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April 29, 2014

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City鈥檚 revised design standard set to give senior citizens a lift

ALL new residential buildings over four-stories high will from June be required to have an elevator, the city’s construction authority said yesterday.

In an effort to take better account of the needs of senior citizens, the city government has revised its construction design standard.

Previously, only residential properties over six stories, or 16 meters high, were required to have a lift, the Shanghai Construction Committee said.

“Shanghai has one of the fastest growing elderly populations in China, and older people need elevators in their buildings,” an unnamed official said.

As well as the requirement for newly built properties, local authorities are planning to install elevators in older residential buildings, he said.

In the past, however, the idea of retrofitting lifts was a bone of contention among residents.

People living on low floors didn’t want to pay for something they considered unnecessary, while those on higher floors considered it unfair to have to foot the whole bill themselves.

In response, the city government has launched a trial scheme to install lifts in several buildings whose residents are mostly elderly (over 60).

The selected properties are in Yangpu, Changning, Hongkou, Jing’an and Xuhui districts, and the Pudong New Area.

The amount each person is required to pay is dependent on how high up the building they live.

For example, people in second-floor properties will pay 3,000 yuan (US$480) each, while those on the sixth floor will pay 10,000 yuan.

As well as the lift requirement for new buildings, the revised standard states that all new apartment blocks standing more than 100 meters must have a whole floor set aside as an emergency shelter.

The facility must have a ceiling height of at least 2.2 meters and be fitted with ventilation equipment.

Shanghai’s senior citizen population is set to surpass 6 million by 2025.


 

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