Lift and Stair Design in Kensington

Creativemass were appointed to improve the circulation of a 19th Century top floor penthouse flat located in Kensington, London. This included a lift and stair design, within both public and private spaces.

The property is in the Cornwall Gardens Conservation Area and was built in the 19th Century around 1875-80.

This commission for creativemass was part of a larger project – planning permission was being sought from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) for the creation of an additional storey at fifth floor level to provide more accommodation to the top floor flat.

The new lift permission was in doubt as previous attempts by others had not managed to produce a workable solution. However, creativemass managed to come up with a solution for the new lift and staircase, vastly improving the day to day experience for all of the occupiers of the building.

Focusing on the circulation for this property, creativemass looked at designing the installation of a new passenger lift from the 1st to 4th floors in place of an unused secondary staircase. A private staircase from the 4th to 5th floor was also designed (as the lift was only designed to reach the 4th floor.) The lift was to be used by all property owners within the building, with the top floor being privately accessed.

A 3D model of the lift and stairs was created to provide a visual of the proposal and helped to confirm certain parts of the design, such as the head height between each flight of stairs and the balustrade design. This method of representation was a useful visual aid for the contractors on site. CAD drawings were used alongside these 3D sketches.

This project is recently completed – more photographs to come!

In the meantime, contact creativemass if you have a project you would like to discuss, even one that might include a lift!