Platform Lift Solutions
At Sesame Access we offer multiple disabled access lift solutions. Click here to view some of our projects
A platform lift provides a lifting platform to enable a wheelchair and disabled individual to travel either directly vertically or in an inclined manner.
There are two general platform lift solutions for a vertical platform. Vertical lifts are either enclosed within a shaft, or for short travels they can be an open arrangement. All platform lifts come with controls that are suitable for disabled use and are at a level that can be reached by wheelchair users.
Platform lifts are the solution to many situations where disabled access is required. Under the Disabled Discrimination Act (DDA) public buildings are required to provide suitable access for disabled individuals.
At Sesame Access Systems we offer several platform lift solutions – all of our platform lift solutions are bespoke depending on the customers’ requirements or the limitations imposed by the building or structure.
The beauty of all of Sesame Access systems is that they are hidden and completely sympathetic to their surroundings. The simplest of our platform lift solutions is a basic platform between an upper and lower landing level. The wheelstops or rising barriers will be below the level of the platform when it is at rest and will rise to secure the lift occupant when in use. The lift platform will be clad to suit its surroundings.
The second of our platform lift solutions, usually for a higher rise, is to conceal the platform behind a set of horizontally retracting steps. Although fundamentally the lift is the same as the above, this platform lift solution allows the disabled user to use the flight of stairs without having to go to an alternative location. Again all wheelstops and barriers will rise around the lift platform when in use. In this instance it is necessary to have a pit for the platform lift and a pit behind the stairs for the stairs to retract into. It is not always possible to have the space available for both of these pits.
This leads us onto the third of our platform lift solutions which has vertically retracting stairs. Upon the push of the button to call the lift the steps drop vertically to the ground forming the platform for the lift. Again the wheelstops or barriers will rise around the lift occupant when the lift is in use. The University of Westminster have this solution at the Little Titchfield site as it was not possible to have a pit for the steps to retract into horizontally.
All of the above solutions use a scissor lift to raise and lower the platform lift. However if there is no facility for a deep enough pit Sesame access have another platform lift solution – the cantilever lifting platform. At the Barbican in London it was not possible to excavate a deep enough pit for a scissor lift the solution was to design and manufacture a cantilever lift – the lifting mechanism was to the side of the platform rather than underneath it.
Together with the various options of wheelstops, rising barriers, doors or gates and rising button posts there are many platform lift solutions available to the many and varied type of buildings that require a bespoke high quality disabled access solution.
At Sesame Access Systems we are proud of our bespoke wheelchair lifts and the freedom and accessibility they give to many people.