In an increasingly diverse world, access to every space and equal opportunity for everyone matters more than ever. Taking people’s physical abilities into account has driven the development of new technologies for the home, and among them the wheelchair lift , or platform lift, has become an essential element of accessibility across all kinds of environments — from private homes to commercial buildings and public spaces.
A wheelchair lift — commonly known as a platform lift or a wheelchair platform lift — is a lift designed to help wheelchair users travel between different floor levels so they can reach every part of a building. Wheelchair lifts are widely installed in homes, shopping malls and public buildings alike.
Today many venues, such as large shopping malls, have installed wheelchair lifts specifically to serve wheelchair users. That is a welcome sign that society is paying attention to people with disabilities and older adults, who are part of that society and have every right to these facilities on equal terms with everyone else. In this article, let’s look at how the Cibes Lift wheelchair lift began, how it works, what sizes are available, and which models suit wheelchair users best.
1. Where Wheelchair Access and Home Lifts Began
Cibes Lift was founded in 1947 to answer users’ need for access to every space without limits, so that people around the world could enjoy a better quality of life. The Cibes Lift wheelchair lift is meticulously designed to make movement easier for wheelchair users, whether they live with a disability or are simply getting older. These lifts give people with disabilities access to different floor levels, and they reduce the risk that stairs pose to older adults and expectant mothers.
Wheelchair lifts must be designed in line with each country’s laws, as set out in the accessibility standards for people with disabilities and older adults. These standards are usually overseen by national authorities to ensure that a lift not only makes spaces easier to reach but is also safe to use. The authorities specify everything from the platform size (the usable cabin area inside the lift) to the door entrance width, so that a wheelchair has enough room to get in and out.
2. How a Wheelchair Platform Lift Works
The Cibes Lift platform lift, or wheelchair lift, does everything other types of lift can do. The difference is that installing a Cibes lift does not require complicated structural changes to your home or building, and the lift is engineered so that long-term care and maintenance stay straightforward.
3 Key Features of the Cibes Wheelchair Lift
- It uses screw-drive technology for vertical travel, so you lose no space at the top of the house or building to a machine room
- It needs a pit of only 50-70 mm, so installation means simply recessing the floor
- It comes with a ready-made lift shaft, so there is no need to build a room for the lift — what is often called constructing a shaft or a concrete shaft
Thanks to this distinctive design innovation from Cibes Lift, the lift can be installed quickly, in just 2-3 days.
The Cibes Lift Wheelchair Lift Works With 3 Main Components
- The lift with its screw-drive mechanism
- A platform with solid sides, fixed to the lift and travelling vertically to move up and down
- Control buttons for operation
3. Wheelchair Lift Sizes and Door Entrance Width
Two things determine how usable and how safe a wheelchair lift is: the size of the platform and the width of the door entrance. These dimensions are measured and designed with care to give wheelchair users the greatest possible comfort and safety.
The cabin area of a wheelchair lift has to be wide enough to hold a wheelchair and its user comfortably. Dimensions vary from model to model, but for home use the recommended size is at least 1,000 x 1,267 mm (width x depth) because homes can be tight on space. Public lifts, on the other hand, need a larger cabin, typically 1,000 x 1,467 mm (width x depth), because public buildings such as shopping malls, hospitals and offices are held to stricter safety rules and demand more manoeuvring room for wheelchair users.
Door entrance width is another key consideration, so that a wheelchair can get in and out easily. For a home lift, the recommended door width is around 800 mm, while a public lift — which has to accommodate a wider range of users — may need an entrance as wide as 900 mm.
4. Which Cibes Lift Wheelchair Lift Do We Recommend?
Over more than 79 years, Cibes Lift has designed many models for wheelchair users. The one we recommend today is the Cibes Cloud Plus.
Cibes Cloud Plus: Our Newest Lift From Sweden
A platform lift with clean, luxurious design, engineered to meet both legal requirements and aesthetics (aesthetic design). The Cibes Cloud Plus is a perfect example of Scandinavian design, bringing function, beauty and a coherent palette together, so the lift sits just as naturally in a private home as in a public building.
Highlights of the Cibes Cloud Plus
- Available in 20 different lift sizes
- Panoramic design option with 360-degree glass all round
- 7 standard shaft colours to choose from: Signal White, Oyster White, Grey, Graphite Black, Green, Azure Blue and Orange
- Easy-to-use floor buttons on the control panel
- Built-in LED ceiling
- Energy-saving features
The wheelchair lift designed by Cibes Lift is lift technology built around easy installation, real-world practicality, safety and reliability, giving wheelchair users comfortable access to every space. All of this is proof of Cibes Lift’s commitment and its leadership in new innovation, designing lifts with every user in mind, equally.
