Passenger Lifts for Commercial & Domestic Buildings

Passenger lifts are the most common type of lift, and exactly as you’d expect – designed as an alternative to the stairs, passenger lifts transport people between floors.

Used both as commercial lifts to support everyday business and as home lifts to help residents with mobility issues or those in high-rise apartment blocks, you’ll have a host of passenger lift types to choose from.

Depending on the lift’s location and purpose, our engineers will advise you on the most suited lifting mechanism to install – including pneumatic, traction, and hydraulic lifts.

The vast majority of the time, passenger lifts will require a lift shaft and a pit (usually with a depth of at least 1m), which can make installation difficult in existing buildings.

In older buildings, platform lifts tend to be the lift option of choice. However, if you’re not sure what your project needs, the experienced team of lift engineers at Sheridan Lifts will be delighted to help.

In comparison to passenger lifts, platform lifts are best suited to transporting fewer passengers, travelling shorter distances, and at lower speeds. Platform lifts typically don’t travel more than 2m, and their speed is limited to 0.15m/s.

In addition to being able to be used as either indoor or outdoor platform lifts, they can also be designed to fit in vertical or angled spaces (and even around curved staircases). A platform lift does not require a large pit to be dug – a 75mm pit is sufficient – while a passenger lift requires over a metre.

A ‘corkscrew’ system is used to raise and lower the platform from the bottom. This compares to passenger lifts, which pull the lift from the top. If space is tight, a platform lift can be a good solution, as the lift standard size for a passenger lift is typically larger.

To some property managers, a lift is just a lift, and can be used for everything! However, at Sheridan Lifts, we understand both the practical considerations and safety considerations required when installing a new lift. The legal requirements for passenger lifts are very different from those required for goods lifts, which means you may well be putting passengers at risk and opening up your organisation to a range of legal issues.

If your lifts are customer-facing, there are also aesthetic considerations to take into account. In general, goods lifts are designed for back-of-house goods transfer, while passenger lifts also incorporate a range of safety and usability features designed for human users.

Yes, passenger lifts require maintenance! Lift maintenance is required for almost all lift types, and as a lift designed for carrying people first and foremost, the safety and security of users is absolutely paramount.

Whether your passenger lift is in a residential setting, high-rise building, hospital, domestic environment, or simply used as a commercial lift, explore our lift maintenance packages to ensure you’ve got cover.

In general, passenger lifts require considerable construction work in order to be correctly and safely installed, including a lift pit of at least one metre. This makes them unsuitable for many private residences, and many home lifts are actually platform lifts of some kind.

However, if there is space available for the lift shaft and lift pit in a residential building, such as an apartment block, passenger lifts can be an excellent option.