Rational Optimism

by Ricia Sturgeon-Hendrick

Despite high interest rates, banking turmoil, politicians arguing over the debt limit and lingering fears of recession, contractors remain optimistic according to Associated Builders and Contractors. Non-residential construction continues to grow, and finding enough trained technicians is still a problem. Profits for manufacturing and contracting companies in our industry remain sluggish, with supply chains and inflation hurting them, but most are still optimistic that business will expand over the next six months.

The creativity of our industry has always amazed me. We are constantly adapting our methods and products to meet the challenges. One of the biggest challenges now is millions of square feet of empty office space. I read in Construction Dive that “New York has roughly 76 million ft² of empty office space.” If this were stacked as a single office building, “it would stretch 7 mi. into the atmosphere.” In one of our features, Office Buildings Reimagined by Kaija Wilkinson, we get elevator people in New York, Chicago and Calgary to talk about this important issue. Consultants in the U.S. and Canada are helping their clients turn vacant office buildings into luxury residential buildings. The market for these conversions is strong. 

Dror Poleg, an economic historian, says, “There is not one silver bullet that can solve the office vacancy problem,” but there are many possibilities, including data centers, residential and even retail. Some cities are making way for a range of potential new tenants — from breweries, spas, podcast studios and even doggy daycare centers — by loosening the rules about what can go inside empty offices.

Our Focus topic this month is Safety, always a popular subject. We have three articles:

Change, Change, Change by Kevin Brinkman. The author notes that there are 100 changes in the 2022 edition of ASME A17.1/CSA B44 Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators. He gives reasons why it should be adopted without modifications.

CEDES iDiscovery. This electronic safety system eliminates many individual components and systems currently required for a conventional elevator.

Compliance and Safety by Pierre-Luc Bourgeois. He explores how to determine if elevator machine guarding is OSHA compliant. The author says, “If you have doubts, you are probably right.” He outlines multiple types of guarding.

In our Feature section this issue, we have coverage of the first WEE Expo 2023 held in Shanghai following a three-year pause. Our China Correspondent Peng Jie gives an excellent overview of the potential in the Chinese industry. While he was already in the mood, he wrote Hosting a Wonder Project about a cliff elevator that relays village kids to cable cars through a sky bridge, reducing their commute to school from 2 h to 7 min. 

I saved this for last because it is just so good. We have a Continuing Education article, Vertical Equipment Maintenance by John Koshak. The author is a formidable advocate for hands-on maintenance regularly performed, so he invented a program to ensure it. He explains what the code prescribes regarding maintenance and gives the user a plan for meeting the requirements. We are living in an era of smart elevators and remote working, but there needs to be someone laying eyes and/or hands on the equipment in which we humans travel. Great issue! Enjoy, and either way let me know at ricia@elevatorworld.com.