Complex computer network gives skyscraper a massive lift

Schindler Lifts project manager Paul Easton says the computer network for the International Commerce Centre is just as challenging as the mechanical equipment.

'We have 400 intricately networked computers and a barely calculable distance of electronic cable to run all the lift systems. We're using Windows for some, Linux for others, and a wide range of off-the-shelf and custom-designed software. It's the computer systems that optimise the performance of the mechanical engineering. No computers means no lifts, so you can imagine how much effort is invested in back-up and redundancy.' This begs the question of what would happen in ICC in the event of a power cut. Would passengers be trapped in cars and tenants on their floors?

Senior project director Alan Campbell is quick to dispel any fears. 'If you have a total power cut in the area, the back-up generators will kick in after about 20 seconds, so the lifts will be running again. Then in the event that any of the computers are down, the system will automatically make sure that all the lifts are returned to the ground floor. And we've got full two-way communication with all the lifts. Nobody will wait very long.'

The mechanical statistics for the ICC lifts are impressive. For each of the double-deck lifts (there are 40), the hoisting machine weighs 12 tonnes, the car a further 10 tonnes and the counterweight nine tonnes, making a total of 31 tonnes of material for each double-deck lift installation, or about 20 Mercedes-Benz saloon cars, or 2? double-decker buses. And that's without the weight of the steel cable needed to hoist them.

Other technological advances have resulted in specially designed lifts already operating in incomplete shafts while the building is being constructed, leading to huge savings in time and energy for transporting people and equipment on site, and machine-room-less lifts for some of the smaller shafts.

And the ICC will house the highest escalators in Hong Kong - four of them - connecting floors 102 and 103. Mr Campbell pointed to the tower crane that would hoist the escalators into place.