Coming Together in Warsaw

Progress was achieved at ELA’s Annual General Assembly and Congress

The European Lift Association (ELA), the voice and umbrella organization of associations in the member states of the European Economic Area or the Council of Europe, held its 27th Annual General Assembly on May 21-22 at the Presidential Hotel in Warsaw, Poland. In the evening after the assembly, where there was no change of management, ELA member associations and the host, the Polish Association of Lift Manufacturers (PALM), met for dinner at the historic Belvedere restaurant in the heart of Lazienki Park.

The next day, the ELA Conference took place at the hotel with the theme “Modernization: the Journey Toward Sustainable Urban Mobility,” with the participation of many ELA and PALM members.

ELA Secretary General Luca Pezzini took the floor first at the conference opening. After providing a brief overview of the conference, he stated this event was a closed session and only ELA members and ELEVATOR WORLD – the media partner — could participate. He then gave the floor over to Oliver Greening from the U.K.’s Lift and Escalator Industry Association (LEIA), who moderated for the day. Greening said by scanning the QR code on each table, attendees could participate in the voting and ask questions of the speakers about their presentations. Then, to test the system, he interactively asked participants statistical questions about the Polish elevator industry. For the most part, guests managed to mark the correct answers. He said the purpose of accepting questions in this way was to save time and minimize unnecessary conversations.

ELA President Wim Koster took the floor after Greening and thanked everyone who contributed to this year’s program. Robert Wojcik, speaking on behalf of host association PALM, said that members were proud to welcome ELA back to Warsaw after 13 years. He said Warsaw has changed a lot during these years, with many modernizations completed in the country and many more in the works.

First Session

In the first session after the opening speeches, Garcia Audi Pau from the European Commission, Ebru Gemici from the ELA Statistics Committee and Paula Casares from the ELA Energy and Environment Committee made presentations. Gemici said the number of elevators currently installed in Europe exceeds 6 million, and 56% of these units are more than 25 years old. At the end of the presentation, an attendee asked how much of the 56% had been modernized or whether fully modernized elevators are included in this category. Gemici stated current statistics cannot answer this question.

Second Session

In the second session, “National Practices within the Regulatory Framework,” Nick Mellor from LEIA, ELA Vice President Lars Gustavsson and European Elevator Association President Angelo Fumagalli shared information about the current elevator sector in their respective countries. Gustavson said, according to a Credit Suisse report published in 2014, Spain ranked first with 19.8 elevators per 1,000 inhabitants.

ELA Award 2025 Ceremony

The ELA Award 2025, the prestigious EUR2,500 prize awarded by the ELA to the association or institution that has achieved the greatest success, was awarded to the Electronics and High Schools Complex in Warsaw. In 2025, the ELA Board of Directors decided to award the prize to a school that provides training for qualified personnel for the vertical-transportation (VT) industry. The prize was awarded to the school in recognition of more than 20 years of cooperation with PALM, including the development of a European Union-funded training program for elevator maintenance workers and the joint implementation of a project to produce five generations of graduates in the VT equipment technician profession. The award was presented by Koster to school Headmaster Wiolett Malan. The ceremony was also attended by Renata Kozłowska, mayor of the Żoliborz District in Warsaw, and Ewa Rahman, chief specialist of the Secondary and Continuing Education Department of the Education Office of the Capital City of Warsaw.

Third Session

Paweł Łaguna from Swissroc Building Intelligenc; Carsten Henriksen, chair of the ELA Codes and Standards Committee; and Claudio Donghi, coordinator of the ELA SAEL (safety, accessibility and energy efficiency) Working Group, gave presentations in the session after lunch. Titled “The Value in Modernization,” session’s highlights were Safety Norms for Existing Lifts and the need for modernization to enhance accessibility.

Fourth Session

China Elevator Association Secretary General Zhang Lexiang took the floor first in the last session and shared remarkable data on the Chinese elevator industry. Lexiang said that, although there has been a decline in elevator production in line with the construction sector situation in recent years, current production is at approximately 1 million units, including exports. He stated the current elevator stock in China exceeds 11 million.

During the conference, a framework agreement on cooperation between PALM and the hashtag #Office_of_Technical_Inspection was signed on behalf of the Office of Technical Inspection (UDT) by UDT President Dr. Paweł Urbańczyk and on behalf of PALM by board members Robert Wójcik and Jacek Luczak. The delegation thanked the president of the ELA for the continued fruitful cooperation between the elevator industry and UDT aimed at raising the safety level of VT equipment used in Poland and staff training for the sector.