KONE was chosen to design a customised double-deck lift solution equipped with the KONE Destination Control System (DCS) to handle peaks in People Flow™ without wasting a single precious inch of rentable space at 201 Bishopsgate and Broadgate Tower.

Constructed from 2005-2009, the striking steel and glass Broadgate skyscraper is connected to the Bishopsgate block by a covered sky-lit retail plaza. In a real estate market as costly as London, efficient use of floor space is paramount. Equally important for this high-profile building complex is to ensure a smooth flow of people at all times.

With the DCS system passengers select their destinations from touch screen terminals or just showing their access card. The system then guides them to their assigned lift, minimising the number of stops and cutting transit time to 17 seconds on average.

Two lifts in one Broadgate Tower features a highly efficient double-deck lift solution doubling or even tripling the handling capacity of one lift shaft compared to conventional solutions.
With two banks of five KONE Alta™ double-deck passenger lifts serving the 35-story building, major space savings are achieved by positioning two lift cars in the same hoistway serving two adjacent floor simultaneously, one on top of the other.

This increases the rental space of the building and shortens the payback time of the lifts in the building. Combined with KONE’s destination control system, the double-deck solution dramatically improves the lift system’s capacity to handle traffic flow, particularly during rush hours when traditional systems become overcrowded.

The systems offer numerous benefits to the people who ride the lifts every day: orderly boarding, enhanced comfort, shorter waiting time and seamless transition from the building entrance to their desks. Even in busy periods, the lift cars are never as crowded as with conventional systems.