The lift in a box

Sam Ward | Laing O'Rourke

LIFT IN A BOX

As the UK rail network marks its 200th anniversary, it enters another significant phase of transformation, driven by renewed government investment through the introduction of Great British Railways. However, with much of the infrastructure dating back over a century, many stations no longer meet the expectations or needs of today’s passengers.

Accessibility remains a widespread challenge across the network, even at busy stations, where step-free access is often unavailable. For passengers with reduced mobility, this can make travel difficult, or entirely unfeasible.

Addressing this issue has become a key priority for Network Rail. In response, Laing O’Rourke and KONE are collaborating to deliver a practical solution through their offsite modular lift technology.

Sam Ward, Business Leader – Vertiq, Laing O’Rourke, explains how these innovative modular lifts are helping to accelerate accessibility improvements, supporting the creation of a railway that is fit for the next 200 years.

_{All images in this article courtesy of Laing O'Rourke/Sam Ward}

What if we could industrialise and modernise lift installation? A modular lift, in its simplest form, is very straightforward: you place a lift inside a prefabricated box.

The key point here is that the lift we use is the same proprietary system you’d receive directly from KONE, we haven’t modified it or created a bespoke system. We’ve simply taken an off-the-shelf lift and integrated it into one of our modular frameworks.

Making plans

After a few rounds of prototyping, we successfully installed our first modular lift at a residential development in London. We applied standard MMC principles: we built the lift offsite, transported it, stacked the units on top of each other and commissioned the system. From a residential perspective, this has huge benefits.

Following that success, discussions were held with Network Rail as to whether the same approach could be applied to the rail sector. Currently across Network Rail, Transport for London, Irish Rail and others, there are around 700 different lift configurations in operation.

Network Rail plans to ensure all stations are accessible via their AfA (Access for All) scheme. Network Rail have over 1000 stations that still require accessibility adjustments, and each station will require 2 or 3 lifts.

Right now, around 30 projects a year are completed. At this pace, it will take over 120 years to deliver what’s currently on the books, and by then, many of the existing lifts will need to be replaced. This is a perpetual challenge that’s only getting bigger, especially as cities begin to set accessibility targets for their stations.

Why is it so hard? Temporary works take up a huge amount of space, platforms must be closed and the costs for station occupation can spiral out of control, with provisions needing to be made to keep lines moving, delays can cause widespread disruption, resulting in costly penalties for delays.

The challenge

Lift installation presents three main challenges. First, lifts require a significant amount of space. Second, they are tightly linked to the construction programme. Third, they pose considerable health and safety risks.

The solution is referred to by some as a ‘lift in a box. The idea is simple: you take everything that makes up a lift and wrap it into one standardised, modular unit.

When we met with Network Rail, we started by tackling the issue of lift variation. Once we had the standard dimensions, we could build a fit for purpose and reusable frame design around the lift, design a lightweight and flexible façade system and customise it to suit the aesthetics of any station.

About 95% of the lift module is completed offsite. Only a few cladding panels are installed once it arrives on-site. We worked with Network Rail to ensure the solution meets operational and certification requirements.

Instead of a fragmented, multi-phase process, the installation becomes just two steps: lay the pit and foundation (which has potential for further standardisation) and then install the modular lift.

Railway applications

Laing O'Rourke took what worked in the residential sector and applied the same logic to the rail environment.

When speaking to the people who actually install lifts, they presented a long list of issues, including electrification, site access and crane availability.

As Sam explains, these are the things that get in the way of traditional delivery and how Laing O'Rourke arrived at the modular lift solution.

Traditionally, for lift installation you need a frame contractor, a cladding supplier and a lift contractor, all coming in separately over months. With our system, that’s compressed to days.

That means fewer people on site, reduced overheads and smaller, more efficient teams.

The benefits are significant: improved health and safety, improved equality of access and, perhaps most importantly, repeatability.

Using our efficient approach to offsite operations we embody core modern methods of construction principles at scale, the modular lift solution is a clear demonstration of this approach.

In terms of the operating model, it’s repeatable and spans everything from design and fabrication to site works and aftercare. What’s unique is that we are now connecting all those phases through a single ecosystem of tools and processes.

Benefits of modular lifts

The modular lift also achieved a carbon reduction thanks to the lighter weight of Laing O'Rourke's design and materials.

Sam also explains that the system is also agnostic to the bridge it’s attached to.

With support from Autodesk, we are starting from the end and working backwards, through the delivery process, through logistics and fabrication and into design.

Laing O’Rourke is involved in every phase, even the upfront sales conversations with Network Rail, so we have visibility across the whole value chain.

From the people on the factory floor, to those in design offices, all the way to our end stakeholders and service users, We're trying to understand what people actually want, not just what systems we can impose on them.

Further applications

If this were a traditional construction programme, it is likely a BIM execution plan would be applied to try to tie it all together weekly.

But as Sam points out, this methodology often forgets future phases or stakeholders. On the modular lift programme, Laing O'Rourke has flipped the process.