By Mark Keane, Principal Vertical Transportation Engineer, chapmanbdsp
Vertical transportation is evolving as evacuation requirements, occupier expectations and building technology change. For architects, engineers and developers, this reinforces a practical message: lift strategy needs to be considered from the outset.
Decisions about cores, floor uses, tenant access and emergency evacuation affect how a building performs long after construction is complete.
One significant recent development is the publication of BS EN 81-76:2025, which sets out dedicated requirements for new evacuation lifts used to support the evacuation of people with disabilities. It introduces Class A and Class B evacuation lifts, with the appropriate class and operating modes selected to suit the building and its evacuation strategy. Class A is intended for buildings meeting defined, simpler conditions; Class B provides the fuller specification for other circumstances.
BS EN 81-76 does not replace the wider building fire safety guidance in BS 9999, nor does it determine how many evacuation lifts a building needs. Lift provision requires a project-specific capacity assessment, coordinated with the fire strategy and applicable planning and building requirements. The new standard brings lift operation, communications and interfaces with building systems into sharper focus. Power resilience, protected waiting areas, fire detection and the conditions in which a lift must suspend evacuation service all require coordinated decisions across the project team.
In London, Policy D5(B5) of the London Plan reinforces the importance of inclusive evacuation. Where lifts are installed, it calls for at least one suitably sized evacuation lift per core, with more where capacity assessments require them. Addressing this early helps teams establish the space, infrastructure and operational arrangements needed to support safe and dignified evacuation.
An evacuation lift is only one part of the evacuation system. If the lift or its interfaces do not perform as intended during commissioning, the consequences can extend across the project. The fire engineer develops the evacuation strategy, the architect coordinates protected spaces and routes, and the electrical and building-services engineers coordinate power, fire detection, communications and other interfaces. The lift designer and specialist supplier must translate those requirements into a workable installation. Building management also needs to understand how the agreed evacuation arrangements will operate in practice.
Alongside compliance, clients and occupiers want to understand how their building will work every day. Waiting and journey times, accessible controls, clear wayfinding and reliable operation all shape the passenger experience. Destination control can help manage demand, but its suitability depends on the building, its users and the way access is organized. Maintainability matters too: safe access, spare-parts availability and future modernization should be considered alongside initial performance and capital cost.
CIBSE and BCO guidance provide established starting points for office lift planning. Project-specific traffic modelling builds on those assumptions by testing actual occupancy, tenant arrangements, amenities and circulation patterns. Working with clients and tenants allows designers to compare scenarios and identify where a seemingly minor change in floor use or access could have a significant effect on performance.
On one office project, a tenant’s requirement for dedicated lifts rather than shared use changed the proposed passenger flows. The chapmanbdsp team modelled alternative lift allocations and floor arrangements, comparing waiting times, journey times and the implications for other occupiers. This gave the project team evidence to inform discussions about tenant floors and lift provision before the arrangement was finalised.
On another office redevelopment, proposals incorporating an auditorium, a roof terrace and multiple circulation routes required assessment beyond a typical office demand profile. The chapmanbdsp team tested different scenarios, including the effect of relocating the auditorium, to identify potential performance constraints and inform design decisions.
Looking ahead, connected monitoring and predictive-maintenance tools offer opportunities to improve fault detection and maintenance planning. Digital twins and artificial intelligence may extend how building and lift performance are analysed, but their value depends on reliable data and practical application. These tools support engineering judgement; they do not remove the need to understand the building’s users, operational requirements and emergency strategy.
The role of the vertical transportation engineer extends beyond specifying equipment. It includes helping clients understand how their building will perform, how decisions interact and what needs to be coordinated before the design is fixed. Bringing that conversation into the earliest stages of a project gives teams a stronger basis for delivering accessible, reliable and efficient buildings.