We have a Canberra office at 15 Moore Street in the city, and work across the ACT and surrounding region. We advise government and institutional property teams, owners corporations, building owners and facility managers on vertical transportation. We do not sell, install or maintain lifts, and we take no commission from anyone who does.
Our Canberra office15 Moore Street, Canberra ACT 2601
What we do for Canberra buildings
The services owners and managers ask for most often are maintenance auditing, reviewing a contract or quotation before it is signed, and advice on whether to modernise or replace. The full range:
- Maintenance auditing and mandatory inspections
- Witness testing and commissioning
- Due diligence and capital planning
- Modernisation and full replacement
- Tendering and contract negotiation
- Project management
- Insurance claim management
- Peer review
- Feasibility studies
- Portfolio management
- WHS compliance
- Reporting
What we see in Canberra buildings
A property market shaped by government
A large share of Canberra’s building stock is owned by, leased to, or built for government. That changes how decisions get made. Procurement runs through probity requirements and panel arrangements, tender processes have to withstand scrutiny, and the documentation that supports a decision matters as much as the decision itself. An independent scope and an independent assessment are not a nicety in that environment — they are how the file stands up later.
Mid-rise rather than high-rise
Building height limits mean Canberra has comparatively little tower stock and a great deal of mid-rise. That sounds like a simpler problem and often is not: a six or eight level building with two lifts has very little redundancy, so a single unit out of service affects the whole building immediately. Availability matters more than raw capacity here.
The widest temperature range of any capital
Canberra swings from hard frosts to sustained high thirties. Unheated machine rooms, rooftop plant and shafts with significant glazing all see conditions that coastal capitals do not, and that shows up in hydraulic oil viscosity, in electronics, and in how door equipment behaves through a cold morning. It is worth factoring into both maintenance and replacement planning.
A newer residential wave arriving together
The mid-rise residential built through Gungahlin, Belconnen, Woden and the city over the last fifteen years is now reaching its first meaningful equipment decisions, and the owners corporations making them are generally doing it for the first time.
Sectors we work across
Residential and strata-titled towers, commercial office buildings, hotels and short-stay accommodation, retail centres, healthcare and aged care, education, government and local council property, and industrial facilities. The equipment differs, the commercial questions rarely do.
What independence actually means
Plenty of firms describe themselves as independent. It is worth being precise about what it means here, because the word is doing real work.
We do not sell lifts. We do not install them. We do not maintain them. We hold no agency, distributorship or referral arrangement with any manufacturer or maintenance contractor, and we take no commission, rebate or finder’s fee from anyone who does. There is no version of a recommendation from us that earns us money somewhere else.
That matters most at exactly the moments it is hardest to tell — when you are handed an upgrade proposal, when a contractor says a component is beyond repair, or when a maintenance agreement is put in front of you to sign. Our answer costs us nothing either way.
Who actually does the work
Advice is only as good as the person giving it, so it is worth knowing who is behind ours. Our team holds qualifications across both the electrical and mechanical sides of vertical transportation:
- Sidney Bastos — Managing Director. BBA and Licensed Electrical Contractor.
- Tony Berry — Director. Licensed Design Practitioner (DPVT).
- Stephen McIlroy — Mechanical Engineer, RPEQ.
- David Moors — Electrical Engineer.
- Hong Liang — Chartered Engineer, CEng FCIBSE.
- Nancy Li Liang — BEng, MBA.
You can see the full team and their backgrounds.
Accreditations and memberships
The Lift Consultancy is CM3 prequalified and Australian Owned Certified, and holds membership or accreditation with:
- Australian Elevator Association
- Lift Engineering Society of Australia
- Engineers Australia
- International Association of Elevator Engineers
- Smart Strata
- PICA Group Community Select
- Rapid Global
Common questions from Canberra owners and managers
Do you work on government and institutional property?
Yes. Commonwealth, Territory and institutional buildings are a substantial part of our Canberra work, including projects where the documentation has to survive a procurement or audit review.
Can you write a specification we can put out to tender?
Yes. Producing a scope that lets competing contractors price the same thing is one of the most useful things we do, and it is the difference between a real tender and a single price with company.
Our building has only two lifts. Does that change your advice?
It changes the emphasis considerably. With low redundancy, availability and response times matter more than they would in a tower with six cars, and the maintenance agreement should reflect that.
Do you attend site in Canberra or fly someone in?
We have a Canberra office. Where a particular specialisation is needed we will tell you who is attending and from where before you commit.
Does cold weather actually affect lifts?
It can. Hydraulic oil viscosity, electronics in unheated machine rooms and door operation on cold mornings are all sensitive to sustained low temperatures, and Canberra sees more of them than any other capital.
Are you connected to any lift company?
No. We do not sell, install or maintain lifts, we hold no supplier arrangement, and we take no commission from anyone who does.
Choosing a consultant
If you are weighing up more than one firm, we have written a plain guide to what to look for and what to ask — including the questions that separate genuine independence from the word on a website. It applies whoever you end up engaging, including if that is not us.
How to choose a lift consultant
Talk to us
Tell us what is happening with your lifts and we will point you at the right consultant. There is no charge for the initial conversation, and if you do not need us we will say so.
(07) 5509 0100 · admin@theliftc.com · Contact us
Our officesGold Coast · Sydney · Melbourne · Perth · Auckland
We also travel toBrisbane, Sunshine Coast, Newcastle, Adelaide, Hobart, Darwin, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Pacific Islands — and elsewhere on request. See where we work.