The CIBSE Lifts Group Annual Review

A look back at the organization’s busy 2014 and expectations for this year

The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) promotes the careers of building-services engineers by accrediting courses of study in further and higher education through the approval of work-based training programs and providing routes to full professional registration. CIBSE offers a range of services focused on maintaining and enhancing professional excellence throughout its members’ careers. The CIBSE Lifts Group is a specialist forum for members who have an interest in vertical transportation. The group meets regularly to promote technical standards, training and education, publications, and other aspects of the vertical-transportation industry.

The CIBSE Lifts Group elected officers for 2015 at its Annual General Meeting on February 10. Those serving this year are John Bashford (chairman), Len Halsey (vice chairman), your author (secretary), Michael Bottomley (treasurer), Adam Scott (British Standards Institution representative), Dr. Gina Barney (events organizer), Elizabeth Evans (publicity), David Cooper (lift academy), and Phil Pearson and WeeChuan Lim (events team). Cooper is also a member of CIBSE’s overall managing body, the CIBSE Council.

A meeting in February 2014 addressed the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations with a presentation from Barney of Gina Barney Associates, Antony Taylor of the Managing Agent’s Property H&S Form, and Richard Hulmes of SAFed. The presentations were followed by a lively debate concerning whether professionals have a duty to isolate equipment that is potentially unsafe, even if they have no direct authority to do so.

A half-day seminar in September 2014 addressed the implementation of EN 81-20 and EN 81-50. This was directly followed by a second half-day seminar to review the draft CIBSE Guide D: Transportation Systems in Buildings 2015, Sections 3 and 4. CIBSE Guide D is the key reference for anyone involved in the world of transportation systems in buildings. These sections address the planning of lift installations through the application of traffic analysis and simulation. The guide has been updated throughout and brought into line with the latest codes and standards. Its draft document review process is in progress as of the time of this writing, and the new edition is due to be launched later in 2015.

The highly popular Symposium on Lift & Escalator Technologies was held in partnership with the University of Northampton on September 25-26, 2014. Two days of peer-reviewed technical papers were presented to an international audience of more than 100 attendees. Proceedings are available for download from www.liftsymposium.org.

The CIBSE Lifts Group 2015 program will again provide a full schedule of events. For more information on current and past activities, see www.cibseliftsgroup.org. The Fifth Symposium on Lift & Escalator Technologies will be held on September 23-24, 2015. For more information or to register, visit www.liftsymposium.org. There will also be events associated with the launch of Guide D 2015, one of which will be held on September 22, a convenient date for international attendees of the symposium.