Elevators For Algiers Mosque

Algeria

Foundations for a mosque with a 270-m-tall minaret in Algiers were being constructed in May. The minaret will include 25 levels and eight elevators to transport visitors to and from a high view of the bay of Algiers. The EUR1-billion (US$1.26-billion) project is being built by China State Construction Engineering Corp. and is expected to create 17,000 jobs. It is to include a prayer room for 120,000, a 2,000-seat library, an art museum and a research center. Construction is due to be completed in 2015.

Belgium

Efesme General Assembly, Board Of Directors Appointed

The seventh European Federation for Elevator Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (EFESME) held its General Assembly and Board of Directors meeting on June 4 at the UEAPME (European association of craft, small and medium-sized enterprises) premises in Brussels. During the meeting, the organizations discussed issues related to the European lift industry and planned the EFESME strategy, which will take place in the coming months.

EFESME officers were appointed during the meeting and include: Jean Claude Georges of ANPA (French lift association) as president, Massimo Bezzi of ANACAM (Italian lift association) as vice president, Yonatan Sierra Sanchez of FEPYMA (Spanish lift association) also as vice president, Giuseppe Iotti of AIMMAA (Romanian lift association) as secretary general, and Bruno Venditti of Confartigianato Ascensori as treasurer.

The EFESME General Assembly also ratified the admission of POVESA (Greek federation for the installation and maintenance of elevators) as a full EFESME member. EFESME membership now includes 15 national associations.

Canada

Elevators For Montreal Metro

The city of Montreal has requested Quebec provide CAD25 million (US$24.56 million) per year for the addition of elevators to metro stations in order to make them wheelchair accessible. According to the Montreal Gazette, eight of 68 stations currently have elevators, but with the requested funds, elevators could be added to about 15 stations over the next 10 years. The Montreal City Council was prepared to vote on the resolution in June.

Victoria International Airport Plans Expansion

The Victoria International Airport plans to undergo a CAD8.1-million (US$7.81-million) modification to its terminal building. The project will include a central elevator, stair and escalator area in the southeast corner of the terminal. The airport authority hopes to award a contract in October. The construction is scheduled to start this fall and finish in spring 2014.

China

Symax Announces New Contracts

Canada-based Symax Lift (Holdings) Co. Ltd. has announced four new contracts for the supply, installation and service of more than 100 elevators and several moving walkways. The contracts represent approximately CAD4.4 million (US$4.29 million) in revenue from housing projects in Wuxi, Shanghai and Wuhan. Deliveries are expected to be made before the end of September.

Sabrina Zhang, CEO of Symax, said of the projects:

“We are pleased to announce these contracts, which included sales of both our Dingtai and Green elevator products to [the] government, as well as private housing projects. These contracts represent the resilience of the demand for elevators in China, in particular in the sectors of government housing and tier 2 and 3 city residential developments.”

BSB Plans World’s Tallest Building

Hunan-based construction company Broad Sustainable Building (BSB) plans to build an 838-m-tall skyscraper called Sky City in Changsha by January 2013. The 828-m-tall Burj Khalifa in Dubai, currently the world’s tallest building, took more than five years to build. Sky City’s projected cost is RMB$4 billion (US$628 million). The 220-story building will have 104 elevators connecting its 1 million m² floor area.

In June, BSB and authorities from the Wangcheng district in Changsha made an agreement as to where the building will stand, but the project was still pending approval from the central government, according to Xinhua News Agency. According to BSB’s CEO Zhang Yue, the company plans to break ground on Sky City in November. Most of BSB’s buildings are pieced together with prefabricated components from its factory. In June 2010, BSB assembled a 15-story building in six days and in December 2011 erected a 20-story hotel in 360 hr. It expects 95% of Sky City to be completed before breaking ground.

Kone To Supply Elevators For Suning Rui City Phase E07

KONE will supply 54 elevators to the Suning Rui City Phase E07 high-rise development in Nanjing. The 230-m-tall tower will house a luxury hotel, as well as office and retail space. KONE will deliver 46 MiniSpace™ and eight MonoSpace® elevators, in addition to its E-Link traffic-monitoring system for the tower and seven-story podium, of which three stories will serve as an underground car park. The project is being developed by Suning Real Estate, designed by Nanjing Changjiang Urban Architectural Design Co., Ltd. and contracted by China Construction First Building Group Corp. Ltd., and is expected to be completed in 2014.

Finland

High-Rise Buildings For Keilaniemi

After several city council and coalition debates, Keilaniemi has been approved to develop four 32- to 40-story buildings. However, construction is not expected to begin for at least three years. According to Olavi Louko, Espoo director of Technical and Environmental Services, economical challenges could delay the project even further.

West Metro Project Supplied By Kone

KONE has received a contract to supply elevators and escalators to the West Metro project, which will extend Helsinki’s metro line 14 km to the west of the terminus station in Espoo. The order includes 60 TravelMaster® 140 heavy-duty escalators, 33 MonoSpace® Special elevators and eight inclined elevators, which are to be installed throughout seven metro stations. KONE will begin installation in 2014, and the West Metro will open at the end of 2015.

Each station has a daily passenger capacity between 10,000 and 30,000, and several of the stations have unique requirements. For example, the Urheilupuisto station in Espoo has multiple sporting facilities and must be able to handle thousands of people at all times. Additionally, two of the stations serve as local traffic hubs, connecting passengers to an adjacent shopping center.

Germany

Thyssenkrupp Elevator Expands Neuhausen Plant

ThyssenKrupp Elevator plans to expand its Neuhausen plant into a technology park. The company’s executive board chose to make an EUR81-million (US$101.81-million) investment at the location to safeguard its competitiveness for now and the future. In addition to upgrading the factory’s production facilities and optimizing its processes, plans also include the construction of a modern sales and customer center, which is expected to begin this year.

Dr. Olaf Berlien, executive board chairman of ThyssenKrupp Elevator AG, explained:

“Building a technology park in Neuhausen with around 1,200 employees will be key to implementing our growth strategy. Central to this will be the development center for our high-speed elevators.”

Interlift 2013 Preliminary Numbers

Interlift 2013, to take place at Augsburg’s Messezentrum on October 15-18, 2013, will be the organization’s 11th exhibition. As of May 30, two months after soliciting for participation at the event, organizer AFAG Messen und Ausstellungen GmbH had received 100 applications. Approximately 10% of these come from companies wishing to exhibit for the first time, and most are from outside Germany. Also, the three large communal participations from China, ANICA (Italian elevator components association) and the German Federal State of Saxony will participate at least as much as they did in the last Interlift, which took place in October 2011 (ELEVATOR WORLD, January 2012). The planning of the exhibition halls will begin this fall. AFAG will include an extra 6,000 m^² in the form of Exhibition Hall 4 due to the growth the organization estimates.

Kone Receives Red Dot Design Awards

KONE won two awards and two honorable mentions in the “red dot award: product design 2012” competition. The red dot design award dates back to 1955, and this year, 1,800 companies and designers from 58 countries submitted a total of 4,515 applications.

The awards were given for the elevator signalization series KSS 280 and KSS 800, and the honorable mentions were given for the KONE Design Collection and renewed elevator car, all launched in June. KONE’s KSS 280 and KSS 800 series include rounded corners, clear forms and large key buttons, to improve traffic efficiency in buildings.

According to Anne Stenros, director of design at KONE, “The new design solutions offer a wide selection of unique elevator-car interiors, as well as user-friendly components and accessories, to create highly customized ambiances and experiences.”

Kazakhstan

Partnership Invests In Elevator Market

MS Elevators Sdn Bhd of Malaysia has partnered with Kazakhstan’s elevator firm Karagandalift LLP and Samruk-Kazyna Real Estate Fund to enter Kazakhstan’s elevator market with a MYR40-million (US$12.64-million) capital expenditure this year. The joint-venture company created in this first phase, Mashiba International Sdn Bhd, is to manufacture, supply, install, test, commission and maintain elevators and escalators in Kazakhstan for three years, said Datuk Poh Kim Seng, executive chairman and CEO of MS Elevators. He said the partnership marks the company’s first significant entry into Central Asia. It already has a presence in 26 markets, including Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, U.A.E. and Egypt.

Poh stated his company will focus on R&D and manufacturing, while Karagandalift will provide installation, maintenance and spare-part supply on a local level. He added that the manufacturing factory will be located in Karaganda, though a building or construction site has not yet been chosen. Meanwhile, Commercial Director of Karagandalift, Renat Takhtayev, said Mashiba International would cater to government projects initially and then extend to other local demands in stages.

Elevator demand is expected to rise with that of high rises in the country, particularly in its capital city, Astana. MS Elevators is a joint venture of Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corp. (Toshiba). It manufactures complete Toshiba elevators that comply with Toshiba’s specification and standards.

Kuwait

Schindler In Colleges of Arts And Education

Schindler recently announced it won an order to supply 29 energy-efficient machine-room-less elevators and 50 escalators to a university project in Sabah Al Salem University District, Kuwait. Schindler will provide fully loaded options for the escalators and special-application freight elevators for this project. The coed university will comprise of colleges of arts and education, and is expected to be completed by 2014. Executive Managing Director of Schindler-Middle East Wassim Aboushaar congratulated the team involved in securing the project.

India

Mumbai International Airport New Terminal Includes 120 Units

Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport will have a new four-story terminal beginning international operations by 2013 and domestic operations by 2014. Construction of Terminal 2 (T2) is 67% complete. To accommodate an estimated 40 million passengers, T2 will have 47 escalators and 73 elevators. A multilevel parking garage to accommodate 5,000 vehicles is also being built. According to NDTV, the cost of T2 at the time of the proposal was INR$74.52 billion (US$1.36 billion); however, it has increased to INR$98 billion (US$1.78 billion).

New Delhi Office Inaugurated, Railway Escalators

In June, the finance prime minister of Delhi inaugurated Pratyaksh Kar Bhawan, the new office building for the income-tax department. According to TwoCircles, the office is the city’s tallest building and is comprised of one partitioned 28-story tower block, two six-story blocks and a three-level parking basement equipped with service and passenger elevators and escalators. The office is centrally located and within walking distance of the New Delhi Railway Station.

The Railway Ministry plans to install 12 escalators at the busier stations in New Delhi’s national capital region. New Delhi Station, which handles approximately 500,000 passengers a day, will get three additional escalators, while Old Delhi Station will get four, Nizamuddin Station will get three, and Faridabad and Shahdara stations will each have one unit installed. The escalators are the first phase of the ministry’s plan to improve facilities at its stations over the next two years. The whole project encompasses 100 escalators at 49 busy stations, including Kharagpur, Sealdah, Thane, Agra, Patna, Ranchi and Jaipur. Upgrades for further years include an additional 221 escalators at various stations.

Nigeria

Mitsubishi Electric Completes Project

In May, Mitsubishi Electric announced the completion of its installation project for the EKO Towers in Victoria Island, Lagos. The project included 10 eco-efficient elevators, which were distributed by Mitsulift Nigeria Ltd. According to Mitsubishi Electric, the towers are part of a more than 9-km² development, which is designed to be environmentally conscious and will feature efficient transportation systems and mixed-use plots combining leisure facilities, and office and retail spaces.

United Arab Emirates

Thyssenkrupp Elevator Supplies 143 Units For Shopping Center

In May, ThyssenKrupp Elevator announced a contract to supply and install a total of 95 elevators, 38 escalators and 10 moving walks for the Yas Mall project in Abu Dhabi, a 235,000-m² shopping and leisure complex. The mall is to be one of the largest shopping centers in the country and is situated near the Formula 1 circuit and the new “Ferrari World” theme park, scheduled for the end of 2013 (ELEVATOR WORLD, October 2010). The Yas Mall is to feature more than 450 shops and restaurants, a 14-screen cinema and other entertainment facilities.

The vertical transportation will be fitted with technology to control and guide visitor flows through the building. The 95 machine-room-less elevators (some of which are panoramic) are intended to provide high reliability and availability. Each will be powered by a gearless drive machine located at the top of each shaft. The interiors of the passenger elevators utilize LED lighting, and the escalators and moving walks will stop when not in use to reduce energy consumption in standby mode. Escalators, moving walks and all elevators will be remotely monitored by a central monitoring system. Operating data will be analyzed for diagnoses, optimized service call-outs and fewer unnecessary trips.

Worldwide

Changes In Kone Organization, Executive Board 

As of July 1, KONE’s business in China will be separated from the current Asia-Pacific area. The new Greater China area will comprise of mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. William B. Johnson has been appointed executive vice president for the Greater China area. Johnson will become a member of the executive board and report to Matti Alahuhta, president and CEO of KONE. Johnson has been KONE’s country manager of China since 2004.

Matti Alahuhta, president and CEO of KONE, said:

“Separating our China business from our current Asia-Pacific area will further sharpen our focus on the opportunities in this large market. We are the second largest company in the Chinese market, which represented more than 60% of the global market volume in our industry last year. Our market position is very strong also in India, Australia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The new structure gives us good possibilities to develop our business well in all of these markets.”

KONE Middle East will be part of the renewed Asia-Pacific area. Noud Veeger will serve as executive vice president for both areas. Juho Malmberg, executive vice president of the Customer Experience development program, has decided to leave KONE as of June 30. Ari Lehtoranta, KONE’s executive vice president of the Central and North Europe area, will assume responsibility for the Customer Experience development program.

CTBUH Names Best Tall Buildings For 2012

Towers in Canada, Qatar, Australia and Italy have been named the best tall buildings in the world for 2012 by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). An overall winner for the “Best Tall Building Worldwide” will be named at the CTBUH 11th Annual Awards Ceremony and Dinner at the Illinois Institute of Technology, October 18.

The four regional winners include the Absolute Towers in Mississauga, Canada (Americas); 1 Bligh Street in Sydney (Asia and Australia); Palazzo Lombardia in Milan, Italy (Europe); and Doha Tower/Burj Qatar in Doha, Qatar (Middle East and Africa). The Al Bahar Towers in Abu Dhabi won CTBUH’s first Innovation Award for the project’s computer-controlled sun screen. This year, the CTBUH Board of Trustees also awarded the Lynn S. Beedle Lifetime Achievement Award to Helmut Jahn and the Fazlur R. Khan Lifetime Achievement Medal to Charles Thornton and Richard Tomasetti, founders of Thornton & Tomasetti.

The CTBUH Best Tall Building Awards is an independent review of new projects recognized for making an extraordinary contribution to the advancement of tall buildings and achieving broad sustainability. The council received 78 entries from around the world for the awards. The majority of entries were from Asia, followed by the Middle East. The number of entries from the Americas continued to decline.

New Kone Elevator Lines

KONE has introduced a new volume elevator offering. The new range is expected to cover approximately 60% of the company elevator sales and gradually replace its current elevator offering worldwide. Matti Alahuhta, president and CEO of KONE, confirms, “These products will come to represent a substantial part of KONE’s elevator supply over the coming years.” KONE’s volume products received an A-class energy-efficiency rating according to the VDI 4707 guideline.

The products will be available in Europe and Asia Pacific during the second half of this year and in the Americas in 2013. The portfolio includes the machine-room-less KONE MonoSpace® for global markets and KONE N MiniSpace™ with a small machine room for the Asian market. The new MonoSpace elevators are up to 35% more energy efficient than KONE’s previous platform. The improvements are facilitated by the renewed KONE EcoDisc® hoisting machine and enhanced standby solutions. The machine is complemented by a new motor-control system, a renewed braking system, a redesigned low-friction hoisting system, ride-comfort testing and an improved car structure.

KONE is also offering a new “Design Collection” on a regional level. More than 50 car interiors made by design professionals will be available for both new construction and modernizations. Ceilings, wall materials, floors, handrails, mirrors and other accessories are included in the customized designs.