What Are the Benefits of Lift Modernisation for My Building?

Introduction: Why Am I Thinking About Modernising My Lift?

Most people start thinking about lift modernisation for one of 3 reasons: the lift keeps breaking down, an inspection report has flagged safety issues, or the parts needed to fix it are getting harder to find.

Whether you manage a block of flats, a commercial building or a care home, or you own a lift in your own home, an ageing lift costs you twice. You pay for repeated call-outs, and the people who rely on it are left on the stairs while it is out of action.

Lift modernisation replaces the parts that have worn out or fallen behind current standards, while keeping the parts that still have years of life in them. Done well, it can make a lift safer, more reliable, more efficient and easier for everyone to use, often for far less disruption than a full replacement.

This guide explains what modernisation involves, the signs your lift needs it, the benefits you can expect, the UK rules that apply, what it costs, and how to decide between modernising and replacing.

TL;DR

• What it is: lift modernisation replaces worn or outdated parts, such as the controller, drive, doors or car, while keeping the sound structure and shaft.
• When: many components last around 20 years. Rising breakdowns, obsolete parts, poor levelling and an analogue emergency phone are the clearest signs.
• Safety: BS EN 81-80 gives a risk-based checklist of 74 hazards for bringing older lifts closer to today’s standards.
• Reliability: current parts and diagnostics prevent the 8- to 12-week outages a failed old controller can cause.
• Energy: modern gearless drives, regenerative braking, LED lighting and standby modes can cut energy use by half or more.
• Compliance: analogue lift phones stop being supported by 31 January 2027; LOLER examinations and high-rise fire-safety checks also apply.
• Cost: about £75,000 for a full modernisation of a 4-floor traction lift, against about £100,000 to replace it. Component upgrades cost far less.
• Modernise or replace: modernise if the structure and car size are right; replace if they are not.

What Does Lift Modernisation Actually Mean?

Lift modernisation means replacing the worn or outdated parts of an existing lift with modern equivalents, while keeping the parts that are still sound, such as the shaft, guide rails and often the counterweight and frame.

It usually happens at one of 3 levels:

Level	What changes	Typical example
Component upgrade	Single parts or safety items	New door sensors, LED car lighting, an EN 81-28 emergency phone, better landing accuracy
Systems modernisation	A whole system	A new controller and drive, new door operators, or a new car interior
Full modernisation	Almost everything except the shaft and structure	New machine, controller, doors, car and wiring on the existing guide rails

When even the guide rails, frame and shaft fittings come out, the job becomes a full replacement: a brand-new lift installed in the existing shaft.

Every lift has the same core parts, and each has its own working life:

• Car (cabin): walls, floor, ceiling, lighting and the control panel inside
• Doors: car and landing doors, door operators and safety edges or light curtains
• Drive: the motor, gearbox or hydraulic power unit that moves the car
• Controller: the electronics that decide where the lift goes and keep it safe
• Safety gear and brakes: the systems that stop the car if something goes wrong
• Emergency communication: the alarm and phone that connect trapped passengers to help

Modernisation is about replacing the right parts at the right time, rather than everything at once.

How Do I Know My Lift Needs Modernising?

Age is the first clue: 20 years is a good rule of thumb for the life of many lift components (Flat Living). But the lift itself usually tells you before the calendar does.

Watch for these 8 warning signs:

1. Breakdowns are becoming more frequent, or call-outs are costing more each year.
2. Parts are hard to get. Your maintenance contractor warns that components are obsolete or have long lead times.
3. The inspection report flags defects. Your 6-monthly LOLER thorough examination lists recurring or serious issues.
4. The car stops out of level with the floor, creating a trip hazard.
5. Doors are slow, noisy or close on people, or still use old safety edges instead of light curtains.
6. The ride is rough or noisy: jerky starts and stops, grinding or banging from the shaft or motor room.
7. The emergency phone still uses an analogue line, which will stop working when the UK’s analogue phone network is switched off.
8. Energy bills or building plans have changed. You want to cut running costs, improve accessibility or meet new fire-safety duties.

If you recognise 2 or more of these, ask an independent lift consultant or your maintenance contractor for a condition survey. It should tell you which parts can stay, which must go, and what each option will cost.

Will Modernisation Make My Lift Safer?

Yes. Safety is often the strongest reason to modernise, because an older lift was built to the standards of its day, not today’s.

The UK benchmark for improving an existing lift is BS EN 81-80, the “Safety Norm for Existing Lifts”. It gives a risk-based method for bringing older passenger and goods-passenger lifts towards the safety level of a new lift. Its checklist covers 74 hazardous situations (Stannah), which an assessor rates high, medium or low risk so you can fix the most serious first.

Common safety upgrades include:

Upgrade	What it prevents
Full-height light curtains on car doors	Doors closing on passengers, pushchairs or wheelchairs
Accurate levelling with re-levelling	Trips at the threshold when the car stops above or below the floor
Protection against unintended car movement	The car moving away from a floor with its doors open
Modern emergency communication (EN 81-28)	Trapped passengers unable to reach help
Car and landing door locks to current standards	Doors opening when the car is not there
Pit and car-top protection for engineers	Injuries to the people who maintain the lift
Emergency lighting in the car	Passengers left in the dark during a power failure

As a lift owner, it is your responsibility to address significant hazards on your lift. A BS EN 81-80 survey gives you a clear, prioritised list and a record that you have acted on it.

Will Modernisation Make My Lift More Reliable?

Yes, and reliability is usually what building users notice first. A modernised lift breaks down less often, and when it does, parts are available quickly.

The real risk with an ageing lift is not one breakdown but a long one. When a major part on an old lift fails, a replacement may have to be made to order. A failed controller can leave a lift out of service for 8 to 12 weeks on average, and a failed machine for around 8 weeks once manufacture, delivery and fitting are added up (Flat Living). In a block with one lift, that can leave residents housebound.

Modernisation improves reliability in 4 ways:

• Current, supported parts. New controllers and drives come with spare parts and software support for years ahead.
• Fewer moving parts. Modern gearless machines and door operators have less to wear out than older geared and relay-based systems.
• Better diagnostics. Modern controllers log faults, and remote monitoring can alert your maintainer before a small fault becomes a breakdown.
• Open-protocol systems. Specifying non-proprietary equipment lets any competent contractor maintain the lift, so you are not tied to one supplier for parts.

The results can be significant. One hospital modernisation programme reported more than 60% fewer breakdowns after the work (Hospital Authority case study).

How Much Energy Can Modernisation Save Me?

A well-specified modernisation can cut a lift’s energy use by half or more. One documented hospital project reduced consumption from 19,892 kWh to 9,151 kWh per lift each year, a saving of about 54% (Hospital Authority case study). KONE says modernisation can save up to 74% (KONE UK).

The savings come from 4 upgrades:

Upgrade	How it saves energy	Typical saving claimed
Gearless machine with variable-speed (VVVF) drive	Replaces inefficient geared, two-speed or hydraulic drives	Up to 70% less than hydraulic and 50% less than two-speed traction (Orona)
Regenerative drive	Feeds braking energy back into the building’s supply	Up to a further 25% to 30% (KONE brochure)
LED car and landing lighting	Replaces fluorescent or halogen lamps	Around 80% less than halogen
Standby mode	Switches off lights, fan and displays when idle	Matters because standby can be 25% to 80% of a lift’s total energy (Architecture & Design)

The figures above are manufacturers’ or case-study claims, so ask your contractor for an energy estimate for your own lift, based on its traffic and current equipment. The largest savings come when an old hydraulic or two-speed traction lift moves to a modern gearless drive.

Lower energy use also cuts heat in the machine room, which can remove the need for extra cooling.

Will Modernisation Keep My Lift Compliant?

Modernisation is often the most practical way to meet your legal duties as a lift owner, and 3 UK requirements make it especially pressing in 2026.

1. The analogue phone switch-off. Every passenger lift needs a working emergency communication system under EN 81-28. Many still use analogue phone lines, and the UK’s analogue network will cease to be supported entirely by 31 January 2027 (Stannah). An estimated 180,000 UK lift lines were still running on analogue lines (Spectrum). Upgrading to a 4G or digital unit with battery backup is one of the quickest, cheapest modernisation steps.
2. Thorough examinations. Under LOLER 1998, a lift used at work to carry people needs a thorough examination by a competent person at least every 6 months. Recurring defects in those reports are a clear sign that parts need modernising.
3. Fire safety in high-rise homes. In England, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 require the responsible person for a high-rise residential building to check firefighting and evacuation lifts monthly. Any fault that cannot be fixed within 24 hours must be reported to the local fire and rescue service (legislation.gov.uk). An unreliable lift makes those duties much harder.

Other standards come into play depending on your building:

Standard or law	What it covers
BS EN 81-80	Risk-based safety improvement of existing lifts
BS EN 81-82	Improving accessibility of existing lifts
BS EN 81-70	Accessibility for new and modernised lifts
BS EN 81-72	Firefighting lifts
Equality Act 2010	Reasonable adjustments for disabled people in services and workplaces
Lifts Regulations 2016	New lifts, including some major modernisations; your contractor confirms whether they apply

How Can Modernisation Improve My Lift’s Accessibility?

Modernisation is a chance to make your lift easier for everyone to use, including wheelchair users, people with sight or hearing loss, and older passengers. BS EN 81-82 sets out how to improve the accessibility of existing lifts, and BS EN 81-70 covers accessibility for new and modernised lifts.

The most useful accessibility upgrades are:

• Accurate levelling, so there is no step between the car and the floor for wheels or feet.
• Wider door openings and longer door dwell times, so slower passengers and wheelchairs can get in safely.
• Light curtains that detect people across the full height of the door, not just at one point.
• Accessible controls: raised, tactile buttons with Braille, positioned within reach of a seated user.
• Audible and visual announcements of floor and direction, for people with sight or hearing loss.
• Hearing loops and visual indicators on the emergency communication system, so passengers who are deaf or hard of hearing can tell help is coming.
• Handrails, mirrors and good lighting inside the car.

For building owners and service providers, these upgrades also help meet the duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people under the Equality Act 2010. Where the car itself is too small for a wheelchair, a full replacement or a new lift may be the only way to fix it.

How Much Does Lift Modernisation Cost in the UK?

For a typical low-rise building, a full lift modernisation averages about £75,000, compared with around £100,000 for a full replacement, based on a 4-floor traction lift (Flat Living). Smaller component upgrades cost far less; large high-rise lifts cost far more.

Scope	Example UK cost	Source
Component upgrade (e.g. digital emergency phone, LED lighting, light curtains)	A fraction of a full modernisation; priced per item	Ask your maintainer for itemised quotes
Full modernisation, 4-floor traction lift	About £75,000	Flat Living
Full replacement, 4-floor traction lift	About £100,000	Flat Living
Major modernisation, high-rise tower lift	About £550,000 to £575,000 per lift	City of London, Lauderdale Tower
Full replacement, high-rise tower lift	About £850,000 to £875,000 per lift	City of London, Lauderdale Tower

What drives the cost:

• Number of floors and speed: more floors mean more landing doors, wiring and labour.
• Scope: controller only, controller and doors, or everything except the shaft.
• Drive type: converting hydraulic to traction, or two-speed to gearless, adds cost but saves energy.
• Firefighting or evacuation lift requirements, which bring extra controls and standards.
• Access and working hours: occupied buildings may need phased or out-of-hours work.
• Consultant fees for a condition survey, specification and tender.

Leaseholders: in blocks of flats, major lift works usually trigger Section 20 consultation under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 when any leaseholder’s contribution will exceed £250. Build that consultation time into your plan.

Should I Modernise or Replace My Lift?

Modernise when the structure and guide rails are sound and the problems sit in the controller, drive, doors or car. Replace when the car is the wrong size, the structure is worn, or so much needs changing that a new lift costs little more.

Question	Points to modernisation	Points to replacement
Are the guide rails, frame and counterweight in good condition?	Yes	No
Is the car big enough for wheelchairs and today’s users?	Yes	No
Is the shaft the right size and in the right place?	Yes	No, or you want a larger car
How much of the lift needs changing?	The controller, drive, doors or car	Almost everything
How long can the building cope without the lift?	Downtime must be kept short	A longer outage can be managed
What does the lifetime cost look like?	Lower upfront cost, good remaining life	Similar cost to a full modernisation, with a full new lifecycle

The answer is not always obvious, even for large owners. The City of London first recommended replacing the lifts in 3 Barbican towers, then moved to a major modernisation that keeps the guides, counterweight and frame (City of London).

That is why an independent survey matters. A lift consultant who is not bidding for the work can assess the lift against BS EN 81-80, compare both options over 20 years and write a specification contractors can price fairly.

Conclusion: When Should I Plan My Lift Modernisation?

Start planning before your lift fails, ideally 2 to 3 years ahead of the work. Lift projects have long lead times: in one London council programme, the new equipment took 20 weeks to manufacture off site before 26 weeks of work on site began (Haringey Council).

A typical plan runs in 6 stages:

1. Condition survey against BS EN 81-80, by an independent lift consultant.
2. Options appraisal comparing modernisation and replacement over 20 years.
3. Specification, ideally for open-protocol equipment any contractor can maintain.
4. Consultation and tender, including Section 20 consultation for leaseholders where it applies.
5. Off-site manufacture of the new equipment.
6. On-site works, testing and handover, with support for residents who rely on the lift.

There is one job that should not wait: if your lift’s emergency phone still uses an analogue line, upgrade it before 31 January 2027.

If your lift is in a private home, the decision is often simpler. An old through-floor or platform lift can usually be replaced with a modern, battery-driven home lift that needs no pit or machine room. Contact the SWIFT UK team to talk through the options for your home.

FAQs

1. How long will my lift be out of service during modernisation?

It depends on the scope and the building. Small upgrades, such as a new emergency phone or LED lighting, can take a day or two, and some partial modernisations let the lift stay in use. A full modernisation takes longer: one London council plans 6 to 10 weeks on site per lift in a low-rise block, 10 to 20 weeks in a mid-rise block and 20 to 35 weeks in a high-rise block (Islington Council). In buildings with 2 or more lifts, working on one at a time keeps a service running.

2. Will lift modernisation increase my property value?

It can help. A reliable, accessible lift matters to buyers and tenants on upper floors, and a recent modernisation reassures them that a large lift bill is not around the corner. For leaseholders, it also removes the uncertainty of a major cost hanging over the building. The size of any effect on value depends on the property and the market.

3. Can I modernise my lift in stages?

Yes. BS EN 81-80 is designed for step-by-step improvement, fixing the highest risks first. Many owners start with the emergency phone, light curtains and levelling, then tackle the controller and drive later. Plan the stages together so new parts are compatible, and remember that the older parts left in place will keep ageing in the meantime.

4. How old should a lift be before I modernise it?

There is no fixed age, but 20 years is a good rule of thumb for many lift components. Condition matters more than age: a heavily used lift may need work sooner, and a well-maintained one may last longer. Review each LOLER thorough examination report for recurring defects, and start budgeting a few years before you expect to need the work.

5. Can I modernise a home lift as well as a building lift?

Partly. You can upgrade some parts of a home lift, such as the emergency phone line, batteries or controls. BS EN 81-80 does not cover lifts travelling at 0.15 m/s or less, though, and most home lifts use proprietary parts. For an older home lift, replacement is often simpler and better value. A new SWIFT home lift starts from around £18,100 for 2 floors, needs no pit or machine room and runs from an ordinary single-phase supply.