“R” Your Future Growth Drivers in Place?

In this Readers’ Platform, your author provides an analysis of the key factors that will propel VT to even greater heights going forward. 

photos by Gagandeep Kaur

Vertical transportation (VT) has greatly evolved from what used to be an optional or luxury item into something much more essential — a regular part of our daily life. This acceleration, I believe, is the primary differentiator that has led to the evolution of VT in India and fueled its growth to a considerable extent. 

Analyzing the transformation that has taken place so far, we can sum up the future growth prospects for VT in India across three “Rs”: replacement, rejuvenation and retrofitting. 

Replacement

Expansion

When we look at the replacement market in India, it is clear that it has become much bigger than expected. There are many cases where the original elevator was not of good quality, and instead of recurring repairs, a wiser decision was taken to replace the same with one of better quality and higher speed per second. The reasons are not just financial or aesthetic. Slowly traveling upwards several times a day at an extremely slow pace can be irritating, as well as a cause for concern. 

Investment

Nobody wants to be risking life and limb when both can be secured by replacing a cheap, penny-pinching miser’s mistake with an updated model that also makes traveling from the ground floor to the 21st quicker and easier. Most importantly, with buildings spending several lakhs of rupees for structural repairs and renovation including exterior paint jobs, investing in a new elevator makes a lot of sense.

Rejuvenation

Impetus

Rejuvenation is the next factor that will be providing impetus to the demand for VT going forward. While the residential real estate segment is in the process of making a transition from horizontal development to high rises, there are several instances where the lack of an elevator turns out to be the deciding factor for driving residents toward redevelopment, even if the old building structure is still stable. 

The reason is that people who purchase homes are often unable to climb stairs anymore. Most of them are almost senior citizens. Even those who are younger may suffer from ailments like arthritis, and this necessitates elevators for daily usage. 

Access

A similar situation exists with office buildings. In many cases, the founder of a company or a service provider has now aged and finds it difficult to access his own office on the highest floor of a horizontal building. Redeveloping the structure not only gives it a sleek, modern look but also enables top management to comfortably access the offices on the top floors with far better views then before. 

Speed

Interestingly, many educational institutions have also opted for redevelopment, as leveraging the hitherto unused FSI (floor space index) enables them to vastly increase overall space. The new design with central air conditioning and more floors obviously makes provision for high-speed elevators to a much better extent than the design done decades ago when elevators were just occasionally included to make a statement rather than become an element that would be used on a daily basis.

Retrofitting

Addition

Retrofitting is the third factor that has the potential to be a growth driver for VT in the future. While every new metro station gets VT by default in the form of elevators and escalators, we have observed that Indian Railways has been systematically incorporating VT into its existing network of stations, as well. 

Immense

While this exercise had a slow start and took quite some time before picking up the pace, it seems to have received an overwhelming response from commuters. In a scenario where railways are being compared with metro networks, something as simple as providing escalators and elevators can translate into huge brownie points while also conveying a greater understanding of the needs of commuters. If one takes into consideration the entire Indian Railways network across the nation, the potential for retrofitting elevators and escalators is truly immense. 

Comfort

Similarly, as I have mentioned in many of my earlier articles, people who have made it big in life often have bungalows or villas as status symbols. Climbing stairs whenever you decide to stay a weekend or during vacations restricts the age group and, thereby, the number of people who would be willing to visit. 

Without retrofitting them, these status symbols end up becoming white elephants with no direct usage or logical purpose. However, the minute one installs a home elevator externally or a stairlift within the premises, it immediately becomes a much more welcoming dwelling, and pain-free VT becomes the cherry on top of the icing on the cake. 

In this manner, we can expect the VT industry to flourish and gain additional momentum moving ahead over and above the regular demand from conventional and recently included segments of real estate and infrastructure.