students. For more information and to respond to the call for papers, visit website: www.liftsymposium.org. 

To end the year, there was a one-day seminar in November with a mix of papers addressing design topics, projects and standards.

Also in 2013, CIBSE Lifts Group was delighted to celebrate with Dr. Gina Barney when she was awarded an honorary CIBSE fellowship in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the lift industry and CIBSE.

The 2014 program will again provide a full schedule of events and will see the group commence work on the next revision of its transportation guide. For more information on current and past activities, visit website: www.cibseliftsgroup.org.