Stannah have installed four lifts at the ss Great Britain site in Bristol's Great Western Dockyard. The opportunity to be involved in a project that has its roots in Victorian engineering led Stannah Lifts Ltd to be the main supplier of a range of lifts that have made Isambard Kingdom Brunel's ss Great Britain accessible to everyone. The ss Great Britain is now a permanent museum and education centre for the enjoyment of visitors from all around the world.

A challenging project The installation of lifts at the site of the ss Great Britain project has been challenging. It isn't every day that your product needs to travel through the centre of a Victorian ship or into its dry dock and look comfortable in the unusual environment. In total, Stannah supplied four lifts: one three-stop passenger lift in the dockyard museum, two vertical platform lifts appearing to travel right through the funnel of the ss Great Britain and another travelling through a waterline glass plate to the sealed dry dock below. All the lifts were installed to help meet the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act, ensuring the whole conservation project could be accessed by people with disabilities, including wheelchair users.

An exciting tour All visitors start the tour of this historic site in the dockyard museum where an eight-person Stannah passenger lift is installed. The lift is fully-automatic and complies with the latest European manufacturing standard BS EN 81 - 70 that ensures lifts are suitable for disabled users. Features include low operating buttons, good lighting, voice enunciators and accurate levelling for ease-of-access. Visitors can use the lift to reach the bridge that takes them on to the upper deck of the ship. Remarkably, disabled visitors can continue the tour of the ship by way of a Stannah Midilift, a vertical platform lift that is almost hidden just in front of the ship's funnel. This lift is designed specifically to carry a single wheelchair user and a pedestrian companion. The moving platform slowly moves through the centre of the ship to the promenade deck directly below. As you would expect, space is very limited on exiting the lift and the lighting is low. In fact, space and light were in very short supply anywhere on the ship during its long voyages, as there were often 600 passengers and even more animals (for food) on board in very confined spaces! From the promenade deck, where the ship's galley and smallest cabins can be viewed, the journey continues via a second Stannah Midilift to the lower deck, that today is the venue for many functions. Some of the tighter spaces on board cannot quite be accessed by wheelchair users or even today's taller individuals, as they appear to have been designed for people under five feet tall! Returning via the three lifts to the museum, all visitors can then exit onto the quay where they find themselves at water level. The iron-hulled ship has been permanently sealed into the dry dock by means of a huge glass plate that is covered with a thin layer of water to give the illusion of a floating ship. Disabled visitors can descend by means of another Stannah Midilift into the dry dock, where the atmosphere is controlled to provide the 20% relative humidity, thereby preserving the iron of the hull in its present condition.

Manufactured in the UK to exacting standards The passenger lift is fully-automatic and complies with the latest European manufacturing standard BS EN 81 - 70 that ensures lifts are suitable for disabled users. The three Stannah Midilifts, vertical platform lifts, comply with BS 8300 that advises the installation of platform lifts where it is not possible to install a traditional passenger lift. Platform lifts are designed for occasional use by people with disabilities and their companions and require constant-pressure operating controls that can be operated from inside or outside the lift car.

Local service from Stannah Lift Services Stannah Lifts Ltd are delighted to have completed the project, but their association with the ss Great Britain doesn't end there. Stannah Lift Services Ltd, the maintenance division of the Stannah Group, have a local branch in Bristol and it is their attention that will ensure the lifts are kept 'ship shape and Bristol fashion'. The two Stannah companies have jointly become Gold Sponsors of the heritage project and are immensely proud of their support for the ship that has truly inspired a nation.