Their new service, Roger Preston Online, went live earlier this month, and offers users the chance to evaluate the lift requirements for commercial buildings up to 20 storeys.

“Architects and developers need this type of information early on in a project for space planning purposes and we wanted them to be able to get reliable, independent data with a minimum of fuss from the privacy of their desktop.”, said Derek Tuddenham, Managing Director of Roger Preston & Partners, “It allows anyone involved in the early stages of a building to model different building scenarios, and quickly determine the lift requirement for the building they have conceived. Being web-based will enable us to keep the service up-to-date and responsive to user requirements.”

The lift evaluation module is based upon a simplified version of the consultant’s in-house software, which has been translated for interactive use over the Internet. A user chooses an approximate silhouette of their building, which can then be more precisely tailored to match their project. After selecting appropriate lift criteria (waiting times, capacity, etc), a number of possible solutions are presented (and illustrated). For those who want more information, a technical datasheet is available as a PDF, with additional solutions and all the relevant dimensional data for space planning.

For those unfamiliar with ‘elevatoring’, explanatory notes are provided covering the background to the evaluation method.

This facility is the first step in developing interactive engineering data services to assist those engaged at the pre-planning stage and academic users who may find it useful for study or project work.

Click 'Consultancy Online' on the navigation bar to be taken to the Roger Preston Online page.