Lift Experts are going up in the World…in Brum

A Midlands lift and escalator specialist is quietly carving out a firm foothold in Birmingham by using its expertise to help breathe new life into landmark city buildings.

LTR Lifts and Escalators, based in Hinkley, is a business that is going places – literally. The company works all over the country, designing and installing standard and bespoke lifts, escalators and moving walkways, as well as offering refurbishment, maintenance and repair services.

Bosses have also gone further afield, forging links with leading lift and escalator manufacturer BLT in Shenyang, China, which were formalised last year with an agreement for BLT to supply products to LTR – something very much in line with the drive by Birmingham City Council to build trade with China.

LTR sees Birmingham as a city where its specialist skills can be of enormous value to developers and builders and with £16.7bn worth of city projects proposed or already under construction over the next decade, it’s easy to understand why.

The firm has already clocked up high profile projects at Aston Villa Football Club, the former C&A and Beatties store on Corporation Street and the former Birmingham Midshires office on Waterloo Street, with a number of others coming on stream over the next few months.

At Aston Villa, the 19th century Holte Hotel had for many years stood derelict within the Villa Park grounds but after Randy Lerner bought the club in 2006, bringing the building back to life became a key priority. Completed 12 months ago, the work included restoring the exterior to its original Victorian glory, with the interior completely gutted to provide bar, lounge and dining areas.

With the building spread over four storeys, creating easy access throughout was important to bring it completely up to date, so ISG InteriorExterior, the management contractor for the project, appointed LTR to supply and install a passenger lift. ISG InteriorExterior’s Neil Edmonds said: "We have worked with LTR on quite a number of projects now. As we are always pleased with their ability to install lifts to tight deadlines, we decided to approach them for this contract."

If Villa Park is a Birmingham landmark, so too is16-28 Corporation Street – better known to shoppers firstly as a busy branch of C&A and as a popular Beatties store after C&A closed in 2000.

Beatties shut in January 2006, but the building has been given a new lease of life following a major conversion in 2007 to create premises for JJB Sports, Mothercare and New Look. Mothercare and New Look opened in March and JJB Sports in May.

The multi-storey building is owned by C&A’s property arm, Redevco, which commissioned contractors Woolf to carry out a conversion that included creating an impressive new frontage in Portland stone.

During a tough tendering exercise, LTR beat off big name competitors to win the contract to refurbish three lifts and install two new lifts and four escalators. Keith Dean, Woolf project manager, said: “LTR followed up a competitive tender by meeting every deadline. Our collaboration has proved very successful.”

LTR installed two 1000mm wide escalator units in an ‘X’ configuration at the New Look site, and 2 units in a parallel configuration at JJB Sports, serving from the street level entrance to the shop in the basement.  JJB also received an 8 person traction lift serving two floors, and a 16 person, 3 floor traction lift was installed at Mothercare.

The refurbishment involved the upgrade of an 18 year old passenger lift and two 18 year old goods lifts to compliance with modern standards and regulations.  This involved new control systems, a new door operator and new aesthetics throughout.

Overlooking St Philip’s Cathedral, 42-44 Waterloo Street is well-known as the former home of a branch of the Birmingham Midshires Building Society. The elegant office building boasts a stunning late-Victorian Gothic façade and is currently undergoing a £1 million refurbishment to return the original building to its former glory and upgrade a 1970s extension, following its purchase by Real Estate Investors PLC last year. Here, LTR are removing the existing lift and installing a modern replacement.

Elsewhere, LTR have installed a new lift for another Birmingham institution, legendary gunmakers Westley Richards, in Pritchett Street, while other projects in the pipeline include three nine-storey lifts for flats in Bromsgrove Street, due for delivery in August.

The Star City complex in Nechells, which opened in July 2000, is one of Birmingham’s newest landmarks. It boasts a host of entertainment and retail venues, which will be joined in June 2008 by Adventure Island Mini Golf, an indoor adventure golf complex featuring two themed 18-hole courses on a lush, tropical “island”, served by a lift and escalator installed by LTR.

Other projects include a lift installation at 144 Newhall Street, former site of the Museum of Science and Industry, on behalf of Greswolde Construction, which is due to take place at the end of June.

Just 12 minutes from Birmingham New Street station by train, LTR has another prestige project under its belt. On behalf of main contractor Carillion plc, the company provided and installed two passenger lifts at the showpiece Coleshill Parkway Railway Station, which opened last August, to provide access between platforms. The project was one of the first contracts won by LTR after it received Network Rail to work on UK railway operations.

Alan Dunkley, managing director at LTR, said: “We are really proud to have been involved in these prestigious Birmingham projects and are keen to win more business in the city. We believe we have a great deal to offer developers here.

“Birmingham has changed beyond recognition over the last 20 years and the regeneration shows no signs of slowing down over the next decade. We can see enormous opportunities for LTR and we’re very much looking forward to playing a part in the next chapter in the city’s story.”

For more information, contact LTR on 01455 633760

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