Tag Archives: HDB

HDB maisonette has its own lift

One HDB resident in Towner Road has installed a lift inside his double-storey executive maisonette.

The resident, who declined to be named, put it up last year for his wheelchair-bound mother. They live on the sixth floor.

The HDB said this was the first such lift that it had approved in public housing, although developers had been selling private properties with such lifts.

Lift-Mech Engineering said it took about a year to obtain approval for the lift.

Among the considerations raised by the HDB were the energy usage and impact on the structure of the building and neighbouring units, said marketing manager Sherlyn Lim.

She noted that the lift’s electricity consumption would be the same on average as that for a washing machine.

‘It actually uses a three-pin plug,’ she added of the lift, which can take five people.

The machinery and electrical system are housed inside the lift shaft, with no need for an external machine room.

The lift cost $60,000, excluding some structural works, she added.

Source : Sunday Times – 1 Nov 2009

Thinking out of the box

The HDB has whittled down the number of blocks that are ineligible for the Lift Upgrading Programme from about 1,000 eight years ago to 200.

Here are some new and cheaper solutions it introduced:

1 BUBBLE LIFTS

These have transparent glass panels for walls.

Compared with conventional lifts that have an enclosed lift shaft, these ’shaftless’ lifts are 25 per cent cheaper and construction time is cut by a few months.

They may not be suitable for places with little shade, as the sun’s glare may be too strong during the day.

2 SMALLER LIFTS

These ‘home lifts’ carry just four people, compared with the standard larger lifts that take 10 to 12.

Their smaller size makes them suitable for low-rise blocks with fewer units and less passenger traffic. But they are still big enough to accommodate a wheelchair. Continue reading