The Union House figures among the more challenging jobs undertaken by Techno Lift, the elevator division of Al Shafar Group of Companies.

Formed through a joint venture between Al Shafar and Mohammed Jalal group, Techno Lift represents Schindler products - comprising elevators, escalators and moving walkways - in Dubai, Sharjah and the Northern Emirates.

Schindler is represented by Techno Lift's sister concern Ojaco Engineering in Abu Dhabi and by Mohammed Jalal and Sons in Bahrain.

"Techno Lift considers the award of the Union House project as a matter of prestige and honour," says a company representative. "We are proud to say that we were able to comply with the project's requirements in terms of providing the elevators of the desired speed, given the complex nature of the work involved with the machine room being located below in the basement. This has been achieved only because of the high degree of technical flexibility offered by Schindler products.''

"Two Schindler passenger elevators with a speed of 2 metres per second as well as one passenger/service elevator, of a similar speed but with reverse openings, are designed to cater to the demanding traffic requirements of this prestigious project,'' he says.

Last year, the company introduced the Schindler Smart MRL (Machine Roomless Elevators) to the UAE market.

The response has been very encouraging and the firm has contracted many orders, says the company representative.

''Techno Lift, backed by the full support of Schindler, is in a position to provide effective solutions to vertical transportation requirements for all types of buildings.

"We provide support to architects, consultants and planners from the planning stage of a project,'' he says. ''We provide traffic calculation for various types of building which help to ascertain the exact type and number of elevators, escalators and passengers conveyors required for the individual projects.''