As a designer, you know that modifying the lift shaft in the execution phase has a cost that goes far beyond the economic one. When the lift solution enters the project late, it is not only a detail of the installation that is corrected: the structure is touched, routes are revised, common spaces are affected, accessibility conditions are compromised and, in many cases, commissioning is delayed. The lift is not an element that is added at the end; it is a project decision that conditions the building from the start.
Furthermore, the current regulations reinforce this need for anticipation and set clear requirements for the accessible lift, from the necessary accessibility signs to the minimum car dimensions and door clearance. Furthermore, it requires a favourable initial inspection without defects before the lift is put into service for the first time. Translated into construction language: if the specification is not well resolved at the design stage, the problem will appear at the end, when it is most expensive to correct it.
Before going into detail, this is the executive index of errors that are most frequently repeated in the prescription phase:
- Do not differentiate the actual use of the device before specifying it.
- Define the gap without the technical requirements of the manufacturer.
- Specify without knowing the regulations in force.
- Evaluate the lift on acquisition cost alone.
- Incorporating the manufacturer too late in the process.
- Failure to provide for documentation and commissioning from the tender documents.
At Hidral we work on a daily basis with solutions for people, loads and vehicles, in residential, commercial and industrial environments. We also accompany the professional with technical advice, preliminary plans and documentation from the earliest stages.
Mistake 1: Failure to differentiate the actual use of the device before specifying it
This error does not usually come from ignorance, but from inertia. A “people lift” is prescribed because it fits the most common typology, when in reality the building will have a mixed use, intensive traffic, accompanied goods transport or even vehicles with occupants. The problem does not take long to appear: insufficient nominal load, badly dimensioned cabin, doors not adapted to the real use, increased wear and tear and a much more demanding operation than the one foreseen in the project. In lifts of the QH family, for example, the technical data sheet itself relates cabin surface area and nominal load according to regulations, depending on the final intended use.
When the use is residential or for people with moderate traffic, the key is not to put just any lift, but to specify one designed for that scenario. Hidral's UHe is designed for vertical transport of people in homes, businesses and public buildings, with a special focus on small spaces and without the need for a machine room. Hidral's information highlights a minimum pit of 200 mm, loads of 225 to 630 kg, maximum travel of 30 m and speed of up to 1.0 m/s, which makes it a particularly useful solution both in refurbishment and in existing buildings of low or medium height.
For the designer, this means something very concrete: a compact solution, compatible with tight openings and with a logic of use that is consistent with housing, commerce or a public building with contained traffic. However, the fact that the equipment is compact does not exempt it from complying with accessibility. If the building requires an accessible lift, the project must verify from the outset the minimum car dimensions, clear passage width, signage and button panels in accordance with the regulations.
When the building is to move vehicles, large loads or accompanied goods, the logic changes completely. In the Hidral range, the QH family covers precisely these scenarios: the QHV is aimed at vehicles and people with a capacity of up to 5,000 kg, while the QHGe is positioned for goods accompanied by operators in industrial applications, with a capacity of up to 6,000 kg, a speed of 1 m/s and no machine room.
The QH's own technical documentation shows why it should not be treated as an oversized passenger lift. The range allows car widths from 1,500 to 4,500 mm, depths from 1,600 to 7,000 mm and heights from 2,000 to 2,850 mm; furthermore, it links minimum usable area and nominal load according to EN 81-20 in passenger and load applications. In other words: the relationship between cab, load and use cannot be improvised.
What happens when a residential solution is installed in an industrial or mixed environment? Normally it does not fail in the project memory; it fails in the operation. It starts with overloads, unplanned manoeuvres, corrective measures, limitations of use and, in the end, the correction is expensive: shutdown, refurbishment of the shaft or replacement of the equipment. The correct criterion is not what fits, but what real use it will withstand throughout its useful life.
Mistake 2: defining the gap without the technical requirements of the manufacturer.
One of the most costly mistakes on site is to design the shaft before consulting the manufacturer. At first glance, it seems like a minor decision, but all it takes is an incompatibility in the pit, escape, boarding, doors or configuration of the equipment to trigger structural modifications, changes in installations or loss of usable surface area. The difference between a compact solution such as UHe and a large load or vehicle family such as QH demonstrates that there is no one-size-fits-all solution.
Before dimensioning the shaft, the designer should at least close the following parameters: total travel, number of stops, rated load, speed, type of use, expected traffic, need or not for a machine room, boarding and structural restrictions of the building. This should be done with the manufacturer's documentation on the table. In Hidral, this phase is supported by technical drawings, preliminary proposal and downloadable documentation; even its autoconfigurator allows to generate an initial plan to start the definition.
- Technical checklist for the correct dimensioning of the lift shaft
Before closing plans, check this list:
- Number of actual floors and stops.
- Clear height between floors and total travel.
- Intended load in kg.
- Estimated traffic: persons/hour or cycles/hour in industrial.
- Actual use: persons, persons and cargo, accompanied goods or vehicles.
- Structural constraints of the building.
- Need for engine room or not.
- Door configuration, boarding and manoeuvring.
- Accessibility requirements.
- Inspection and commissioning requirements.
Error 3: specifying without knowing the current regulations (ITC AEM 1, CTE, EN 81).
Here it is important to make an important clarification: the current reference is the Royal Decree 355/2024. This royal decree approves the new ITC AEM 1 and is in force from 1 July 2024. In addition, the ITC itself regulates commissioning, modifications, maintenance and inspections, so it fully affects how a specification is drawn up and how an installation is validated at the end of the work.
This is in addition to the CTE DB-SUA. In Spain, when the building requires an accessible lift, the project must verify conditions such as button panels with characters in Braille and high relief, cabins with minimum dimensions according to use and configuration of doors, and clear passage widths of at least 0.80 m. This is not an aesthetic or optional issue: it is an accessibility condition that must be met.
In parallel, the UNE-EN 81-20 and UNE-EN 81-50 standards remain the technical reference framework for product safety and testing. The UNE identifies 81-20 as the standard for safety rules for the construction and installation of lifts for persons and persons and loads, and 81-50 as the part relating to design, calculations, examinations and testing of components.
The risk for the specifier is clear: if the solution is not aligned with standards and technical documentation, the installation is complicated right at the critical stage. The ITC requires a favourable initial inspection without defects before the first commissioning, so an incorrect specification is not just a detailing problem: it can block the delivery of the building.
Implications of Royal Decree 355/2024 for planners and developers
Changes and requirements that should already be reflected in the tender documents include stopping accuracy of at least ±10 mm and levelling of ±20 mm where required, door protection covering from at least 25 mm to 1,600 mm above the tread, two-way communication in the cab and load control devices where required.
Maintenance and inspection conversations also change. The ITC fixes periodic inspections every two years in industrial use or public concurrence, every four years in buildings with more than twenty dwellings or with more than four floors served, and every six years in all other cases. This should influence the decision on equipment, use and level of service from the design stage, not when the building is already in operation.
Mistake 4: evaluating the lift only by acquisition cost, not by life-cycle cost.
Choosing by supply price almost always seems like a good decision... until the equipment goes into service. In a lift, the real cost does not end at purchase: it continues with maintenance, energy, corrective actions, inspections and service availability. That's why a specification that is poorly matched to actual use is expensive, even if the initial offer seems competitive.
Energy efficiency is also part of the equation. Fenercom's guide on energy savings and efficiency in lifts includes VDI 4707 and EN ISO 25745 as references, and TÜV SÜD underlines that improving efficiency reduces electricity consumption and operating costs, as well as contributing to building sustainability objectives.
At the technical specification level, it is worth looking beyond the closed price: drive type, standby behaviour, manoeuvre management, intensity of use and availability of components. In large loads, for example, Hidral presents its electric QHe as a machine room-less solution with gearless motor and energy-efficient approach, a good example of how the chosen technology has a direct impact on consumption and wear.
Mistake 5: Failure to provide for documentation and commissioning in the tender documents.
Many specifications describe the lift in a generic way, but do not include the documentation that will make its legalisation and entry into service possible. And this is another classic bottleneck: the project defines one piece of equipment, the tender specifies another, and the completion of the work lacks files, diagrams or manuals in line with the installation actually executed.
ITC AEM 1 is very clear in this respect. Before the first commissioning, there must be a favourable initial inspection without defects and, when there are major modifications, documentation such as technical data sheet, declaration of compliance, tests where appropriate, new operating manual and declarations of conformity of safety components must be provided. In addition, the manual must contain, among other things, rescue instructions, safe access to machinery spaces and wiring diagrams.
The good practice is simple: ask from the design stage what documentation the manufacturer will provide and at what stage. In the case of Hidral, its product pages include downloads of catalogues and technical data sheets, and its commercial process includes technical drawings and support from the pre-order stage.
Mistake 6: Bringing the manufacturer too late in the process
The manufacturer is not only the supplier of the equipment. If well integrated, it is a source of technical information that helps to avoid errors in terms of opening, manoeuvre, structure, accessibility and documentation. At Hidral, the support to the professional starts from the initial need, with economic assessment, technical drawings and, if applicable, transport and installation quotation.
For this reason, the right time to incorporate the manufacturer is the preliminary design phase; at the very least, before the basic project. The earlier it enters, the easier it is to adjust loads on the structure, foresee the opening solution, anticipate electrical requirements and resolve the documentation that will later be requested by the building site, project management or control body.
- How to integrate Hidral as technical support in your project
The most effective way of working with the manufacturer is to make him the technical support from the start. To do this, the ideal is to transfer from the preliminary project the basic information of the building: actual use of the device, number of stops, route, expected load, estimated traffic, shaft constraints, accessibility, manoeuvring needs and whether or not there is limited space for the machine room. With these data, Hidral can help to guide the appropriate typology, generate a preliminary proposal and provide useful technical documentation to mature the solution.
This early intervention makes it possible to draw up more precise specifications, reduce on-site changes and arrive at commissioning with less uncertainty. In a market where the difference is not only in manufacturing a lift, but in prescribing the solution right from the start, technical support is no longer an extra and becomes part of the project.
Contact our technical team for specifications tailored to your project.
