Pilbara to Undergo Development, Expansion

Australia

A plan by the Australian government will see crown land in the remote Pilbara region given away to property developers to construct luxury high-rise apartments. The plan could be the catalyst Pilbara needs to end the area’s housing shortage and lack of amenities, something that has deterred people from living there. The government intends to encourage revitalization and transform the area into cities. Property developer Finbar Group is currently building the area’s first high rise, Finbar tower, a AUD100-million (US$106-million) project. If presales continue in strength, a second “twin” tower with 178 units could begin construction in a matter of months. The government has committed more than AUD1 billion (US$1.1 billion) to the “Pilbara Cities” project over four years, including investment in new hospital facilities, schools and other infrastructure.  

Magnetek Installs Quattro

Magnetek, Inc., a supplier of AC drives for high-rise traction elevator applications, has announced the first installation of its Quattro® AC Elevator Drive. The drive was installed as part of a six-elevator modernization project by ThyssenKrupp Australia in Melbourne. Quattro AC is the company’s newest energy-efficient drive solution, following its own Quattro DC drive, which has sold over 800 units for use in high-rise installations in major cities across the world.

Quattro AC provides lower installation costs, superior ride quality and increased energy savings through regenerative technology. The drive has achieved a near unity power factor of over 0.95, which means that the current that flows is being used to produce useful work as efficiently as possible, rather than producing wasted heat in the electrical distribution system. In addition, Quattro AC’s clean utility-side drive harmonics mean reduced heating and better utilization of existing distribution-line equipment, plus prevention of interference with other user apparatus. The unit is designed specifically for elevator use and, through precise control, provides smooth acceleration and deceleration.    

Bulgaria

Thyssenkrupp Elevator Receives Contract

ThyssenKrupp Elevator has received a contract to manufacture and install an additional 19 elevators and 31 escalators for the expansion of the metro system in Sofia. In 2009, the company supplied 17 elevators and 10 esca-lators for the station. The equipment is for four new underground stations in the middle of the city, including the Sveta Nedelya Square intersection in one of the most populated areas of Sofia. The overall expansion program is scheduled to be complete in 2015 and considered the country’s largest infrastructure project.

Canada

Subway Stations to Receive Elevator Retrofits

Keele subway station in Toronto will be retrofitted with a new elevator in 2014; and, according to a Toronto Transit Commission (TCC) spokesperson, all of the city’s stations will be retrofitted with elevators by 2024. The equipment is expected to increase accessibility throughout the stations, helping individuals with limited mobility to better access the subways. A local resident commented that without elevators she is unable to use the subway.

As part of the retrofit assessment, the number of senior citizens who use the subways and the potential number of individuals who would use the stations was taken into consideration. The results helped the TCC determine which stations to retrofit first.

China

Skyscraper Increase

According to Pravda.ru, China will rival the world with its drastic increase in skyscrapers. Currently, the U.S. is considered to have the largest number of high-rise build-ings. However, in 2011, more than 200 skyscrapers are expected to be built throughout China to meet the demand for residential and office property. Developers do not plan to challenge the Burj Khalifa for tallest building in the world, but the country may soon be home to the world’s second and third tallest buildings.

Mitsubishi Electric Furthers Presence

Mitsubishi Electric has announced that it established a company in Changshu, Jiangsu Province, in June. The new company, Mitsubishi Electric Automation Manufacturing (Changshu) Co., Ltd., is expected to begin operating in December 2012 with target annual sales of JPY30 billion (US$366 million) by March 2016. It is also intended for the site’s workforce to reach 450 employees by the latter date.

The firm will manufacture and sell servo motors, numer-ical controllers and other drive products in an effort to capitalize on rapidly increasing demand for factory-automation equipment in the country’s manufacturing sector. Mitsubishi Electric believes that the Chinese market is experiencing buoyant capital investment to meet demand for mobile devices, and this requires more automation, especially in the face of labor shortages and rising wages.

KONE Partners with Hangzhou Center

KONE and the Asian Packaging Center (APC) held a signing ceremony at the Hangzhou Four Seasons Hotel on May 30. Hangzhou government leaders and managers from both KONE and APC were present. KONE is to import 30 high-speed elevators from Europe for APC’s two towers. These include 10 sets of 6-mps, 11 sets of 4-mps, four sets of 3-mps and five sets of 2.5-mps elevators. All units are equipped with KONE’s patented EcoDisc® permanent-magnet, synchronous-motor gearless traction machine.

APC is being built by the APC of the World Packaging Organization in Qianjiang New City in the Hangzhou Central Business District. More than US$350 million is invested in the project, which includes 245,000 m2 of area. The 180-m-high development includes two towers and a podium building. The eastern tower will have 68,000 m2 of area and mainly be used as a hotel and for residences, while the western tower with 62,000 m2 of area will be for commercial space. Plans for the podium building are that it will be a store and club.

Li Aihan, APC general manager, expressed his opinion that the project lays a foundation for cooperation in such fields as environmental protection and energy savings. Jiang Wei, president of KONE (China), held simi-lar sentiments:

“The cooperation between APC and KONE is a strong alliance, which will give full scope to strong brand, operation and resource, respectively. We hope to build a closer and wider cooperation with APC. We believe that KONE’s energy-saving technology and People Flow™ solution will surely provide [a safer] and [more] comfortable environment and better user experience for APC, [a] worldwide industry center.

CTBUH Awards Design Competition

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) selected Chicago-based architecture firm Goettsch Partners (GP) for its winning scheme in the design com-petition for a prominent site in the new Pazhou district in Guangzhou. Three parcels form the triangular site, which is planned for seven buildings. Located on the Pearl River Delta, the site is considered an ideal commercial destination.

A nautilus-like spiral defines the concept of the complex, which will feature a tower at the northeast corner. The other six buildings will encircle the tower. The centerpiece of the development is a public piazza, which will unify the parcels, while segregating pedestrian and vehicular activity.

Prospect Photoelectric

Prospect Photoelectric Tech. Co., Ltd., located in Qinhuangdao Development Zone, is a manufacturer of elevator electronic components. Its products cover elevator safety systems, energy-saving devices and intelligent management platforms. Through continued innovation, the company has been awarded up to 20 patents since 1999.

Beginning with building electrical integration platforms for elevators, Prospect Photoelectric has grown into a key supplier for more than 320 elevator manufacturers across the world, including Otis, Mitsubishi Electric and Schindler, using its own technology based on effectively integrating quality improvement and energy savings. Its energy-saving unit for elevators, PQA2000 earthquake alarm predictor and PQA2000 emergency lifesaver have garnered public attention.

The earthquake alarm predictor perceives an earthquake in advance, saving 10-30 s. for evacuation. Its application has expanded from elevators to other public facilities. The emergency lifesaver is an incorporation of 12 functions in one, including flash alarming, breaking, lighting, cutting, power generation, magnet, built-in battery charging, radio, manual power generation, etc. It can not only be helpful in emergencies, but also daily life. The energy-saving unit for elevators attracted many visitors for its environmentally friendly and energy-saving features. At the China International Economic & Trade Fair held in Langfang on May 18-21, this product was called “the Green Power Plant.”

Design Unveiled for Latest Supertall

In June, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture un-veiled its competition-winning design for the Wuhan Greenland Center. The 1,988-ft.-tall, 119-story supertall is set to become the world’s fourth-tallest building and the third tallest in China. The tapered structure features rounded corners and a domed top, designed to reduce wind resistance and vortex action that builds up around supertall towers. By reducing wind loading, the amount of structure material required for construction will be minimized. The building will provide around 3.2-million-sq.-ft. of floor space, to be occupied by offices, luxury apartments and condominiums, a five-star hotel and a penthouse-level private club.

The structure was designed with energy efficiency in mind. The design includes energy recovery using an enthalpy wheel integrated into the ventilation system re-sponsible for capturing energy from the building’s exhaust systems, and using it to preheat or precool air entering the building. High-efficiency lighting will be used in conjunction with a daylight-responsive control system to reduce electric lighting whenever possible. A gray-water

recovery system will reuse wastewater from the hotel laundry, sinks and showers in the building’s evaporative cooling system. Water-efficient fixtures will minimize water usage and reduce the energy needed to pump it up the building.

Construction was to begin in the summer, with completion expected in about five years.   

Lisboa Gardens Development Controversy

Ka Fai Building Investment Co., developers of the Lisboa Gardens complex on the Small Taipa Hill in Macau, has come under fire for its revised development plan for the area. The company has requested government approval to build three 29- to 36-story residential high-rise towers in place of the original construction plan for villas and a four-star hotel. The revised plan would consist of three residential towers on block 1 and block 2. The buildings would stand around 139-m on block 1 and 154-m above sea level on block 2, while the Small Taipa Hill itself is around 110-m-tall. The developers have faced criticism from some lawmakers, environmental activists, and residents, who claim that the construction of the towers would block the sunlight on the south of the hill, affect the healthy growth of vegetation, destroy the natural landscape of the city and harm quality of life. According to Ka Fai, the revised proposal is in line with laws and related legislation, including building height.

France

Schaeffler Group Works on Eiffel Tower

The Schaeffler Group’s maintenance and asset management division, FAG Industrial Services, is providing both technical support in rolling-bearing selection and vibration analysis and bearing mounting services for the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Schaeffler’s relationship with the Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE), which operates the landmark, continues since the 1980s with this extended services agreement. It was brought about by an urgent need to replace the bearings in the elevator cabins of the hydraulic elevator in the tower’s western column. Furthermore, the axial clearance of the original bearings was too large.

Schaeffler France engineers worked closely with SETE to select the most suitable FAG tapered roller bearings. These bearings support a total weight of 20 metric tons. They meet all requirements with respect to the radial and axial load ratings. A FAG fitter provided on-site support to the maintenance team that mounted the cabin bearings during the one-day job. FAG engineers later inspected the upper pulleys of the elevator in the eastern column of the Eiffel Tower.

In addition to modernizing all of the tower’s mechani-cal systems at the end of the 1980s, Schaeffler was in-volved in the development and mounting of an INA gear ring to align the revolving floodlight at the tip of the tower in 2002. The company has already planned more joint projects with SETE.

Germany

Interlift Finalizes Programming

Interlift 2011 will be held on October 18-21 in Augsburg, Germany, at the Augsburg Trade Fair Centre. As of May 10, organizers finalized the programming for the VFA Interlift forum. With 54 lecturers from 16 countries, the forum will focus on the topics of standardization, international markets, environment and energy, and modernization, as well as new products and services.

Organizers have also reported that the 10th Interlift in Augsburg is shaping up to be the largest since its premiere 20 years ago. Four months before the show, 6%more exhibition space was booked compared to that of the 2009 event. Organizers expect even more companies to book what little exhibition space remains.

For more information, visit website: www.interlift.de.

Greece

Kleemann Test Tower Opens

KLEEMANN held an opening ceremony for its new test tower on June 24 in the Kilkis Industrial Area. The 55-m-tall test tower contains five test shafts. Offices for KLEEMANN engineers comprise the first four floors of the tower, while the 15th floor has a conference room, to be used for seminars, meetings and other events. The test tower will contribute to KLEEMANN’s ongoing research of the design and manufacture of high-speed elevators, while enabling the testing of newly designed safety components.

India

Groundbreaking Ceremony in Mangalore

Mangalore residents gathered for the groundbreaking ceremony for Willows apartment complex at Neermarga on May 23. The eight-story building features a granite visitors’ center with two semi-automatic elevators, one with an eight-person capacity and the other with a 12-person capacity. The complex has easy connectivity with BC Road for residents.

Earthquake-Resistant Dampers Being Researched

Traditionally, engineers design buildings to undergo some damage during large earthquakes, allowing the structure to absorb the seismic energy and remain standing. Though a building may remain standing after an earthquake, it is often unsafe for reuse and/or repair costs are high. Chandra Mouli Vemury of Hyderabad is working to develop a new technology designed to make buildings more earthquake resistant. As part of his doctoral program at Newcastle University, U.K., Vemury is working with Nitinol, an alloy comprised of nickel and titanium. Nitinol possesses shape memory properties, which means it can be deformed but will return to its original shape. Vemury plans to use the alloy to create energy-absorbing dampers that can be placed at the bottom of buildings. These Nitinol dampers would absorb and dissipate the energy from a seismic event, causing little or no damage to the building. Research is in the early stages, and tests are being conducted in the university’s laboratories.

Required Monitoring Of Lifts/Escalators

The city of Kolkata is now requiring owners of multistoried buildings with lifts or escalators to report all details of the device to the chief electrical inspector. The move to monitor the equipment comes after the state passed Assam Lift and Escalator Rules, 2010, which has guidelines for maintenance and periodic inspection, security measures and emergency provisions. According to Chief Electrical Inspector Surajit Barooah, after the equipment details have been collected, the owners will be instructed to take steps for improvements. Currently, there are more than 600 lifts in the city alone.

The state-appointed inspectors were to start work in May, and new owners who wish to install lifts will have to get approval from the inspector. In addition, owners will have to maintain a logbook of all repairs. Additional requirements include that each lift gate have an electrical switch, which will prevent the car from being started or kept in motion unless the doors are closed; an emergency alarm, which can be operated by a push button in the lift car and should be clearly audible from outside the lift; and the door should open manually from the inside in case of an emergency due to power failure or breakdown.

Foot Overbridge Plans Stalled

Plans for a 47-m-long foot overbridge crossing GST Road in Chennai have stalled. The project, proposed two years ago, would include escalators at both ends and allow commuters easy access to the rail and bus stations, among the busiest in the southern suburbs, located on the other side of the road. Currently, pedestrians must cross the busy road with the help of a traffic officer. According to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials, the department approached the railways for 150 m2 of land for the overbridge. After a delay, the railway offered a 35-year lease on the land at INR10.14 million (US$226,213). The NHAI has yet to reply, as of press time, and the project has languished.

Japan

Mitsubishi Environmental Report

The environmental report for Mitsubishi Electric Group’s 2011 fiscal year ending in March has been re-leased  (http://www.mitsubishielectric.com/company/csr). It outlines the operations of Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and its 167 domestic and overseas affiliates and their efforts to contribute to low-carbon, recycling-oriented societies through group-wide environmental activities. The report illustrates Mitsubishi Electric’s “green” efforts during its 90th anniversary (ELEVATOR WORLD, April 2011), citing plastic recycling initiatives, third-party evaluation of

measures to reduce manufacturing-related CO2 emissions and technologies designed to conserve water resources at factories. In addition, CO2 emissions from manufacturing operations were reduced by 35,000 tons, CO2 emissions generated by 84 end-use products were reduced on an average of 25%, and the company achieved zero-emissions final waste disposal for the seventh consecutive year.    

Toshiba Elevator President, CEO

Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corp. headquartered in Kitushinagawa, appointed Shinichiro Akiba as its new president and CEO on June 21. He succeeded Shunichi Kimura, who retired and will serve as advisor to the company’s board. Akiba has more than 20 years of international business experience. Prior to accepting his current position, he was president and CEO of Toshiba Elevator Corp. and president of the Japan Business Association, both of Houston.

Kenya

Nairobi Demolishes Tall Buildings

The Nairobi City Council decreed in June that any building more than five stories high in which people live or work without a lift will be torn down. The enforcement began “after carrying out an audit of all buildings of that nature” in the city, said Local Government Minister Musalia Mudavadi. According to him, the most egregious offenders were estate owners in the city’s Eastlands area and Githurai.

However, all areas of the metropolis are to be targeted. Mudavadi blamed the existence of the buildings on “shortage of manpower at the councils and compromised integrity amongst some of the existing officials,” greed and the increasing demand for houses, for which there will be “diplomacy action and dismissals.” Some builders were carrying on with construction despite not receiving council approval, as was the case of a six-story estate in Nairobi that collapsed in June and killed four people.

New Zealand

Modular High Rise Nears Completion

One of the largest modular high rises to be constructed in New Zealand is nearing completion at the University of Auckland. The last of the modular rooms, individually assembled in Waikato, were being installed in June. Suspended timber floors connect the rooms to corridors and elevators. The prefabricated timber room pods, manufactured by Stanley Group, were painted, fitted with windows, furniture and prepared for electricity links, and then driven to Auckland on truck and trailer units, where they were lifted by crane and stacked vertically three high within a concrete and steel framework. Modules have been inserted at a rate of up to nine per day. Speaking about the modular construction process, Peter Fehl, the University’s Property Services director, stated, “Not only is building faster, safer and easier than conventional methods with fewer workers required onsite, but it is cheaper with better quality control.” Construction on the dual tower began in May 2010 and is scheduled to open to students in early 2012.

Russia

Hotel Industry Growth

According to the head of the Russian Tourism Industry Union, Sergei Korneyev, the hotel industry is booming throughout the country, despite the economic downturn. Korneyev added that the tourism industry grew by 7% in 2010 and is expected to see an additional increase when the country hosts the 2018 Fédération Internationale de Football Association World Cup. 

Serpukhov Factory Construction

Construction of the Serpukhov Elevator Plant in the Moscow Oblast region is proceeding as planned. Equipped with the latest technology and equipment, the factory is expected to produce 10,000 elevators per year. Spread over a total area of 15,000 m2, the factory will include a test tower with nine test cells, lifting height of 80 m, 5-ton load-carrying capacity and speeds of up to 8 mps. The factory will begin production of Wellmaks™ business-class elevators in 2012. This type of elevator combines engineering designs from the successful Shcherbinsky Elevator Plant with high-end accessories from European manufacturers.

Saudi Arabia

Mecca Clock Royal Tower

As the centerpiece of the Abraj Al-Bait Towers, the Mecca Clock Royal Tower is among the tallest buildings in the world, standing at 601 m (ELEVATOR WORLD, November 2010). The seven-tower com-plex of hotels is located on an area of more than 1.4 million m2. The clock faces are visible from 17 km away at night and up to 12 km during the day. In addition, the building is equipped with 94 KONE elevators with a maximum speed of 6 mps.

South Korea

CTBUH 2011 World Conference

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) 2011 World Conference will be held October 10-12 at Coex Convention and Exhibition Center in Seoul. The central theme of this year’s conference is “Why Tall?— Green, Safety, and Humanity.” The conference will ex-amine the meaning and value of tall buildings in modern society from the perspectives of green, safety and humanity. With more than 200 abstracts submitted from around the world, the event will feature an array of speakers on various subjects. In addition, technical tours of the Lotte Super Tower, currently under construction, will be offered. For more information or to register, visit website: www.ctbuh2011.org.  

Hyundai Supplies Songdo IBD

Hyundai Elevator Co., Ltd. has been awarded a contract from Daewoo Engineering & Construction to provide 18 elevators for the I-Tower at Songdo International Business District (IBD). The contract includes two high-speed elevators that travel at speeds of up to 6 mps. The 33-story I-Tower is currently under construction and scheduled for completion in late 2012.

Thailand

Modern Ruins: Abandoned Skyscraper

Located in Bangkok, “Sathorn Unique” is a 49-story abandoned skyscraper, with 659 residential and 54 retail units. Just 14 years ago, the tower was under construction, but never completed due to an economic crisis in the country. In June, Dr. Hank Snaffler, Jr., of Abandoned Journey toured the site, which he called “modern ruins.” He reported that the ground level of the building contains two escalators and numerous open shafts.

Sathorn Unique is not the only abandoned high rise in Bangkok. Snaffler also toured a nearby three-tower complex and another 40-story tower. Despite economic improvement, plans to complete Sathorn Unique have not been reported.

United Arab Emirates

Dubai Tower Receives CTBUH Recognition

Dubai is now home to The Index, an 80-story tower located on a corner site within the Dubai International Finance Centre. The high rise includes luxury apartments and 25 floors of office space. Designed by Foster + Partners, the tower was named Regional “Best Tall Building,” Middle East & Africa, by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). The Chicago-based organization annually recognizes outstanding buildings in four geographical regions of the world and holds a formal awards ceremony.

The Index is recognized for its distinctive form and slender profile, which reveals the building’s structural system and internal organization. The floors are supported by four A-frame concrete “fins” that taper as they rise. The building is served by a small central core lift system, serving 40 levels of apartments, the sky lobby and shops. A local lift system transports residents to individual apartments. The main lift core, which serves the office floors, are located at the eastern and western edges of the tower. According to CTBUH Awards Juror Werner Sobeck, “The Index presents a new environmental icon for the Middle East, showcasing important passive strategies of orientation, core placement and shading.”

United Kingdom

Symposium on Lift and Escalator Technologies

The Symposium on Lift and Escalator Technologies will be held on September 29 as a part of the 2011/12 Inaugural Lift Engineering School at the University of Northampton in Northampton, U.K. This is part of the Lift Engineering program offered at the university that includes postgraduate courses at the MSc, MPhil and PhD levels.

The symposium will include paper presentations from the graduates and final-year students of the program. Keynote addresses will also be included from industry experts invited by CIBSE:

• Dr. Lutfi Al-Sharif of Al-Sharif VTC Ltd.
• Phil Andrew, formerly of Express Lift Co. Ltd.
• Dr. Gina Barney of Gina Barney Associates
• Adam Scott of Grontmij
• Rory Smith of ThyssenKrupp Elevator

The event is organized jointly by The Lift Engineering Section of the School of Science and Technology and The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) Lift Group. For more information, con-tact Margaret Byrne of the University of Northampton’s School of Science and Technology at phone: (44) 0-1604-893347 or (44) 0-1604-892009, fax: (44) 0-1604-893071 or e-mail: Margaret.Byrne@northampton.ac.uk.

London Systems To Get 100+ Escalators

In June, it was announced that Crossrail and Transport for London were looking for a builder to supply over 100 escalators for the under-ground transportation network in central London. Around 60 escalators will be required for the Crossrail stations in central London, and another 45 escalators are planned for London Underground’s major escalator re-placement program.

Andy Mitchell, Crossrail program director, remarked:

“2011 marks the 100th anniversary of the first escalator being installed on the Tube network at Earl’s Court. During the coming years, Crossrail and London Underground could need over 100 new escalators, and this contract is likely to be the U.K.’s largest single order for station escalators. A joint procurement process is being under-taken by Crossrail and Transport for London with the aim of achieving significant cost savings that would not otherwise be realized if separate smaller orders were placed.”

Installation of new escalators for the Tube network is due to begin in late 2013, with work underway from 2015 at the Crossrail stations. The invitation to tender is to be issued this year.

Leia Announces Dates, New Name for Liftex

The Lift and Escalator Industry Association (LEIA) has announced the new dates for LIFTEX, which is being re-named LIFTEX International. The event will take place on May 22-23, 2013, at London’s ExCeL Exhibition Centre and remains on a three-year cycle. CatalystEvents has been appointed as the event’s organizer and will help LEIA develop new industry-related ideas pertaining to the exhibition. In addition to the new title, the show has a new logo. For more information on the 2013 event, visit website: www.liftext2013.com.

Amalgamated Lifts Offers Free Lift Checks

Amalgamated Lifts, providers of lift installation, modernization and maintenance services, now offers facilities and property managers of prospective clients in London and the southeast U.K. a free lift “health check.” The company launched the service in June and expects it to be offered indefinitely.

According to the company’s operations manager, Amy Roper: 

“It’s not always easy to decide when to replace or partially modernize a lift; there is [a lot] to consider, including budget, timing and potential disruption to personnel.”

Roper added that an increasingly important consideration is the amount of energy savings that can be achieved if equipment is replaced or upgraded. The equipment Amalgamated Lifts installs has a 50% return on energy savings. For more information on the lift checks, visit website: www.al-lifts.co.uk.

Speakers Announced for The Lift Show 2012

Organizers of The Lift Show 2012, to be held at ExCeL in London on April 18-19, 2012, have announced that the following industry specialists will present keynote sessions during the exhibition: Adrian Godwin, chairman, Lerch Bates, Ltd.; David Cooper, managing director, LECS, Ltd.; Jonathan Hawkswell, partner, Hawkswell Kilvington, LLP; and Mark Shrives-Wright, director, Shrives-Wright, Ltd. The event will have a general theme of cost saving and efficiency. Day one will be tailored toward maintenance, upgrading and repair, while day two will focus on new installations. More speakers are expected to be announced as the event draws nearer.

Vietnam

Mitsubishi Electric Opens Sales Company

In June, Mitsubishi Electric Corp. announced the establishment of Mitsubishi Electric Vietnam Co., Ltd. in Ho Chi Minh City. Operations started July 1 and were implemented to coordinate sales of home appliances and factory automation products. Annual sales of JPY8 billion (US$99.4 million) are targeted by the 2016 fiscal year.

Until now, Mitsubishi Electric conducted sales in Vietnam through distributors, but is currently positioning the country as a priority market. Mitsubishi Electric is also involved with Melco Elevator Vietnam Co., Ltd. and a Vietnam Representative office, both of Ho Chi Minh City.

Worldwide

Schindler Joins Solar Impulse

Schindler has joined Solar Impulse HB-SIA as a main partner. Solar Impulse, a zero-fuel airplane aiming to fly around the world propelled by solar energy, had its first successful solar flight (26 hours) without fuel in July 2010. Schindler will closely follow and support various techno-logical disciplines by embedding its engineers into the sustainability project.

Sematic Revamps Website

Sematic Elevator Products has updated its website (www.sematic.com). The relaunched website offers additional languages (including Turkish and Chinese), automatic e-mail updates for Sematic sales and technical catalogues, an interactive product selection guide featuring doors and cabins classified by applications and destinations, and a new contact section organized by countries and functions. The website is meant to provide a more intuitive, user-friendly experience. The site layout and menus have been redesigned, resulting in easier navigation. In addition, the site’s reserved area has been enhanced with Sematic Draw, a web-based drawing software. Other applications will be released in the coming months.

Thyssenkrupp’s Sustainability Commitment

ThyssenKrupp Elevator announced the official launch of its global sustainable efficiency program to the public in June. The company has long pursued a sustainable business policy and will continue to do so through the program. ThyssenKrupp Elevator will focus on sustain-able aspects of material selection, production sites, energy-saving operation and ecologically conscious maintenance services.

The TWIN system is one example of the company’s commitment to the environment. The system works with one cab traveling independently above the other, reducing the number of elevator shafts in a building by up to one third, ultimately saving building volume and floor space. The gearless permanent-magnet machines combined with regenerative inverters feed energy back into the power-supply network and comply with international standards of energy-efficiency ratings.

ThyssenKrupp Elevator’s Destination Selection Control (DSC) system directs passengers to the appropriate elevator with minimum wait and travel times. DSC eliminates unnecessary stops and optimizes traffic so that handling capacity is substantially increased, while energy consumption and CO2 emissions are greatly reduced. The machines, drives and controllers have been designed to

have a low impact on the environment.

CTBUH Names “Best Tall Buildings”

In June, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) named the Regional “Best Tall Buildings” for 2011. The awards include: “New York by Gehry” at Eight Spruce Street, New York City (Americas); Guangzhou International Finance Center, Guangzhou, China (Asia and Australia); KfW Westarkade, Frankfurt, Germany (Europe); and The Index, Dubai (Middle East and Africa). The buildings were selected for their design, technical innovations and sustainable attributes.

In addition, CTBUH named the recipients of its two life-time achievement awards. Adrian Smith of Adrian Smith+ Gordon Gill Architecture was selected to receive the Lynn S. Beedle Lifetime Achievement Award, and Dr. Akira Wada of the Tokyo Institute of Technology was selected for the Fazlur Khan Lifetime Achievement Medal.

This year’s recipients will be formally recognized at CTBUH’s 10th Annual Awards Ceremony & Dinner on October 27 at the Illinois Institute of Technology.