Glass Floor Lifts Offer Added Thrill At Sky Tower

Glass Floor Lifts Offer Added Thrill At Sky Tower

From today (Monday 18 October 2004), Sky Tower's three public lifts will all feature the revolutionary glass floor panels that have proved so popular with customers, since the prototype glass floor lift opened in May 2004.

The elevators which take people up to the restaurants and observation decks of the Southern Hemispheres tallest structure, are now all fitted with 38 mm safety glass floor panels which allow passengers to see down into the lift shaft in addition to viewing Auckland city via the front windows of the lift, as they ride up and down the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere.

"The newly refurbished "Dare to Ride" lifts make the 196 metre trip up Sky Tower even more thrilling than before," said Grant Webster, SKYCITY General Manager Attractions and Support Services Auckland.

"We've had queues of people waiting for the lift with the glass floor rather than take an alternative lift so we decided to make it a feature in all our lifts.

"As New Zealand's most visited stand alone tourism attraction (more than 50% of international visitors to the city experience Sky Tower), Sky Tower is continually refreshing its product offerings and this is another example of that," he says.

The glass lift panels take up approximately one third of the total floor space in the lifts. For those a little less daring, the rest of the floor is covered over offering people the option of where they wish to stand.

Noel Moselen, Auckland Service Manager from Schindler Lifts (the company who developed the lifts), says it was a unique engineering feat that took over six months from conception to completion. "We had to totally redesign each lift floor from our head office in Switzerland - I certainly do not know of any other lifts with glass floor features to this extent," he says. Mr Webster explains the lifts are thrilling, but also very safe, and offer another unique level of excitement to the entertainment experience Sky Tower offers customers.

"Should anyone riding the lift feel nervous at any time, they can simply move around the glass floor segment to an area that is 'solid," he says.

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