This is a tale about an encounter I had while on holiday recently. While I was relaxing at a bar, I made the acquaintance of a really cute blonde. We hit it off – when she found out that I was from Manchester, she went crazy. She loved Mancunians. We spent a couple of hours chatting and drinking, and had a really great time. When it was time to leave, I managed to convince her to walk with me – my hotel was pretty close to the bar. Turns out that stoplights are a great place to sneak a few kisses. My blonde cutie agreed.

By the time we got to the hotel, we were on fire from all the passionate kissing. We stumbled towards the elevator. This particular elevator had a clear glass back to it and you could see the entire interior of the hotel through it. The room I was staying in was on the third floor, so I pressed “3.”

When the elevator doors closed, I put my hand behind her neck, tugged at her hair and pulled her as close as possible. We started kissing again, and these kisses put all those previous kisses to shame. All of a sudden, right when it started getting really intense, the elevator pinged. We had reached the third floor, but since we were having such a good time, I hit the elevator button for floor ‘19’ – the highest floor in the hotel.

We lost ourselves in each other as the elevator chugged steadily upwards. Not only did we lose ourselves, but also we lost our ability to notice anything outside of our little kissing circle. Without our noticing, the elevator had gone up all the way to the 19th floor and back down to the lobby.

She put her leg around me and went for my neck. I leaned back to give her better access, opened my eyes a little and looked through the glass wall of the elevator. In front of us there was a security guard and three people staring at us. I started laughing, causing the blonde to cease her assault on my neck and look through the glass wall. She started laughing as well, along with the three people. However, the security guard was annoyed.

I hit the ‘3’ button and the elevator took off with us still laughing. This time, we went straight to the room. What a spectacular and hilarious night!

As the U.K. marches further into the 21st century, its trend towards urbanization poses many challenges for an ever increasing number of city dwellers. One of the largest problems already facing many Brits is a lack of parking spaces. Even with the high number of multi-storey car parks in denser cities such as London, many motorists are forced to search for parking spaces as far away as half a kilometer from their destination. One innovative solution to this parking problem is making its way into car parks across the globe, and it is nearly as old as the motor vehicle. Hydraulic lifts, similar to those used for vehicle maintenance, are now being used to stack multiple cars in once space.

These devices can hold upwards of ten cars where there was once only room for one, and they are available for indoor and outdoor locations. This novel device has already found its way into the homes of a growing number of wealthy Londoners who want to save space in their garages. While private lifts can cost over £50,000, a rising number of commercial institutions are adopting the design to save motorists time and petrol. Even street level parallel parking spaces have been proposed as candidates for vehicle lifts, allowing people to store their cars underground so that several drivers can park in one place.

In addition to its growing popularity, the lift’s design is being honed for maximum efficiency. The Autostadt, Volkswagen’s sprawling showcase complex in Wolfsburg, Germany, features a 20 storey vehicle storage facility that uses a single central lift to store and retrieve over 400 cars. The lift can retrieve a vehicle in less than thirty seconds, and can hold nearly 50 percent more cars than a conventional car park of the same size. While not yet available in UK car parks, many entrepreneurs have their eyes on the design as a solution to the increasing density of large cities.

Though still somewhat rare, parking lifts are widely seen as a savvy solution to the UK’s mounting demand for parking spaces. Their increasing frequency heralds a new era of space conscious design for Britain’s major cities. Combined with more efficient public transit and more bicycle friendly roadways, vehicle lifts may play a large part in alleviating parking woes for a growing urban populace in the coming decade.

86 year old Doreen Farrington has been stranded upstairs in her own home since August 19th. After a stroke a stairlift was installed for her to use and maintain her independence, but it has been broken since August 19th. Dorren Farrington has been essentially stranded upstairs until repairs can be made to the stairlift.

Birmingham City Council blames the delay on a backlog in repairs being called in and claims that Doreen will simply have to wait her turn inline. Wait time could be as long as six months. Meanwhile, Doreen is stranded upstairs.

Doreen’s daughter, Sue Carney, called Urban Design, which organises Birmingham City Council to no avail. There is no rush order here available.

Doreen is basically marooned in her own upstairs home. Boredom is quickly setting in. Used to being able to do things for herself this is a definite trial for her.

Meanwhile Doreen is waiting in her upstairs bedroom, unable to get around as she has become accustomed to. Unable to make herself lunch or even a hot cup of tea.

Getting through to the manager of the company was not helpful either, Doreen’s daughter Sue was again told the wait time could be as long as six months or more. After an inspection of the stairlift, it was recommended that the stairlift be replaced. Will this delay the process even more?

Still, Doreen is waiting, upstairs, alone in her own home. In an effort to be helpful, Birmingham Mail approached the council and did implement plans for an officer to go in and see Doreen Farrington. Hopefully he will at least bring her a sandwich and a cup of hot tea.

Birmingham city Council spokeswoman states that “We are working with Mrs. Farrington and her family to rectify the situation as quickly as possible”.

Thankfully, Social Services has finally stepped up to the plate and is putting some extra cash available to good use in order to pay for a caregiver to visit three times per day. The caregiver is making sure that Doreen Farrington gets meals and has her basic needs met.

Two weeks into this Doreen was already becoming distraught. That won’t speed tings up however, she will still have to wait her turn in line.

Leicester General Hospital, located on the outskirts of Leicester and affectionately dubbed the ‘Palace on the Hill’ by locals, is where the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust is located.

When the education department of the Trust had to replace its aging platform lift recently, they discovered that they could not easily find a local company that made lifts of the dimension that would be able to squeeze within the small area of available space. Every company that the Trust contacted to come out to the hospital to provide a quote simply didn’t have a suitable product.

Eventually, the education department identified and contacted Midlands based Invalifts Their product line includes the MC2000 self contained powered access platform lift that would meet the tight space requirements and prove to be easy-to-use and extremely reliable. The foot print of the lift is just 1250mm by 1250mm and was able to fit the small space available.

The MC2000 is a free-standing platform lift that can be ordered partially or fully glazed, making it fairly easy to integrate attractively into the existing building design. It operates via single phase 240v power using a twin chain, Scandanavian based design that doesn’t need an overhead machinery room or basement. Because the model consists of a freestanding shaft completely containing the lift apparatus, almost no retrofitting of the building is required. Its easy integration into the existing building fabric makes it a cost effective solution for architects and clients. The units are widely accepted by Local Authority Access Officers and it complies with UK and EC regulations for fire and safety.

Invalifts were able to complete the whole project for Leicester General Hospital in less than a week, including almost no disruption to the functioning of the Education department. The actual installation took only two days.

Invalifts is one of the UK’s leading suppliers of powered access equipment. It has installed hundreds units in both public and private facilities. Recently they introduced an ultra small, self-contained passenger lift which is designed to fit into tight spaces such as stairwells.

The company prides itself on delivering next working day service. Invalifts also offers a free access survey for the prospective client, covering powered access for the physically challenged, including the visually impaired.

Contact Invalifts Limited on 0845 468 2543 or visit their website at www.invalifts.com.

It is recommended that every person perform 30 minutes of moderately challenging physical activity five times a week, though less than one third of adults in the United Kingdom commit to this lifestyle. This along with poor diet choices has helped over half the adults in the UK become overweight. Out of that number, 23% of women and 22% of men are obese. This has caused rates of type 2 diabetes in adults and children to skyrocket which can dramatically shorten one’s lifespan and cause blindness and circulation issues.

Obesity is spreading alarmingly fast and part of the problem is not just diet, but partially because of the modern sedentary lifestyle. People can get to work using cars and trains, then arrive at their desk thanks to escalators and lifts and really only walk a few steps a days in order to go about their daily lives. Every opportunity to raise the heart rate, burn more calories, and build muscle should be taken to prevent becoming overweight.

Many people overuse the wide availability of lifts today. Ideally, this convenience should be reserved for those who can not or would have a very difficult time traveling up the stairs. Instead, perfectly healthy adults will choose to use the lift when traveling up only a couple levels. Lazy habits such as this, if incorporated in everyday life, will make a person reliant on lifts and other modern conveniences.

As a nation, the United Kingdom is dramatically gaining weight. There is no doubt that using the stairs instead of the lift daily can help improve personal health. While 80% of weight loss is a result of dieting instead of exercise, it is well accepted in the medical community that regular exercise is key in maintaining a healthy lifestyle and living longer.

It is important in combating obesity to find ways to make the most impact with every activity. This will help lung performance as well as help build muscle tissue and start up the metabolism. Muscle tissue helps burn calories throughout the day, so even when sitting at a desk, a person that took the stairs that morning, is still burning calories from that work.

Known under multiple names like cherry picker, platform lift, zoom boom and scissors lift, the lift platform is used for applications in the construction and maintenance industries as well as by fire fighters and emergency workers trying to save lives. While most models are designed only to carry less than a ton, some specialty models have the capability of carrying more weight. The controls are situated both on the platform and at the bottom of the machine. This makes it convenient as only one person is needed to control a lift platform.

There are three categories of lift platform, namely the aerial device, scissor lift and hotel lift. Each category lists unique features that make them more suited for a specified range of applications within the intelligent lifting industry. The biggest difference between them lies in the form of drive mechanism used to propel the platform to a certain place. Other distinguishing factors are price, availability and manufacturers.

Aerial devices normally use hydraulic piston and either a diesel or gasoline motor to function. Nowadays, newly introduced smaller electric powered machine are increasingly gaining popularity as well. These are mostly used to clean windows and lift workers high up to perform their maintenance operations. Their close appearance to a crane and the presence of joints in their lifting arm create a distinction from other models. When they were first developed, they were largely used in orchards, and thus these units are also known as cherry pickers.

The distinguishing factor of the scissor lift is that it can only be moved vertically, which is done normally by a cross section of scaffolding that gets elongated to project the platform upwards. These units allow workers to reach a working area on higher ground by acting as a raising bridge. Operating these machineries could be done in many ways including hydraulic, pneumatic and mechanical. In some cases, depending on which type was used, this machine would be allowed to descend without power, as there would be ample hydraulic or pneumatic pressure. This would allow the operator to come down even during a power failure.

The hotel lift is a smaller mechanical unit that uses rack and pinion to extend. With a limited weight capacity, it too can be raised vertically, just like the scissor lift. These units are sometimes used as wheelchair platform lifts that allow the handicapped gain access to higher stories in any building.

HINCKLEY – Leicestershire-based LTR Lifts and Escalators is pleased to announce the latest in an exciting series of business collaborations in Birmingham.

GB Building Solutions, recognized as one of the UK’s best new firms, recently awarded LTR a contract for work on a City Centre development. The mixed use property development on Bromsgrove Street will include eleven commercial units, nearly two-hundred apartment units, and underground parking.

Andy Burley, Commercial Manager at GB Solutions, explains why LTR is the partner of choice for the Bromsgrove Street job: “We used LTR to install the lifts because they had all the relevant process in place and seemed to anticipate what we needed as a client.”

In this case, LTR will be designing and installing three lifts. Two of the lifts are specialized firefighting lifts, meaning they can be used even in the event of a fire. In emergencies, they can be used under the direct control of the Fire Service. The lifts will run from the basement to the seventh storey, and will be located in the core of the building.

Before accepting the GB Solutions contract, LTR has been involved with several high-profile projects in well-known Burm landmarks. These include Aston Villa Football Club, Villa Park, Birmingham Midshires Building Society, Westly Richards, and Beatties Department Store.

Alan Dunkley, managing director at LTR, explains the company’s growing presence in The City of a Thousand Trades: “We are really proud to have been involved in these prestigious Birmingham projects and are keen to win more business in the city. We believe we have a great deal to offer developers here.”

“Birmingham has changed beyond recognition over the last 20 years and the regeneration shows no signs of slowing down over the next decade. We can see enormous opportunities for LTR and we’re very much looking forward to playing a part in the next chapter in the city’s story.”

With £16.7bn worth of city projects proposed or already under construction over the next decade, it is easy to understand why the relationship between LTR and Birmingham will continue to flourish.

For more information, contact LTR Lifts and Escalators on 01455 633760.

Leckhampton Court Hospice, a converted medieval manor, can now transport patients in a proper manner with a modernized walk-through lift. Although scenic, the Cheltenham branch of Sue Ryder Care could not maintain its nationally renowned standards of elder care while trying to use the old, closed two person lift. Stannah Lift Services sent its Bristol team to do the renovation on the Grande II manor.

Up To Code

If Sue Ryder could not bring the slow, one-opening lift up to date, they risked being in violation of lift requirements listed under the Disability and Discrimination Act (DDA). But more than that, the Sue Ryder workers were concerned for the patients well being. Patients that have died need to be transported down to the chapel and the only way to do that is by the lift. Providing a walk-through lift means that deceased patients can be moved with dignity and discretion.

The manor received its grading status from English heritage, which decided that the manor was ‘particularly important and of special interest.’ Just gutting the lift was out of the question for the Stannah team. In the end, they were able to utilize the original guides, lift car and sling. By synthesising the old and the new, Stannah was able to keep Leckhampton up to code and keep its Grade II English Heritage Status.

Behind the Scenes Uses

The new lift was not just for transporting deceased patients more discretely or to keep its code. The lift also now can easily transport people to the ground floor reception room and to the chapel. If deceased patients are being transported to the chapel, the door facing the reception area and the general public can be locked to avoid any awkward moments by hospice visitors.

Steve Kirkwood, Hopsice Head of Support Services, is thrilled with the results. “The need to develop our facilities meant that our original passenger lift couldn’t provide the sensitive service required. As Grade II Listing made the installation of a new lift impracticable, Stannah Lift Services’ thorough refurbishment has given us the ideal lift for the job. Going on its present performance, our modernised lift is set to provide a flawless service for the foreseeable future.”

Coventry Cathedral’s illustrious “West Screen” required cleaning by a company that could handle every aspect of this important assignment. This precious glass window necessitated expert handling to avoid damage to the glass itself and the etched images on it. The Cathedral sought the assistance of Universal Aerial Platforms in this enormous undertaking.

Universal made available a Spider FS290 which permitted reaching all interior and exterior spaces of this large screen without interruption within the Cathedral. A spider is ideal in that the spider “legs” offer an extremely stable base that precludes the machine overbalancing. The Cathedral entrance is through the West Screen so it was important to keep that entrance barrier free.

The screen measures 70 feet high by 45 feet wide. The initial vision for the screen was for etched images of all of the saints that had a part in bringing Christianity to Britain. After beginning the work it was seen that the images of the saints needed to be spaced with other images. Images of angels were etched into the glass panes between the saints.

The West Screen by its enormous size and creative vision ranks as one of Coventry Cathedral’s most inspiring aspects. It took more than ten years to complete. Coventry Cathedral commissioned New Zealand creative genius John Hutton to design it in the 1950’s. There are 90 glass plates that measure 8ft by 3ft. Sixty-six of the 90 glass planes are etched with images of saints and angels that all hang within a bronze structure suspended from the Cathedral’s roof.

It was imperative for Coventry Cathedral to contract with a firm that could proceed with the cleaning with confidence that no damage be done to the screen. Advance Cleaning Services, the Specialist Contractor that handled the clean, thoroughly understood the advantages of the new Spider, made available by Univerisal Aerial Platforms, as being a stable way to approach the cleaning of a fragile artwork.

When a situation requires precise placement and reliable operation this machine fits the bill. For cleaning this priceless piece of history in glass the FS290’s unique elements (noise-free, fume-free electric operation, small [0.8] stowed distance across, [3750 Kgs] lightweight size) met every contingency in this delicate assignment.

On the long list of common phobias that people fear the most, claustrophobia is in the top five. For many people, even just the thought of being confined in a small space is enough to cause them to break out into a sweat and make their heart race.

This is why the ordeal Nicholas White experienced is all the more horrifying.

White worked in the McGraw Hill Building in downtown Manhattan late Friday night to meet a deadline for the publisher, he decided to step away from his desk and take a smoking break. He went outside and had a few relaxing moments, and felt rejuvenated and energized enough to get back to work. However, on the elevator trip back up to his office at the 43rd level, the elevator stopped inexplicably at the 13th floor.

Frantically, White tried every emergency button and alarm switch, to no avail. His panicked attempts were visible on the security cameras, but for some reason, no one noticed for 41 hours, until White was released Sunday.

Understandably, White was rather traumatized by his ordeal. Confined alone in such a small space, without food or water, completely deprived of any sensory stimulation, is one of the most harrowing experiences a person can experience. White has been unable to work since the event, due to his ruined mindset from the stress of the event. Some doctors believe that White has post traumatic stress disorder from the incident.

Elevators are of course common place; it would be difficult to find an office building without one. Most people do not think twice about walking into an elevator. Yet elevator-related incidents, injuries, and deaths do occur. For instance, Dr. Hitoshi Nikaidoh entered an elevator in a Houston-area hospital in 2003; as he was walking into the elevator, the doors shut around him, and instead of releasing when they touched his body, the elevator started to raise while Nikaidoh struggled to escape. He was gruesomely killed in the accident, right in front of the other person in the elevator.

In a single year, elevators and escalators kill about 30 people and injure over 17,000. Current mandates do not demand inspections or approvals at the federal level, and instead leave it up to the states’ rulings.