Dating back to 1089AD this magnificent architectural icon took over 500 years to complete, Gloucester Cathedral (in the west of Britain close to the border with Wales) is a magnificent ex-ample of an English Cathedral built in the Romanesque and Gothic styles. It has undergone many changes in its 1000 year history and has some incredible and rather unique features such as the earliest known images of golf dating back to 1350AD which can be found in a stained glass window and a carving believed to depict medieval soccer! Many dignitaries have shrines here including King Edward the Second of England and Osric, King of the Hwicce. More recently the cathedral was used as the location of Hogwarts for three Harry Potter movies, the cathedral en-joys many visitors who want to walk in Harry’s own wizarding footsteps! The entire building re-ally is very magical.
As part of a major refurbishment and conservation programme a new creative direction for the cathedrals disability access was agreed. A bold approach that would be honest to the buildings stunning architecture that would reflect the centuries of innovative architectural design that can be seen in every vista, the two platform lifts required should enhance the built environment – be brave and contemporary.
Bespoke platform lift designers and manufacturers Lyfthaus of Cambridge, England were con-tracted as the new platform lift suppliers. Lyfthaus are specialists in tailor-made open aspect lifts for the prestige marketplace and their particular specialism is listed property and property of historic importance. Lyfthaus were presented with the clients outline design sketches and tasked with meeting the architects creative vision. One lift to be located adjacent to stone steps in the North Ambulatory with a raised height of 750mm and the second to access the North Transept via a Lyfthaus built bridging link and with a 1050mm lift travel.
To remain honest to the original architecture a combination of stainless steel and frameless glass was chosen to form a discreet cube design that wouldn’t distract in which a scissor lift platform would travel fully protected by the glass enclosure. Each of the largest glass side panels weighed over 200Kg/440lbs and needed to be transported through the cathedral by hand – a delicate pro-cess.
Lyfthaus worked in close liaison with the builders and heritage specialists in order to preserve the abundance of archaeology that was found during the lift pit excavation and four month in-stallation period. In the words of the Project Manager, “the time and effort was certainly worth-while, we are thrilled with the results”.
Two lifts installed over a four month period
Designed and manufactured by Lyfthaus Limited
Lift One, Mylyft Cube model TCL2000
- 170mm lowered height including tray to accommodate stone floor
- 750mm raised height
- 1450mm x 1100mm platform size
- Polished safety glass and stainless steel enclosure
- 500Kg operating capacity (2000Kg actual capacity)
- Twin cylinder hydraulic scissor mechanism in plate steel
- Three sets of push to run controls with halo illumination
- Remote power pack located in basement crypt
Lift Two, Mylyft Cube model TM1500
- 280mm lowered height including tray to accommodate stone floor
- 1050mm raised height
- 1850mm x 1200mm platform size
- Bridging link with glass balustrade
- Polished safety glass and stainless steel enclosure
- Reflective scissor guards in stainless steel chainmail
- 500Kg operating capacity (1500Kg actual capacity)
- Twin cylinder hydraulic mechanism in box section steel profile
- Three sets of push to run controls with halo illumination
- Remote power pack located in basement crypt