movemanSKG Lifts Are Absolutely Fabulous!

The installation of two movemanSKG Companion Prestige platform lifts is enabling disabled pupils and staff at an inclusive primary school, located in the London borough of Hackney, to participate fully in school life. Millfields Community School was built in 1896. It has twenty main class rooms, a Base for Pupils with Autism, a double unit Nursery, a Happitimes Play Group and an Adult Learning Centre. It is open from 6.30 am to 8.30 pm to cater for pupils from ages three to eleven.

Under the inspiring leadership of Head Teacher, Anna Hassan, Millfields is a lively and well run primary school. Hackney Learning Trust is committed to providing equality of opportunity for all regardless of race, creed, class or gender, ability or disability. The platform lifts were installed as part of this policy. Anna Hassan explains.

"Millfields School is a three storey building with an attic and until recently our mobility impaired pupils and members of staff had difficulty getting up to the second and third floors and the attic. The movemanSKG lifts are absolutely fabulous! It's the best

thing that's ever happened to the school. Thanks to the generous support of the Hackney Learning Trust, everybody now has equality of access. One wheelchair-bound pupil is delighted to be able to take part in music lessons in the Music Room for the first time and to join her friends in the second floor dining room for lunch. We can now claim to be a truly inclusive community school. It's the answer to our prayers."

Designed for travel up to three storeys indoors, the Prestige is movemanSKG's most popular model. It is a totally self contained unit, with a rated capacity of 400kg. The lifting platform measures 1500 x 1100 mm and is suitable for a wheelchair user and attendant. It runs on a 240v single phase power supply and has its own integral shaft. Installation is very straightforward, requiring no adjacent wall or other support structure. It carries the CE mark, a sign of conformity with all relevant European standards and is type tested for travel to nine metres. The Prestige is suitable for installation in any type of building, including schools, hotels, restaurants and offices.

"It would have cost twice as much to install a conventional passenger lift and we would have lost valuable playground space." Anna Hassan comments. The platform lifts look good and are unobtrusive. What's more, from start to finish, the project only took five weeks to complete."

The overall travel height is, however, beyond the limits of a standard platform lift. movemanSKG's solution, therefore, was to fit two platform lifts. The first lift provides access from the ground floor to the first and second floors. The second lift travels from the second to the attic. The two lifts give a combined travel of 13.5 metres.

The Prestige is fitted with a special feature, called Designated User Control (DUC). Developed specifically for educational establishments, DUC prevents unauthorised

use and stops children from playing in the lift. In essence the lift isolates itself, by moving away from the landing it was parked at, after a preset period of inactivity, and stops between floors. This activates the automatic door interlocks making the unit totally secure. A key is required to reactivate the lift before it can be summoned.

"This type of installation could well become the access standard within the Learning Trust." Concludes Anna Hassan.