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Temporary Lifts for Easy Goods Transport from Alimak Hek

Alimak Hek take visitors for a ride at Sydney's Powerhouse Museum

Alimak Hek install a temporary lift inside Sydney's Powerhouse Museum, allowing staff to transport exhibitions between floors during the museum's revitalisation process. The Alimak lift become a favourite attraction among visitors and a featured interactive technology exhibit.

Sydney's Powerhouse Museum has undergone a revitalization program designed to improve and expand museum exhibition space. Centered on the primary theme of 'human ingenuity', the museum prides itself on featuring new exhibits and creative interactions based on the ideas and technologies that have changed our world. In keeping with this theme, an Alimak 450 temporary lift was installed within the museum, providing the dual benefits of a materials/staff transport lift and an interactive exhibition experience.

A major component of the museum's restoration process was the complete relocation and refurbishment of the museum's only internal lift. Servicing three levels of exhibition space, the lift was the primary method of transporting featured exhibitions between levels, as well as the only means of wheelchair and pram access. Given the demolition and reinstallation of the lift structure would take an estimated six weeks, a temporary access solution was required.

This solution came in the form of an Alimak Scando 450 temporary construction lift. Ordinarily positioned on a building's exterior during construction, the temporary lift was instead installed within the museum's Turbine Hall, providing staff and visitors with access to the three exhibition levels. Alimak Hek engineered and modified the lift for internal use, fitting long sloping ramps to each landing platform to improve wheelchair access. Given the confined space of the museum, Alimak enlisted the help of a mini-crane during the installation and dismantling process.

While the temporary lift was originally intended to provide staff with a means of transporting exhibition materials and aiding safe wheelchair access, it fast became a featured attraction at the museum with visitors requesting a 'ride' in the construction lift. Given the museum's dedication to finding new ways to engage audiences with contemporary technology, the interactive experience of the rack and pinion lift proved the perfect fit. "A number of our visitors commented about the additional experience of coming to the museum and being able to ride in a builder's hoist. So from our point of view, it was a win/win all round," asserted museum representative Keith Edwards.

The Alimak temporary lift remained in use at the museum for six weeks during the revitalization and rebuild, providing reliable temporary access to the museum's three levels. Used primarily by museum staff to transport materials between exhibition floors, the lift also became a favorite attraction among visitors and a featured interactive technology exhibit. The temporary Alimak lift was dismantled and removed from the museum upon the completion and reopening of the museum's own internal lift. As one museum representative affirmed, "We wish we could keep it, as a piece of industrial design, art and science in motion."

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