Elevators have become a very essential part of our day-to-day lives. They don’t just bring a level of comfort during the day, but it has also become a safe alternative to traverse across the different floors. You may find different types of elevators, with a similar purpose of serving individuals, but their capacity and appearance may be different based on the number of passengers.

But do you know how the number of lifts in a building is determined? The number of lifts needed in a building entirely depends on the type of constructional design going to be followed in the building structure and the structural space across the floors. Starting from the design of the building, total count of floors, and the height of the floor, there are many factors that may not be known to many of us.

To help you find out how you can determine the number of lifts in a specific building, we’ve compiled a list of important factors you must keep in mind. Let’s take a look at it.

The number of visitors to be served. One of the very first things you have to consider to determine the number of lifts is population measurement. Knowing the number of people who are going to use the lift on a daily basis has to be figured out.

However, getting an accurate count of the visitors is a little tricky. It is hard to figure out the total population of a building if it is a speculative project, and secondly, not everyone is going to the same floor at the same time. Based on the type of building, the footfall count may vary drastically.

For example, if you are planning to install a lift in a corporate building, you may have to consider various things such as the type of office. Based on the same, you can perform lift traffic analysis. To avoid falling into the wrong footfall count, you can get the elevator software to perform elevator traffic analysis. There is plenty of such software and tools available today to help you with elevator BIM and elevator traffic analysis.

Also, you need to figure out traffic on each floor at a specific time in a building. You can use elevator software to perform lift traffic analysis to get insights about peak travel time, lift usage between each floor, and more.

Passenger waiting time for a lift. Once you have accurate details available about footfall in a building, the next thing you have to do is to figure out the passenger waiting time. It is a crucial factor and an important point for the building performance indicator. There has been a lot of research and studies done in the past to determine the ideal waiting time for any building. If the waiting time is less than 20 seconds, it is excellent. On the other hand, more than 40-90 seconds is considered poor.

It is important that you design an elevator system that can serve the highest number of people with low waiting times or any other combinations based on the type of building. 

Type of elevator. Yes, it is an important factor to determine the number of lifts in any building. When it comes to the round trip time, the type of lift is an essential factor to be considered. It will help you simplify the process of determining the number of lifts. It is an average time required by a lift to complete a single trip within a building during up-peak traffic.

Height of a building. When it comes to identifying how many lifts are required in a building along with lift traffic analysis or Lift BIM you also have to consider the height of the building too. However, make sure you don’t mix up the height of a building with the number of floors, it is totally different. 

Based on the height of a building, such as high-rise buildings or low-rise buildings, you can get an idea about the population going to use the lifts. Based on this, you can get a fair idea about the number of lifts required.

Construction style plays a vital role. Apart from building height, the style of construction is also necessary to keep in mind while determining the number of lifts required. It is important to know construction style as it helps you determine the primary settlement and technological setups within a building. 

Decisions related to the lift traffic analysis and sizing are based on the construction design. Considering the construction style may help you plan more effectively when it comes to the number of lifts.

To bring more clarity to the factors responsible to identify the number of lifts required in a specific building, you can get in touch with our experts. Also, you can try out our elevator software to get a detailed elevator traffic analysis.