Construction hoists are essential equipment in tall building construction for the vertical transportation of construction resources. Recent increases in the construction of irregularly shaped tall buildings have created demand for a more efficient hoist operation system. Lately, construction hoists have become more sophisticated simplifying processes in manufacturing, mining, infrastructure, automotive and construction industries. An array of industries requires heavy loads to be lifted or lowered in various processes.

A material hoist is specifically designed to move heavier objects up and down in an industrial setting or on a construction site. In addition to this, you can also use a material hoist to load supplies, tools, and equipment on top of your building with the use of a crane. If the hoist isn't that powerful, you may find it easier to use forklifts instead. However, a material hoist lifts heavier objects and provides a secure way to carry out these tasks.

Hoists differ from cranes in that cranes move items vertically and horizontally. Hoists differ from lifts in that they are generally used for industrial purposes and are not publicly accessible. Winches are typically used to pull or drag items along level surfaces, rather than lifting them vertically. There are three types of hoists – mobile hoists, passenger hoists and small package hoists.

Mobile hoists are commonly found on construction sites, and are capable of lifting material loads to heights of up to 30 m. They are designed to be dismantled, folded onto the chassis and moved to another location with relative ease, either under their own power or towed by a haulage vehicle.

Passenger hoists are designed to lift passengers, although they can also be used for materials as long as the weight is kept within the loading capacity. The type of hoist can vary from a single cage with rope suspension to twin cages with rack and pinion operation mounted on two sides of a static tower. They are usually controlled from within the cage, and there must be additional safety devices to prevent over-run or free-fall. A typical passenger hoist cage is 2.7 m high and capable of carrying 12 passengers at a total weight of 1,000 kg. Typical speeds are 40-100 m/min. The hoist tower is generally assembled from 1.5 m-long sections and tied at 12 m centres to the face of the structure.

Small hoists consisting of a small lifting arm, simple electric motor and wire rope can be bolted to a structure or to scaffolding and used for light-lifting operations of around 500 kg.

With 27,225 lb. of lifting capacity and almost triple the floor area of other large hoists, Alimak Hek’s Mammoth Triplex is the world’s largest construction hoist. It was recently used in construction of the New York University Langone Kimmel Pavilion hospital in New York City, a US$1.2-billion expansion project scheduled for completion in 2018. Due to limited space at the site of the 21-storey, 83,000 -sq.-ft. facility, there was very little room for a tower crane, so alternate sides of the Mammoth Triplex’s mast sections were outfitted to accommodate two high-speed Alimak Scando 650 FC-S hoists for personnel. The system also had an Alimak Scando TM 60/55 FC hoist for personnel and materials.

Alimak Scando 650 FC-S is one of the world’s fastest hoists, with speeds of up to 300 fpm, increasing efficiency by allowing hundreds of workers to access different floors at various times. The system was outfitted with safety equipment, including overload sensors, self-greasing reservoirs and the Alimak Hek A3 online monitoring system to troubleshoot potential problems.

Soaring demand

With the high-rise construction is catching up momentum in the country, the Indian construction industry is gradually moving towards the next level of technology which has necessitated the use of new and improved construction equipment to meet the demand of safe and quality construction. Construction hoists as a medium to move material and men to heights at high rise construction sites, have seen slow growth in the past few years. However, the growth is going to catch up momentum with more structures growing taller with many high-rise building (residential and commercial) coming up.

Says Munish Taneja, President, Equipment Hiring Business, Indiabulls Store One, “Indiabulls Store One is a major player in the rental of construction hoists. We are offering rentals of passenger hoist, material hoist and mast climbing platform. We are seeing huge demand for construction hoist from all across India. Earlier demand was restricted to tier I cities, but now tier II and tier III cities are also having demand of construction hoist on rentals. In next 3 to 5 years, we expect construction hoist demand to grow by 20-25 per cent.”

He added, “Key growth drivers of construction hoist are faster execution of project, higher productivity of the labour employed, safety of the man and material deployed at site and more high-rise building being constructed. Apart from this rental rates of construction hoist have dropped in last couple of years, which has helped to feel the demand, as it is economical for the contractors. Indiabulls Store One also offers construction hoists on long-term lease, which is even better than short-term rentals.”

PV Ramdev, Managing Director, Everest Engineering Equipment, said, “Construction hoist, popularly known as Passenger and Material (PM) Hoist, is used for transporting men and materials during high-rise construction vertically to heights up to 821 m - Burz Al Khalifa at Dubai is currently the tallest tower in the world and there are reports that Bechtel has been awarded an ambitious contract by Saudi Arabia to design a still taller tower. PM hoists are also used for other high rise applications like chimneys, shafts, cooling towers, nuclear and thermal power plants, pylons for suspended rope bridges and others. Similarly, India is also on a rapid path to high-rise construction and PM hoists are extensively used in our country.”

GJJ Construction hoists are designed for 550 m height as standard with a speed of 46, 63, 96 and 120 m/min. Higher than 550 m height are also supplied according to specific building requirements. Therefore, GJJ adopts the highest safety standards and is proven all over the world.

During the recently-concluded Excon exhibition in Bengaluru, Everest Engineering Equipment displayed passenger hoist, which comes with a 3.6 m extra-long cage, wherein customers carry 10ft to 12ft length of marbles, granites, plywood, etc. He added, “This hoist can carry 27 people also with a speed of 46 m per minute, which is the lowest speed. With this, about Rs4 to 5 lakh worth of electricity can be saved by a customer every year. This hoist can carry full load with the same speed gives high power savings. The average life span of this hoist is 25 years. The mast sections are made of ST 52 material so that the wall tie supports are required with the building at an interval of 9 to 10.5 m distance. Rental companies are opting for this particular machine because they need the hoist with reliability and longer life.”

 “GJJ standard passenger hoists can go up to a height of 500m. Nobody can offer a standard hoist that can go up to 500 m. The market for this product keeps on increasing. This year, we will be able to get at least 30 per cent increase, and next year, we would like to grow even further. The market is growing,” said PV Ramdev.

According to Samket K Dhami of Access Platform Equipments, “In India, the demand for construction hoist is gradually increasing year on year. In real estate, it can be estimated that every under construction high rise tower, 70 m or above is equipped with at least a construction hoist.”

In India, construction hoists have become very popular in the past decade. They are usually used for high-rise towers of height 70 m or more undergoing construction or renovation. Technology has improved and become affordable according to Dami as he adds, "Thanks to the availability of the technology at affordable prices compared to traditional technology of lifting manpower and material. There is a maximum requirement of hoists with a load carrying capacity of 1.4 tonne to 2 tonne and cage sizes which are 3.2 m in length and 1.5 m wide.”

Taneja elaborates on the demand trend, "Growth in new and retrofit infrastructure after the recession has boosted the construction industry heavily. With new development plans and projects, use of construction equipment is also growing. Mining industry has led the hoist market with a substantial growth rate and is expected to drive the hoist market growth during the projected years. Mining hoists are responsible for conveying, manoeuvring and transporting ore materials through mine shaft and among machinery parts.”

Safety first

Safety should become an inbuilt system. According to Dhami, safety at height is a mandate and no longer a luxury for manpower at site.

Taneja says, “Safety is paramount in construction equipment and their users. Following the international trend of according utmost importance to safety consciousness, Indian companies have also signed the UN mandate of zero reportable fatal accident and publish their safety statistics in their balance sheets.”

Dhami elaborates on the safety features associated with his product range, “There are multiple layers of safety features installed on a construction hoist. Some of the most basic safety features on our Scanclimber products are emergency manual lowering in case of power cut, cage overload warning in case of excess people in the elevator, exclusive speed-sensing safety brake which engages in case of rack and pinion motor failure and infrared sensors to avoid collision with unforeseen objects or projections.”

For economical low rise towers/projects, APEL has been offering transport platforms from Scanclimber. “The demand for the product is slow but we believe it to take place in the next couple of years," says Dhami. He adds, “To increase productivity but retain affordability for customers with project completion deadlines, we have been offering the twin-cage configurations, which cater to a larger team of manpower on the same installation of the single cage construction hoist.”

Following the international trend of according utmost importance to safety consciousness lead by DuPont and others many reputed Indian companies like L&T, HCC, etc. have also signed the UN mandate of Zero reportable fatal accident and publish their safety statistics in their balance sheets.

Promising outlook

With more high-rise structures and special structures on the rise, the market for construction hoists is expected to pick up. However, an unstable outlook of real estate sector is a concern for the pickup of construction hoists market. "Real estate sector is the most important stake holder controlling the demand of construction hoists. Proportionally, the market for construction hoist is slow," Dhami observes.

Going forward, construction hoists will have a greater role to play in terms of safe and productive movement of men and materials to newer heights. However, this will be only powered with the help of proper safety regulations and the user market following these norms regularly.