Perhaps the most prevalent parliamentary act to be passed in whole of 1995 was the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). The terms of this article outlined that all public buildings should have to provide suitable access for the millions of disabled people in the United Kingdom.

These long overdue regulations caused shockwaves amongst business owners, architects, facilities managers and designers across the country as the vast majority of buildings had previously been designed with little or no thought to how easy it is for disabled people to access the building. This act shot these thoughts to the very core of the design of any new buildings and it became a huge priority of how to ensure that their buildings are suitably accessible.

Initially this caused many problems as to how best solve these access solutions problems but they soon found a perfect solution to these problems in the form of a Platform Lift. Traditionally Platform Lifts were perceived as being large unsightly monstrosities that have more of a place on a builder's yard than in an exclusive boutique or a 5 star hotel. Usually any building that does install a Platform Lift does so in a concealed corner of the building or in a service area so it can double up as a goods lift.

However the recent revolutions in the design of Platform Lifts have gone a large way to changing this preconception with their contemporary, flexible designs they have made them the most durable and attractive solutions to a solving a buildings access problems. In fact the designs are so attractive that they now feature in the centre in many buildings and assimilate seamlessly into their décor.

As well as being aesthetically pleasing, free standing Platform lifts also comply with the terms of the DDA and more specifically they comply with the terms outlined by the English Heritage Association that prohibit any major changes to the foundations of a listed building to preserve the original architecture. Although these terms can be bypassed if a suitable claim can be approved by town planners, installing a platform lift means that this isn't even needed as the installation does not cause significant changes to the foundation and can reach heights of 13 Meters.

Furthermore, with energy costs continuing to spiral and businesses collapsing at an alarming rate the question of cost is more pressing than ever. Fortunately Platform Lifts are one of the more reasonable disabled access solutions products and the fact that they can reach heights of 13 meters using a single phase power supply

With such prestigious companies such as Empire Casinos, Nottingham Forest F.C, Hugo Boss and HSBC all installing platform lifts recently then it is clear to see that Platform Lifts are on the up.