The Richmond Building was originally built in 1965 and remains one of the largest purpose-built students’ union buildings in the UK, with a floor area equivalent to nearly 4 full-size football pitches and serves 8 floors. The re-design of the £30 million project started 5 years ago.

Midlands Office 01543 273673
Northern Office 01928 594790

Modernisation Project Summary

The Richmond Building was originally built in 1965 and remains one of the largest purpose-built students’ union buildings in the UK, with a floor area equivalent to nearly 4 full-size football pitches and serves 8 floors.

The re-design of the £30 million project started 5 years ago.

Phase 1 was completed in March 2013, incorporating a new focal entrance foyer, swimming pool changing village, teaching and administrative spaces to the upper floors & remodeled public realm.

Phase 2 was completed in December 2014 and boasts 200 new study spaces, with spectacular views across the city, two state-of-the -art theatres, two café bars, several activity rooms, a digital media suite, dance studios, music studios and a refurbished gig venue, The Anson Rooms, with a capacity for over 1,000 people.

Existing Lift Installation

The original lift was an 8 Stop 1250Kg / 16 Person Open Front Thyssen Galaxy MRL passenger lift with a full evacuation control system installed in 2011. Over a period of time the lift has been unreliable with numerous breakdowns along with concerns about the operation of the evacuation system compared to its more modern lift counterpart in another wing of the building. Concept Elevators successfully secured the work in direct competition with the University's sole lift service provider.

Summary of Modernisation Works
  • New I.L.E. Canex + Controller in a slim stainless steel controller.
  • New replacement Custom Car Operating Panel, with pushes, key switches, induction loop, autodialler, TFT
    Indicator and load label engraving.
  • New Replacement Landing Stations.
  • New Replacement Landing Indicators and Arrival Gongs.
  • New SafeLine autodialler and Evacuation control/intercom system.
  • New Car top controller and Shaft Wiring and Shaft Switches.
  • Maintenance Barrier, Insulation Mat and compliant Notices.
  • Testing and Commissioning.
The Project

The works were completed in a three week time frame just before Christmas, towards the end of term.

The project challenges included late notification that the university was being used as a Covid 19 testing centre.

This meant careful co-ordination with the university and no access to particular floors during pre-agreed times whilst testing was being conducted.

The existing car operating panel had to be removed at the start of the project and set to the manufacturers to be used as a template for the new car operating panel meaning a fast turnaround was necessary.

Service

Modernisation

Client

Richmond Building,
University of Bristol

Gallery
Existing Lift Photographs
Completed Works