ELA General Assembly Held in Istanbul

The 26th European Lift Association (ELA) General Assembly and Conference took place in Istanbul for the first time in 11 years with the theme of “Transition Toward Global Sustainability.”

The European Elevator Association (ELA), the umbrella organization of associations in the European Economic Area or the Council of Europe member countries, held its 26th General Assembly and Conference themed “Transition Toward Global Sustainability” on May 16-17 at the Taksim Grand Hyatt hotel in Istanbul, with a huge attendance. ELA, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in Lucerne, Switzerland, last year, selected its new management with intense participation of the Elevator and Escalator Industrialists Association (AYSAD), whose members were hosted at the same hotel in Istanbul as they were 11 years ago.

The First Day

Before the conference, association members from abroad and AYSAD members in Türkiye met in the hotel’s conference hall over coffee and delicious presentations. The members, who met in the same hotel after 11 years, witnessed the tremendous change in the ancient city of Istanbul. ELA Secretary General Luca Pezzini, who was the first to appear at the podium at the conference, welcomed the guests and explained the flow of the program. Then, he stated that the guests could ask questions about the presentations by scanning the QR code on the table. He then invited ELA President Roberto Zappa to the podium to make the opening speech. Zappa stated that they were happy to meet the guests in beautiful Istanbul, the meeting point of the European and Asian continents, and expressed his gratitude, especially to the bureaucrats from the European Parliament who supported them.  Following the promotional video prepared by AYSAD, AYSAD President Oğuzhan Bulgurluoğlu took the floor as the host and expressed how the fact that AYSAD, which was established much earlier than ELA, turns 52 this year is an indication of how advanced Türkiye is in the lift industry. After his speech, AYSAD team presented a plaque of appreciation to Zappa.

Dominik Olewinski from the EU Türkiye Delegation was last on stage during the opening speeches and said that the European Green Deal is a strategy far beyond classical environmental or energy policies. Olewinski stated that approximately 40% of energy-related emissions in the EU originate from energy use in buildings and drew attention to the contribution of the European Green Deal to sustainability.

The First Session

The first session of the day was moderated by Wim Koster, president of the European Elevator Association (EEA) and was held by Hatice Sözer from Istanbul Technical University under the title “Sustainability: Its Significance in the Built Environment.” While starting her presentation, Sözer said that Norway’s first female prime minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland, who is known as the mother of sustainable development, took the lead in this work, and that the process, which started as the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development, is now known as the Brundtland Commission. In her presentation, Sözer presented detailed examples of how we should understand sustainability if we are going to build a building, district or city, and how we can include this in our designs.

The Second Session

On a beautiful and sunny Istanbul day, guests who ate delicious Turkish Cuisine outdoors in the hotel garden came together after lunch for “The Impact of Sustainability to Our Industry and the Next Challenges in the Built Environment” session, moderated by Peter Hug from ELA Energy and Environment Committee. 

The first presentation was made online by Tobert Sylvain, the European Commission project adviser. In his presentation titled “A Supportive EU Policy Framework for Sustainable and Smart Buildings – The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive,” Sylvian talked about the EU’s comprehensive policy to become climate-change neutral by 2050 and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030. He touched on the key elements of the EU policy framework for the construction sector, saying that the EU’s construction sector is one of Europe’s largest energy consumers (about 42%) and is responsible for more than a third of energy-related emissions.

Paula Casares gave the second presentation of the first session from ELA, Energy and Environment Commission. In her presentation titled “Regulatory Framework,” Casares explained the requirements that lift companies are subject to due to their activities, although there is no sustainability regulatory framework specifically prepared for the lift industry.

The Third Session

The first presentation of the third session, which started under the moderation of Harold Bussing from ELA, Energy and Environment Commission, was made by Roger Beuret from ELA Product Ecology WG, with the title “Energy Efficient Lifts.” Beuret said that ELA initiated a data collection process expected to be repeated every three years and shared statistics from the collected data.

Speaking afterward, Claudio Donghi, a member of the ELA-SAEL WG, said that there are approximately 6.7 million lifts across Europe, and  a large part of this existing lift stock needs modernization. 

Following Donghi, Roger Beuret came forward again for the presentation “Environmental Sustainability in Product Life Cycle.” Beuret said that customers expect more ecological products and need more reliable information and data due to the increasing awareness of sustainability. He shared graphs on the carbon emissions of the lifts in their production, transportation, installation and usage situations. 

The last presentation of the third session was made by Ana Efata, ELA SE&T Committee, chairwoman on social sustainability.  

The Fourth Session

After the coffee break, the last session of the day began under the moderation of ELA Vice President Andreas Wespi. In his online presentation, Pacific Asia Elevator and Escalator Association (PAEA) President Graham Worthington touched on the sustainability of the lift industry in Greater Asia and shared striking data about this giant region. He stated that, with the current growth rate, the existing lift stock in Asia will exceed 20 million in 2030. He said that as a result of such growth, more than 500,000 technicians will be needed only for maintenance in 2030 and offered solution suggestions for this.

The second presentation of the session was made by Raul Carlsson from the CEN Standardization Committee, connected online, with the title “The Role of Standardization in Green Transition.” 

Dirk De Moor from ELA Energy and Environment Commission made the third presentation. In the presentation titled “Toward Circular Buildings,” he made a presentation titled “Holistic and Synergy Approach in the Modernization of Existing Lifts.”

Following De Moor, Alper Çalışkan from the ELA SRI WG was on stage for his last presentation of the day, “Digitalization as Enabler.” Stating that a solid and strong synergy between digitalization and sustainability has become more important and urgent than ever, Çalışkan said that more efficient resource use and sustainability gains for buildings can be achieved through real-time data monitoring and predictive operations. He also underlined that lift service teams can proactively plan maintenance by analyzing data and using predictive algorithms and be prepared by ordering the necessary equipment and taking these with them before going to the site.

At the end of the day, Zappa came forward again to thank the guests and invited everyone to the Biz restaurant in Taksim Atatürk Cultural Center for dinner.

Second Day

At the General Assembly held on the second day of the event, Wim Koster of the Netherlands was elected president for the 3-year period of 2024-27. At the first board meeting, Lars Gustafsson of Sweden was elected vice president. The 15 other board members are: Angelo Fumagalli of Italy, René Hermann of Switzerland, Achim Hütter of Germany, George Jackson of the U.K., Apostolos Kalyvas of Greece, Ari Ketonen of Finland, Björn Kollmorgen of Germany, Christophe Maureau of France, Antonio Perez Ruiz of Spain, Olivier Rouvière of France, Savaşal Sayin of Türkiye, Gerhard Alfred Schiffner of Germany, Kris Schockaert of Belgium, Robert Wójcik of Poland and Roberto Zappa of Italy.