Stannah wins Elevator World Project of the Year for Big Ben lifts

Stannah, a leading UK lift supplier, has won the special purpose lifts category in Elevator World’s Project of the Year Awards, for the lift solution supplied to Grade I Listed Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben) restoration project. 

This recognition highlights Stannah’s ability to provide safe, step-free, and sustainable lift access solutions in all types of buildings, including historic, heritage, and Grade I listed buildings.

The 2025 Elevator Awards celebrate remarkable lift projects that demonstrate innovative design, special application or approach. Judged by industry experts, Stannah’s lift solution at Elizabeth Tower met these criteria, resulting in a win in one of the nine categories.

The Stannah Major Projects Division’s role in the Elizabeth Tower Lift Project included detailed manufacturing design of the lift and platform, installation, and commissioning. The complex and precise engineering of the lift project required close collaboration between Stannah and SVM Associates (SVMA), an independent lift consulting engineering firm that has overseen lifts on behalf of Parliament’s Strategic Estates since 2013.

David Saunders, Head of Major Projects Division at Stannah Lifts, says: “It’s an honour to be recognised by the industry for this project. Winning this award is a testament to the Stannah and SVMA teams for their hard work, creativity and dedication to providing lift solutions in buildings that have unique challenges.”

“The fact that that the tower now provides step-free access for the maintenance team despite its Grade I Listing, Central London location and the slight lean, is great, but also, we can all take pride that these lifts are engineering marvels that the Victorians would have been proud of.”

More about the project

Big Ben at the Houses of Parliament, completed in 1859, was designed by Augustus Pugin in a Perpendicular Gothic Revival style. The clock tower was then renamed Elizabeth Tower in 2012 in honour of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee. At 96 metres tall, and the climb from ground level to the belfry being 334 steps in a spiral staircase, maintenance teams found it extremely difficult to access Big Ben for regular maintenance and even more challenging when replacing heavy parts or transporting equipment.

Two Stannah lifts were specified by SVM Associates (SVMA) lift consultants for installation in an existing, large stone ventilation shaft inside Elizabeth Tower. The main Stannah lift travels 57 metres from the ground to the 11th floor at a top speed of 1.5 metres per second. With a second lift, a platform lift, providing access to the Belfry.

This complex and challenging project resulted in energy-efficient, precisely engineered lift systems that greatly facilitate the work of clock engineers and could potentially save lives in a medical emergency, all while preserving the clock tower’s historic integrity.

An additional complication was added because the whole of Elizabeth Tower, including the ventilation shaft, has a slight lean of 0.23 degrees to the northwest. This slight camber, over 96 metres, resulted in a significant lateral displacement between the base and top of the stone ventilation shaft, making fitting the new lift challenging.

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