As per the Haryana Lift and Escalator Act, the lifts in any tower or house need to be replaced after 20 years from the installation date. The Essel Towers complex under the control of ETRWA has 38 lifts that came into operation at different times. Accordingly, we needed to replace 13 lifts in Emerald Court in 2023-24, 6 lifts in Pearl Court, and 2 lifts in Sapphire Court in 2024. Another 8 lifts in Ivory Court also need to be replaced in 2024 and balance lifts in Amber and Diamond Court require replacement in 2025.
The lift replacement project in a condominium is a complex project, requiring careful planning, communication, and execution while minimizing disruption to residents and ensuring safety and compliance with current regulations.
We planned this project well in advance in 2022 itself, since as a prerequisite, collection of funds is mandatory before the order is placed for the lifts. We have a Federal System under which the income and expenses of each court are accounted separately and each court is authorized to control their income and expenses but under the overall guidance and operating procedures of ETRWA. Therefore, the ETRWA Board decided and asked Board Members of each court to form a committee within their court and workout the monthly installments that need to be collected from residents of that court based on the budget cost estimate of total lifts within their respective courts. Based on the inputs from each court, the monthly installments were fixed for each court and funds collection was started from April 2022 for a period of two years.
The project of replacement of 13 lifts in Emerald Court was to be taken up first in 2023, followed by Pearl Court in 2024. We therefore formed a lift replacement committee with members from each court so that learnings from these two projects can be used by each court when the lift replacement activity is taken up by them in their courts. Regular meetings were held to discuss the lift specifications, tender documents, OEM prequalification, bid evaluation criteria, etc.
As a first step, we prepared the technical specifications of the new lifts which will be model specifications for all courts to follow.
A model tender document was prepared with the scope of work, commercial terms and conditions, guarantees, etc which was followed by each court when inviting bids for their respective lifts.
Shortlisting of world-class OEM in design, manufacturing, and installation of lifts who have previous similar experience in the replacement of lifts with a 20-year guarantee for the availability of spare parts and AMC.
The plan is executed in a phased manner in each court depending upon the logistics of each court.
Proper safety measures in the form of temporary barriers and signage were stressed upon in the contract during the site work.
As a result of proper planning as described above, we have been able to successfully replace all 13 lifts in Emerald Court and 3 lifts in Pearl Court so far. The work on the replacement of the other 3 lifts is ongoing and is expected to be completed by mid-September this year.
This successful lift replacement at Essel Towers Confomonium serves as an excellent example of how careful planning, effective communication, and a focus on resident needs can lead to a successful infrastructure upgrade in a residential building.
