In the heart of Warwick, stands the 17th Century Market Hall Museum, the headquarters of the Warwickshire Museum Service. This is home to the Sheldon Tapestry Map of Warwickshire, the second largest early Roman coin hoard in the country, a live observation bee hive and the famous (tweeting!) Giant Irish deer.
Whilst this listed building was undergoing a major refurbishment, the Warwickshire council projects team chose to work closely with Invalifts to establish an area for a disabled access lift, with the lift element funded purely from public donations.
After consultation with the lift experts at Invalifts, the MC2000 platform lift was chosen and specified with an open through door configuration to enable easy access upon entering and leaving the lift. The Market Hall building has substantial high ceilings, meaning that the 3 stop lift has to deal with a significant travel distance of over 10M.
The MC2000 platform lift only requires a 60mm pit which meant minimal disturbance to the structure of the floor during installation. Interestingly, during the excavation of the pit, a clay tobacco pipe was unearthed estimated to date back to 1660 and is thought to have been dropped by one of the original builders.
In order to maintain the ease of accessibility, the lift was fitted with automatic doors at each level with call buttons positioned in readily available areas for ease of use. To restrict access to the top floor office, the lift was fitted with key only access for this level.
To further enhance the aesthetics of the lift within the building, the fire-rated doors on the lift were painted a specific grey colour to match colour schemes for the Museum.
The Warwickshire council projects team were very pleased with the smooth and hassle free installation of the new lift, and look forward to it servicing the needs of visitors to the museum for years to come.
This is one of many lifts that Invalifts have installed in commercial locations throughout the UK including lifts at the BBC, Next, Aldi and Wickes. To find out more about the MC2000 platform lift, you can give Invalifts a call on 0845 468 2543 and speak to one of their friendly experts.
Photograph by Elliot Brown
