Our Client:
- Client Type: The Ditchley Foundation (via Main Contractor)
- Building Type: Heritage Commercial / Institutional (Grade I Listed)
- Location: Oxfordshire, UK
- Objective: Critical Life Safety Upgrade
Oxford conference centre, a distinguished Palladian country house, is a significant heritage asset and home to The Ditchley Foundation. Implementing upgrades requires meticulous respect for its historic fabric while ensuring paramount safety and accessibility. iKONIC Lifts was tasked with a critical life safety project: delivering a compliant evacuation passenger lift with a dedicated secondary power supply to guarantee uninterrupted lift service for emergencies.
iKONIC Challenge: Integrating Critical Safety Systems into a Grade I Listed Building
- Challenge Type: Historic Building Renovation & Life Safety Upgrade
- Building Constraints: Respecting Grade I listed fabric, ensuring minimal disruption, and integrating modern systems discreetly.
- Additional Challenges:
- Providing a passenger lift suitable for assisted evacuation.
- Ensuring reliable operation during mains power failure.
- Meeting stringent BS 9999:2017 and evacuation lift guidance.
- Coordinating lift and dedicated emergency power for lifts in historic properties.
The primary challenge was to install a state-of-the-art evacuation lift system within a historically sensitive environment, ensuring it could operate reliably during power outages, thereby safeguarding all occupants, especially those with mobility impairments.
iKONIC Solution: Bespoke Evacuation Lift & iKONIC Evac Power System
- Solution Type: Integrated
- Custom Evacuation Passenger Lift Solutions & Dedicated Secondary Power Supply
- Lift Type: iKONIC Evacuation Passenger LiftKey Features:
Assisted evacuation functionality.
Seamless integration with historic architecture.
iKONIC EVAC POWER UPS for dedicated secondary power supply.
Point-of-use inverter for enhanced reliability.
Key-operated emergency controls.
iKONIC Lifts designed and delivered a complete evacuation lift solution, integrating a purpose-built passenger lift with our specialised iKONIC EVAC POWER UPS system. This system provides a dedicated secondary power supply for evacuation lifts, engineered to ensure uninterrupted lift service for emergencies. The point-of-use inverter enhances reliability, while key-operated controls ensure secure emergency operation.
The EVAC POWER system is designed to support a minimum of 10 upward and 10 downward evacuation journeys within a 60-minute period, meeting critical performance requirements for fire safety lift systems for heritage sites.
iKONIC Result: Compliant Safety, Preserved Heritage
Outcome: Successful Grade I Listed Building Lift Installation delivering a fully compliant evacuation system.
Benefits:
Fully Compliant Evacuation Lift: Meets all regulatory requirements for assisted evacuation.
Reliable Secondary Power: Guarantees lift operation during power failures.
Enhanced Occupant Safety: Critical for mobility-impaired individuals during emergencies.
Preserved Historic Integrity: Discreet integration respects the building’s heritage.
Purpose-Designed Solution: A synergistic system, not a generic backup.
Compliance:
- BS EN 81-20/50 (Lift Design & Installation)
- BS EN 81-72 (Evacuation Lift Guidance)
- BS EN 81-28 (Remote Alarms)
- BS EN 81-73 (Behaviour in Fire)
- BS 9999:2017 (Fire Safety in Buildings)
