OUR BLOG
Lifts in Existing Buildings: Key Challenges
Fitting a lift into a building that was never designed to hold one is a bit like trying to squeeze a modern kitchen into a Georgian townhouse. It can be done, but only if you understand what you're working with first. Lifts in existing buildings present structural and...
Planning Permission and Building Regulations for New Lifts
Do you need planning permission for a lift? In most cases, installing a new lift in a residential or commercial property in Essex and London does not require planning permission, but it almost always requires building regulations approval. This distinction trips up a...
Standard Lift Sizes and Dimensions Explained
At Future Lift Services, we treat lift dimensions as the starting point for any safe and workable scheme, not a fixed checklist. The available lift shaft, pit depth, headroom, door width and landing clearance set the envelope for the lift car, standard capacity and...
Reliable Goods Lift Repair Services: What To Look For
When a goods lift stops, people wait, products pile up, and safety risk increases fast. In warehouses, commercial buildings and industrial sites, lifts move heavy goods efficiently between floors and they sit right at the heart of production flow and safe access. Our...
Top UK Lift Manufacturers to Consider
Choosing the right lift manufacturers affects safety, reliability and long term running costs. It also shapes how well your elevator systems can be maintained, modernised and kept compliant over time in the UK elevator market. For most building owners, the best...
Understanding PUWER and LOLER Regulations: Key Differences
For most lifts and lifting machinery on a work site, this usually isn't an either/or choice. In our experience on the tools, both sets of regulations tend to apply together. Our engineers at Future Lift Services work with property and facilities managers to make these...
12 Lift Maintenance Mistakes To Avoid
If you manage a building, you'll know the feeling: a lift stalls at 8:45am, people stack up in reception, tempers fray and operations slip. In our experience, many of those moments trace back to maintenance choices that could have gone differently. In our work at...
How Lift Braking Systems Ensure Safety
If you manage a building, brakes rarely cross your mind until you feel a jolt, smell hot friction, or take a call that a lift is stuck between floors. We think about them constantly. And from what we see on site, one of the strongest indicators of a safe, smooth,...
Understanding Lift Motor Technology
You press the button, the doors close, and the car moves. What keeps that movement quiet, smooth and safe is the motor system. A lift motor, or elevator motor, converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. It either turns the traction sheave or drives a hydraulic...
What’s Inside a Lift Shaft? Explained
If you carry responsibility for a lift, a diagram only gets you so far. What helps on the ground is knowing what sits inside the shaft, how the parts behave together, and where problems tend to start before they turn into breakdowns. This is our safety-first...
Emergency Power Systems for Lifts: A Complete Guide to Compliance and Safety
Emergency power systems for lifts are backup power solutions that cut in when the mains fails so the lift can get people to a safe floor and let them out. In the UK they are now a basic expectation in taller and higher risk buildings, not a nice extra. What Are...
How Lift Doors Work: A Technical Look
Elevators might seem straightforward, but there's a whole world of engineering behind those sliding doors. Ever think about what makes them open just when you need them to? It’s all down to a fantastic combination of motors, mechanics, and modern design. We’re diving...
Machine-Room-Less Lifts Explained Simply
Picture this: you've got a building that needs a lift, but space is tight. Enter machine-room-less (MRL) lifts, a practical marvel of modern engineering that fits all critical machinery right within the elevator shaft itself. Imagine not needing a separate room just...
LOLER Compliance Checklist 2026
Understanding the importance of LOLER compliance can be a game-changer when it comes to workplace safety. Many businesses use lifting equipment daily, and ensuring that this machinery operates safely is absolutely crucial. This brings us to the Lifting...
8 Creative & Modern Lift Lobby Design Ideas
Most lift lobby design galleries show you images from Canary Wharf penthouses or five-star hotels that have nothing to do with the three-floor office conversion in Chelmsford you're actually trying to improve. This guide is different. I'm Ross Darcy, Operations...
When is a Lift Required in a Residential Building?
Whether you are a developer planning a new residential block or a property manager responsible for an existing building, the question of when a lift is legally required — and what type — is less straightforward than most guidance suggests. Building height, number of...
How To Clean Stainless Steel Elevators: 11 Tips
There are over 325 million elevator rides every single day. The stainless steel interior of a passenger lift absorbs all of that traffic — fingerprints, cleaning product residue, occasional chemical damage — and the difference between a lift that looks professionally...
What Is The Life Expectancy Of A Residential Lift
A well-maintained residential lift should last 20–25 years. A poorly maintained one can fail to reach 15. That gap — a decade of useful life — is almost entirely determined by decisions made in the first few years of ownership: the quality of the installation, the...