95 Bothwell Street

Glasgow

The Scottish Legal Life Building on Bothwell Street, completed in1931, stands as testament to the glory days of Art Deco styling and Architecture. Uniquely identified by the magnificent musical clocks on each corner, the building was designed by Glasgow Architect Edward G Wylie after he won a competition to become chief designer.

The challenge of this modernisation project was to blend the new technology, including the most energy efficient lift equipment, with the existing finishes and architectural details that would be sympathetic to the building and meet all the planning and conservation requirements. The original lifts had last been “modernised” in 1964 and the new lift equipment would therefore be the third generation to be installed in the building.

Lerch Bates were commissioned by property managers Drivers Jonas LLP, on behalf of their client WH Bothwell to design and project manage the new installation to ensure that the very specific requirements of the client and building were met. Allan Jarvis, Senior Consultant with Lerch Bates explains: “The existing lifts had been in service for over 40 years and, as you can imagine, reliability was becoming an issue to the tenants within the building. Drivers Jonas asked us to carry out a feasibility study to identify a scope of works that would enable the lifts to meet current British Standards and provide long-term reliability. However it was vital that the look of the building was not compromised in any way. We discussed the project with our UK wide team to bring together our past experiences of working in such buildings and the best ideas in the industry before providing detailed designs and specifications to the client. The result was complete replacement of all of the operational equipment, new lift car finishes, and new operations fixtures. We engineered the visible door and facade equipment into the modernised installation as the old bronze finishes were an integral part of the building’s identity.”

Aileen Gomes, Head of Construction Consultancy with Drivers Jonas commented: “It was important for Drivers Jonas and our client to ensure that we were able to bring reliability and accessibility to our tenants and to make sure that they were not compromised in any way during the project. I’m pleased to say that this has been achieved and that the lift replacement works have been carried out within the budget that we set and to the agreed timescales”.