Platform Lifts
Service & Repair
New Installations
Inspections
OnLevel — New Lifts by Sector
About BASE Lift Services
Independent UK lift specialists, London-based.
BASE Lift Services is an independent UK lift company founded in 2019, managed by a multi-discipline management team and Technical Director with approaching four decades of platform and passenger lift experience. SafeContractor approved (CN8516), independent of any manufacturer, headquartered in central London with 24/7 emergency cover across the M25.
Why does BASE exist?
BASE was founded because lift owners across the UK kept hitting the same wall: traditional vertical-transport contractors did not have the parts knowledge, the diagnostic experience, or — frankly — the patience to look after platform lifts and modest passenger fleets properly. Major contractors are built around volume passenger work. Platform lifts, accessibility units, and goods platforms got pushed to the bottom of every engineer's call list.
Our management team and Technical Director have approaching four decades of combined experience across platform and passenger lift engineering. That depth is the spine of the business. We service the brands the bigger firms quietly walk away from — Aritco, Cibes, Gartec, Kalea, Stannah platform units, and the rest — alongside Otis, Kone, Schindler, ThyssenKrupp, Orona, Mitsubishi and most major UK passenger brands.
Today BASE operates as two specialist engineering teams under one company. One team is platform-led. The other is passenger-trained. Both teams share the same office, the same dispatcher, and the same compliance standards — but the engineering disciplines stay separate, because a platform-lift fault and a 12-storey traction-lift fault need different hands on the spanners.
What makes BASE different
We are independent. BASE is not tied to any lift manufacturer. We hold no exclusive distribution deals and we are not on retainer to push one brand over another. When a client asks "should we replace or modernise?", the answer comes from the survey, not from a sales target. Our modernisation team regularly quotes works that save a client a full replacement — because honest scope wins repeat business and repeated specifications. We service every major platform and passenger brand in the UK; the brands index lists each one with parts coverage and lead times.
We write down what we will do. Every quote from BASE specifies the actual scope of works, the parts, and the price. There are no "subject to inspection" addenda that triple the invoice three weeks in. If we find something on site that wasn't on the quote, we stop, photograph it, send it to the client, and wait for written approval before billing additional time. That posture is unusual in this trade, and it is the single biggest reason facilities managers move their portfolios to us.
Our engineers are ours. BASE does not run subcontract labour for first-line maintenance or repair work. The engineer who arrives on your site is on our payroll, holds the relevant NVQ Level 4 in Lift Engineering, and is a Competent Person under LOLER. That matters because a Competent Person is the only individual legally allowed to sign a Report of Thorough Examination — and you want the same eyes on the unit each visit, not a stranger from a labour agency.
What we hold, and what it means
Lift work is regulated. These are the credentials that let us legally carry out maintenance, examination, and certification — and the standards we work to on every job.
Accreditation
SafeContractor approved
BASE Lift Services holds SafeContractor approval under registration CN8516. SafeContractor is an SSIP-recognised health, safety and environmental pre-qualification, audited annually. Most UK property managers and main contractors require SSIP membership before they will even survey a contractor.
Engineering qualifications
NVQ Level 4 in Lift Engineering
Our service engineers hold the NVQ Level 4 (or equivalent industry qualification) in lift engineering, the recognised UK standard for competent lift maintenance and repair. Apprentices work under a qualified engineer until they qualify in their own right.
Statutory examination
Competent Person for LOLER
BASE engineers carry Competent Person status under the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER), the qualification required to carry out a Thorough Examination and sign the resulting Report. See our LOLER inspection service for the schedule.
Standards we work to
BS EN 81 series + PUWER 1998
Passenger lift work follows BS EN 81-20 / 81-50 (current installation standard) and BS EN 81-80 (safety norms for existing lifts). Platform lifts follow BS EN 81-41. All work conforms to PUWER 1998 for work-equipment safety. Full standards detail in our compliance reference.
Where we work
BASE is headquartered at 85 Great Portland Street, London, W1W 7LT, in central London. From this base, our engineers cover the M25 same-day for both planned maintenance and 24/7 emergency call-out. Outside the M25, we work UK-wide through a regionally distributed engineer network — the same engineers, the same dispatcher, the same compliance standards.
Major cities served regularly include Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cardiff, Belfast, and Southampton. Service contracts in these regions are scheduled around a named engineer's territory so the unit gets the same hands on it visit-to-visit. Detail of our nationwide coverage and response posture is on the London locations page.
In the words of the people we work for
Their quote was the only one that read like a scope of works rather than a brochure. We knew exactly what was being replaced before we signed.
Facilities Manager
Mixed-use commercial portfolio, central London
We had been told the lift needed a full replacement. BASE surveyed it, recommended a controller upgrade and gate refurbishment, and saved us about two-thirds of the cost.
Property Director
Grade II listed office building, Westminster
The same engineer turns up every visit. He knows the unit, he knows our building, and he knows when to escalate. That continuity is what we were paying for and never getting.
Care Home Estates Lead
Multi-site healthcare operator, South-East England
Written contracts. Real engineers. Honest scope.
The lift industry has a reputation problem. Hidden charges, unqualified subcontractors, and "you need a new lift" sales conversations are the reason this trade gets complained about. BASE was founded to be the version of the trade that we, as engineers, would want to call ourselves.
If you want a maintenance contract priced like a maintenance contract — fixed, written, no surprises — talk to us. If you want a survey that tells you the truth about the unit, even when the truth is "this one is fine for another five years, here is what to budget", talk to us. Read about our maintenance contracts, our repair response, or get in touch via the contact page.
Tell us about your lift. We'll tell you what it needs.
Whether it's a single platform lift in a care home, a mid-rise office block of passenger lifts due for modernisation, or an emergency call-out tonight — start with a phone call or a survey request. No automated triage, no call-centre script. A senior engineer reviews every enquiry.
Or email enquiries@baselifts.co.uk