News

Working on behalf of a long-standing client, Hydratec will begin a major goods lift modernisation project at one of the largest sewage treatment plants in the UK.

Located in East London and covering an area of 55 hectares, the plant’s existing 2-tonne, 5-storey goods lift was in need of a full modernisation. Hydratec will be supplying and installing all the new equipment including a Saturn Alpha Bucher power unit, a Lester Controls ALMEGA II controller system, completely new car, car doors, landing pushes and indicators.

The 12-week project will be a challenging one for the Hydratec team to undertake. The engineers will be required to adhere to the very stringent Health and Safety protocols on site and undertake additional training prior to starting the works.

Working for one of our industry customers, Hydratec has undertaken the Hydratec smart™ modernisation of a four-person lift, in a premium 4-storey, London residential building.

Not only was the building in full use whilst the modernisation was being undertaken, but there was also limited space to work in. The machine room and the lift shaft were very small, making it a rather detail-oriented process. The smart was configured with a Bucher Saturn Beta iValve with soft start, Lester Controls ALMEGA II controller and new car and landing entrances which were particularly challenging given the very tight shaft.

Hydratec has now completed the modernisation project of nine lifts for a London Health Service Trust for our customer. The start of the project dates back to 2019 as one of the lifts was installed, and then as the critical pandemic period hit, the works had to be put on pause and all equipment put into storage.

Early 2021, finally gave the remaining project the green light, so Hydratec was then able to progress with the remaining eight lifts, all to be completed by mid-April. These were located across four of the multiple Trust locations and included a set of three, 4-floor lifts, five, 2-floor lifts.

As with all NHS hospital/clinic locations, but especially in mental health institutions, Hydratec engineers had to be particularly sensitive of the noise and routine disturbance the work may cause to the building’s users. So, whilst still on lockdown, all jobs done on site were carried out with the utmost consideration for the patients’ wellbeing and medical staff alike. The modernisation project included replacement of controllers, door operators (as well as pushes and indications) and minor car interior upgrades.

Now fully operational, all parties were very complimentary about the final results.

Working during the early part of January 2020, under strict Government COVID guidelines and to reinstate the reliability of the lift, our engineers completed a full Hydratec smart™ lift modernisation. The work took place in a 4-storey sheltered housing home in Kingston, Surrey, originally built in 1989 with 32 apartments and shared communal facilities.

We removed all the existing hydraulic equipment including the lift controller and undertook the installation of the new equipment. The Hydratec smart was configured with a Bucher iValve, a Lester Controls ALMEGA II hydraulic controller and a CEDES absolute positioning system.

Taking great care to ensure all hygiene and safety procedures were in place before and throughout the work, a time frame and access to the site was agreed with the residents. This included the removal of the old equipment and installation of the new smart hydraulic system.

From 1^st March 2021, the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) will be rolling out a VAT Domestic Reverse Charge scheme which will affect some activities within the Construction sector.

Hydratec would like to inform all of our customers that our lift works fall outside of the scope of the CIS (Construction Industry Scheme) and as a result, will continue to be subject to standard VAT charges and NOT the Domestic Reverse Charges.

For more information, click here or get in touch with our Management team on 01252 871 664.

Working as subcontractors with one of our industry customers, Hydratec have recently undertaken a Hydratec smart™ modernisation on one of the hospital’s hydraulic lifts. The lift had been out of action for several months and a full modernisation was required including cylinders, VVVF power unit, new cylinder pillars, chains and pulleys.

As with other essential work that we are undertaking during lockdown, Hydratec engineers are taking great care to ensure all hygiene and safety procedures follow strict Government COVID guidelines. Our engineering team also worked with the hospital’s facility management to ensure that we fully complied with the rigorous COVID requirements of the hospital.

Our initial task was to undertake a site survey, to establish the correct specification for the Hydratec smart and what ancillaries. After agreeing a time frame for the upgrade, we removed all the existing hydraulic equipment including the lift controller. We then undertook the installation of the new equipment.

The smart was configured with a Bucher iValve, a Lester Controls ALMEGA II hydraulic controller and a CEDES absolute positioning system, to comply with the EN81-20 and A3 compliance.

With the Prime Minister’s newest updates on UK COVID-19 restrictions, Hydratec’s management team fully understand the Government’s lockdown rules and would like to notify our customers that business operations are able to continue as usual, from the 5^th January 2021, across our Yateley and Heywood branches.

We will be abiding by all government safety rules, and ensure that we keep up to date with any additional advice as and when it is issued.

Hydratec engineers are provided with COVID-19 protective equipment i.e. gloves, face masks and sanitisers, and our vans are equipped with hand washing facilities.  All RAMs issued to staff prior to commencing work include COVID safety measures.

Should the lockdown escalate further, Hydratec have contingency plans and will announce further updates as necessary.

Key Personnel are available during normal business hours via the usual number 01252 871664, or their direct lines and mobile phones. If any of our customers do not have key personnel contact numbers, please contact sales@hydratec-lifts.co.uk for details.

Last week saw the arrival of the first of our nine new Volkswagen Transporter vans, all being delivered to our offices in Yateley and Heywood, between 13th and 21st August.

We are all very pleased with our new vans as one of the decisions to buy them was based on their safety features which includes a forward collision warning with emergency braking. Additionally, we chose automatic transmission for all nine vans, to help reduce driver fatigue in heavy traffic.

Each of the vans’ load compartments has been heavily customised to allow Hydratec engineers to carry essential day-to-day items and undertake minor repairs on-site. The vans all have first aid kits, sanitising and handwashing stations with hot and cold running water.

The first group of engineers have kitted out the vans with essential parts and the tools needed for their day-to-day work and started their work this morning in their smart new vans.

Hydratec can now supply competitively priced, high quality car frame packages.

If you are planning a back to guides modernisation or installing a new lift and looking for a hydraulic car frame package, we can help. Our car frames are available for Passenger and Goods lifts, and available for all standard drive arrangements with an optional hot dip galvanised finish. Non-standard DBG’s are also available.

Our car frame package can be supplied with or without the hydraulic system.

As standard, we can offer the Bucher range of drive systems to compliment the car frame.

We can also offer custom-built cars, control systems, doors and offer a full modernisation and installation service. We can also produce General Arrangement drawings for the package.

If you are a lift company interested in our modernisation or new lift modular packages, get in contact with the Hydratec team for more details.

As of Monday 11th May 2020, Hydratec will be returning to fully operational services from both our Yateley and Heywood facilities. 

We continue to remain partly operational until 11th May, to support requests relating to the NHS and other of the UK’s front-line essential services for on-site support and for the dispatch of critical stock parts when required.

Key personnel can still be contacted directly via their mobile phones, (numbers provided to existing customers).

To protect our staff, we will be following the distancing and hygiene standards as recommended by the Government relating to Covid-19. Returning to work, repair and modernisation engineers will all be correctly equipped with face masks, gloves, visors and goggles and thoroughly briefed on COVID 19 distancing and safety procedures prior to visiting any work site.

Our Senior Managers will be prioritising all jobs and projects that were already in progress or due to start prior to the lockdown. We are happy to discuss timelines for any new jobs or projects and appreciate your understanding whilst we clear the backlog of work. 

Technical support is available through the usual channels and by emailing sales@hydratec-lifts.co.uk, we will do our utmost to respond as soon as possible.

Thank you for your understanding.

Rob Keane