Modernising History

A goods lift modernisation in a designated Grade-I listed building

St. George’s Hall in Liverpool is a building on St. George’s Place, opposite Lime Street railway station in the centre of Liverpool, England. Opened in 1854, it is a Neoclassical building which contains concert halls and law courts and is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I-listed building. On the east side of the hall, between it and the railway station, is St. George’s Plateau and on the west side are St. John’s Gardens. The hall is included in the William Brown Street conservation area.

In 1969, architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner expressed his opinion that St. George’s Hall is one of the finest neo-Grecian buildings in the world, although the building is known for its use of Roman as well as Greek sources. In 2004, the hall and its surrounding area were recognised as part of Liverpool’s UNESCO World Heritage Site until its revocation of World Heritage status in 2021. The Liverpool Register Office and Coroner’s Court have been based in the hall since 2012. The site of the hall was formerly occupied by the first Liverpool Infirmary from 1749 to 1824.

Modernisation Needed

Knowsley Lift Services were tasked with providing a reliable, efficient, cost-effective replacement solution for the hydraulic goods lift, which has had many reliability issues, given age and increased demand.

In addition, because the motor room was too small for the goods lift hydraulics, the lift frequently overheated due to heavy use when used for functions.

The original OEM design of the lift was such that it saw the installation of oversized automatic doors, which, over time, had taken a toll on the sills/door operator and door panels. Following discussions with the main stakeholders and undertaking many technical surveys with the suppliers, a solution was found.

During the technical survey, Knowsley Lift Services felt a change to a traction machine-room-less (MRL) system with manual shutter gates would be more suited to the environment and use, and would present a more reliable lift which would be able to sustain the impact of the trolleys/goods and not overheat.

Working with our supply partners, DOPPLER, and specialist gate manufacturers, Earlswood, Knowsley Lifts Ltd. replaced the hydraulic 2500-kg goods lift with auto doors to the following:

• 2800-kg, 37-person, energy efficient, gearless ECO2i Traction MRL goods passenger lift, with a 4:1 roping arrangement, through car serving four floors
• SAFEGUARD heavy duty car and landing gates
• SASSI, G400T2, 360, VVVF gearless machine

Carey Oakes, operations director of Knowsley Lifts, said:

“Knowsley Lift Services are very proud to have completed various types of work on many Grade I- and II-listed buildings around the U.K., and are maintainers of some of the most beautiful ones in Liverpool and the surrounding areas to date. Serving the main facilities at the iconic St. George’s Hall, this lift is the workhorse of the building. This was a challenging but very rewarding project, and we are delighted to have been chosen by our client to deliver, once again, another really successful lift installation.”

The project was run by Knowsley Lift’s Dave Tracy, senior technical project manager, and Sophie Morrison, project coordinator, and installed by Ross Crosby. The modernisation project lasted 12 weeks.

Throughout the project, the building had to remain open and was, in fact, the set of the new “The Batman” movie for a period of time. Working within set time frames and ensuring the protection of the building’s Grade I listed architecture, Knowsley Lift Services completed the project on time and on budget (even when we had to stop work to let Batman get to work!)