London’s skyline is set to change as AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets, acting on behalf of its clients, commence the main build of the Twentytwo development on Bishopsgate, scheduled for completion in 2019. Otis, whose founder invented the safety elevator, is the world’s leading manufacturer and maintainer of people-moving products, including elevators, escalators and moving walkways.  Otis is a unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX).

With Lipton Rogers as developer and designed by PLP Architecture, the 59-storey building will use 67 state-of-the-art Otis elevators and escalators, including the fastest SkyRise double-deck elevators in Europe, traveling up to 8 metres per second.

Twentytwo is being built by Multiplex on a prime site just minutes from the new Liverpool Street Crossrail station. At 255 metres (840 feet) tall, it will fill a gap at the center of the City’s eastern cluster of tall buildings.  Once complete, this 1.4 million square foot office will be home to a workforce of approximately 12,000 people.

Otis Limited, the local Otis entity, will install 57 elevators and 10 escalators, including 18 Gen2 elevators, 13 SkyRise single-deck, and 26 SkyRise double-deck elevators combined with the CompassPlus® destination management system.

Lipton Rogers and Multiplex Construction will use three Otis SkyBuild™ self-climbing construction elevators to move people and goods faster and safely allow them to better manage the construction programme for the project. 

“With pressure on London’s infrastructure, combined with population growth, this new building is an intelligent response to the city’s evolving needs,” said Hemant Jolly, vice president and general manager, Otis UK & Ireland. “Otis is proud to support this evolution with our industry-leading technology, products and service.”

The SkyBuild construction elevator is now a standard option in the company’s line of global, fully integrated suite of high-rise solutions – the SkyRise elevator system. Installed at the beginning of a building’s construction, the SkyBuild elevator allows movement of crews and tools quickly and safely – without an external lift or exposure to weather. Its unique hydraulic piston system enables it to quickly climb one floor at a time as the building rises. Once construction is complete, the SkyBuild elevator transitions for service as a SkyRise elevator, Otis’ premier elevator for the world’s tallest buildings.

The Otis Gen2 elevator redefined the elevator industry with breakthrough technology that replaced conventional ropes with flat belts, leading to a more comfortable ride, greater reliability, more efficient operation and increased energy efficiency compared to conventional roped elevators. Since its introduction, Otis has sold more than a half million units making the Gen2 elevator one of the company’s best-selling elevators in its 163-year history.

For more information, visit www.otis.com or follow Otis on LinkedIn, YouTube and as @OtisElevatorCo on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.