Schindler modernized seven elevators in Pittsburgh’s historic Chamber of Commerce Building, an Art Deco building dating back to 1917.
Oxford Development Company Vice President, Jeffrey Bodnar, and one of our very own technicians, Milon Leybovich, shared their thoughts on the elevator industry and the importance of implementing safe yet sustainable vertical transportation solutions in centers of innovation like Pittsburgh.
There are many reasons to consider modernizing your building’s elevators, in addition to the common reasons, such as the age or natural deterioration of your equipment:
Real estate partner Oxford Development Company enlisted Schindler to modernize, and now maintain, the seven elevators in the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce Building, which included installing new regenerative drives and elevator destination dispatch controls via Schindler PORT Technology.
“We are committed to being more sustainable. We have qualified three different times for Energy Star, and one of the ways we got there was the elevator modernization,” explained Bodnar. “We run this equipment all day long. They now have regenerative drives, which put energy back into the grid.”
Milon Leybovich was one of the on-site technicians during the modernization process. One of his favorite projects to be a part of, Leybovich shared how the people involved in upgrading or updating your equipment are just as important as the installation of new solutions and technology.
“We’re really close. It’s definitely a tight-knit group [at Schindler]. For me, that matters—the people. You have to go to work every day and enjoy what you do.”
Leybovich’s family immigrated to New York from Russia. His uncle was an elevator mechanic in the military who started his own elevator company in the 1970s. After the Cold War, Leybovich was always around elevators because that’s what his uncle did, and that’s what his cousins did: “In the back of my head, I always knew this was what I was going to end up doing. I wouldn’t want to do anything else," he shared.
Another way Schindler helped modernize the historic Pittsburgh building was by integrating an elevator destination dispatch interface using a phased modernization approach. Destination dispatching is a deviation from your conventional elevator usage.
Conventionally, a passenger gets on the first available elevator and rides with any other passenger until they each reach their desired floor, stopping any number of times. With destination dispatching, each passenger selects their desired floor, and the elevator system assigns them an elevator to ride based on availability and similar demands throughout the building. The result is fewer stops once you’re on the elevator, and a more efficient traffic flow experience.
While any building can be modernized to include Schindler’s PORT destination dispatching system, some buildings are eligible to benefit from it before the first elevator is even removed from service for the complete modernization project. Eligibility depends on the type of existing equipment, the existing equipment condition, and the current elevator usage.
Through data provided by Schindler’s project-specific traffic study, our team determined that this property would see immediate benefits from Schindler’s destination dispatching. Working with the tenant, our Modernization team collected data on the current useable square footage of the property, how it is being used today, and how they see it being used in the future. We then worked to determine if the benefits afforded by Schindler’s destination interface would enhance their rentable square footage and the experiences of their customers.
With a phased modernization approach, Schindler was able to apply this enhanced user experience technology to the existing dated equipment at the chamber of commerce building before taking the first elevator out of service for complete modernization. By improving the performance of the existing equipment immediately, the tenants saw less disruption to their service when an elevator was removed for modernization.
Not only did Schindler PORT enhance the traffic flow of the Chamber of Commerce Building, it provided enhanced access control as well. With Schindler PORT, floor access can be defined by building management through access cards or smartphones, which significantly enhanced building safety, per Bodnar: “Years ago, you could get in any elevator and go to any floor. Now, you aren’t going anywhere else in the building unless you get security to help.”
Each Schindler PORT has a motion sensor to detect when it is required to be active and at all other times, is placed into a low energy consumption state. The processor, the heart of each Schindler PORT, has the lowest energy consumption in its class.
“Over a certain period of time, we saw a reduction in our energy use reflected in our electric bills, and [the installation of PORT] was the only major thing we had done in the building,” confirmed Bodnar.
Schindler’s modernization solutions are expertly designed to improve your elevator's reliability, safety, performance, and energy efficiency. The best part? Residents or tenants will appreciate the additional comfort and convenience your modernization brings to their lives.