Lesson 2 of 3Lift types and sizes
Lift sizes and dimensions.
A lift is planned around a handful of dimensions: the car, the doors, the shaft, the pit and the headroom. Here is what each one measures, the minimums for accessible lifts and the kind of figures you will find in a manufacturer’s planning guide.
The key dimensions.
Every lift is designed around a few key dimensions. In a new building, the design team leaves space for them. In an existing building, they decide which lift will fit.
Each number on the drawing matches a dimension in the list. Select a number or a dimension to see what it measures and why it matters.
Car size
The car’s internal width and depth, measured between its walls. The car must have the space and strength for the maximum number of persons and the rated load it is designed for. In buildings other than dwellings in England, Approved Document M sets a minimum of 1100 mm wide by 1400 mm deep, which takes a wheelchair user with a companion.
Door opening
The clear width of the opening when the doors are fully open. Approved Document M expects power-operated sliding doors with an effective clear width of at least 800 mm. Wider doors make it easier to move wheelchairs, trolleys and furniture, but they can need a wider shaft: in KONE’s range, a 900 mm door on a 1100 by 1400 mm car needs a shaft 1600 mm wide instead of 1570 mm.
Shaft width
The clear width of the shaft between its finished inside faces. As well as the car, it has to fit the guide rails, the door gear, running clearances and, on many lifts, a counterweight beside the car. The size has to hold over the full height of the shaft: KONE says its shaft sizes include a tolerance of ±25 mm over the total shaft height.
Shaft depth
The clear depth from the back wall of the shaft to the inside face of the wall with the landing doors. It has to fit the car, the car and landing doors at the front and the clearances behind. A car with doors on two opposite sides, called a through car, needs a deeper shaft: in KONE’s range, 1930 mm instead of 1750 mm for a 1100 by 1400 mm car.
Travel
The travel is the vertical distance between the lowest and the highest landing floors the lift serves. With the number of stops and the rated speed, it decides how long journeys take. It also narrows the choice of lift, because every manufacturer’s range has a maximum travel.
Pit depth
The depth of the pit from the lowest landing floor level down to the pit floor. The pit holds the buffers and leaves a refuge space under the car when it is at its lowest point. KONE’s guide gives 1100 mm for its machine room-less lifts at up to 1 m/s, or 1400 mm where the counterweight needs safety gear. The pit must be kept dry and clear.
Car height
The clear height inside the car, from the floor to the ceiling. KONE’s MonoSpace 4 DX range offers cars from 2100 mm to 2400 mm high. A taller car needs more headroom, because the headroom has to fit the whole car as well as the space above it.
Headroom
The height from the top landing floor level to the underside of the shaft ceiling. It has to fit the car, the equipment on its roof and a refuge space above it, and on a machine room-less lift it often holds the machine too. KONE’s guide gives the car height plus 1220 mm to 1380 mm for its lifts at up to 1 m/s, depending on the ceiling, so a 2200 mm high car with a standard ceiling needs 3500 mm.
The figures in this lesson come from Approved Document M, the Lifts Regulations 2016 and, as one example of a manufacturer’s planning data, KONE’s guide to its MonoSpace 4 DX machine room-less lifts. Other manufacturers’ figures differ.
Car sizes for accessible lifts.
In buildings other than dwellings in England, Approved Document M sets the minimum size of a passenger lift car so that disabled people can use it. The minimum car is 1100 mm wide by 1400 mm deep, which takes a wheelchair user with a companion. A car 2000 mm wide by 1400 mm deep takes any type of wheelchair together with several other passengers, and lets a wheelchair user or a person with a walking frame turn round.
Minimum car: 1100 × 1400 mm
Larger car: 2000 × 1400 mm
Describe these diagrams
The first plan shows the minimum car, 1100 mm wide by 1400 mm deep, which takes a wheelchair user with a companion. The second shows a car 2000 mm wide by 1400 mm deep, which takes any type of wheelchair with several other passengers and lets a wheelchair user turn round. Both have a door opening at least 800 mm wide.
For passenger lifts, Approved Document M also expects:
- Power-operated sliding doors with an effective clear width of at least 800 mm.
- A mirror in any car too small for a wheelchair user to turn round in, so they can see the space behind them.
- Car controls between 900 mm and 1200 mm above the car floor, preferably 1100 mm, and at least 400 mm from any return wall.
- Landing call buttons between 900 mm and 1100 mm above the landing floor, and at least 500 mm from any return wall.
- A clear space of 1500 mm by 1500 mm, or a straight access route 900 mm wide, in front of the lift at each landing.
Where a lift serves only two levels, Approved Document M says the car may have doors on opposite sides, so a wheelchair user can leave without reversing out. Our passenger lifts page explains how we look after passenger lifts.
Platform lift sizes
Platform lifts have their own minimum sizes in Approved Document M. They depend on whether the platform is enclosed and whether a wheelchair user travels alone.
| Platform | Minimum size, width × depth |
|---|---|
| Not enclosed, for a wheelchair user travelling alone | 800 × 1250 mm |
| Enclosed, for a wheelchair user travelling alone | 900 × 1400 mm |
| Enclosed with two doors at 90° to each other, or for a wheelchair user with a companion | 1100 × 1400 mm |
The doors need an effective clear width of at least 900 mm on the largest platform and at least 800 mm on the others. Our platform lifts page covers the platform, step and through-floor lifts we maintain.
Rated load and passengers.
Every passenger lift car built to the Lifts Regulations 2016 carries a plate showing its rated load in kilograms and the maximum number of passengers. The car must offer the space and strength for both, and the lift must be designed so that it does not start normally if the rated load is exceeded. That is why an overloaded lift signals and waits until someone steps out.
Car size and rated load go together. To stop a car being overloaded by people, BS EN 81-20, the main standard for new passenger lifts, limits the floor area of the car for each rated load. That is why lift ranges pair each car size with a rated load and a number of persons: in KONE’s range, a 1100 by 1400 mm car is rated for 8 persons or 630 kg.
A report of thorough examination usually gives the same figure as the safe working load. Our lesson on how to read a LOLER report shows where to find it.
Shaft, pit and headroom.
The shaft has to fit far more than the car. The guide rails, the counterweight, the doors and their gear and the running clearances all take space. The table shows how car size drives shaft size in one manufacturer’s range.
| Persons / rated load | Car | Door opening | Shaft |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 / 630 kg | 1100 × 1400 | 800 | 1570 × 1750 |
| 8 / 630 kg | 1100 × 1400 | 900 | 1600 × 1750 |
| 10 / 800 kg | 1200 × 1500 | 800 or 900 | 1720 × 1835 |
| 13 / 1,000 kg | 1100 × 2100 | 800 | 1600 × 2435 |
| 13 / 1,000 kg | 1400 × 1600 | 900 | 1900 × 1950 |
KONE gives these figures for project planning only. Lifts with glass doors need larger shafts, and other manufacturers’ figures differ, so always design to the drawings for the lift you are buying.
Why the pit and headroom matter
The pit and the headroom are safety spaces as well as room for equipment. Engineers work in the pit and on the car roof, so the law requires a lift to be designed to prevent the risk of crushing when the car is at either end of its travel.
The law
“The lift must be designed and constructed to prevent the risk of crushing when the car is in one of its extreme positions. The objective will be achieved by means of free space or refuge beyond the extreme positions.”
How much space that takes depends on the lift, its speed and its equipment. In KONE’s guide for lifts at up to 1 m/s:
- Pit: 1100 mm deep, or 1400 mm where the counterweight needs safety gear. The guide makes counterweight safety gear mandatory if there is accessible space below the pit, such as a basement.
- Headroom: the car height plus 1220 mm to 1380 mm, depending on the ceiling. A 2200 mm high car with a standard ceiling needs 3500 mm, and some configurations need 400 mm more.
Faster lifts need more of both. At 1.6 to 1.75 m/s, the same guide gives a pit of 1200 mm or 1400 mm and headroom of the car height plus 1420 mm to 1580 mm.
Fitting a lift into an existing building.
In an existing building, the pit and headroom a standard lift needs are not always possible. A deeper pit can mean breaking into foundations or into a basement below, and more headroom can mean raising the roof.
The Lifts Regulations 2016 allow for this. In specific cases, particularly in existing buildings, where free space or refuge is impossible, other appropriate means may be provided to avoid the risk of crushing, and the Secretary of State may give prior approval. BS EN 81-21, the standard for new passenger and goods passenger lifts in existing buildings, sets out alternative measures where the pit or headroom is reduced.
KONE’s guide, for example, lists EN 81-21 options with headroom from the car height plus 500 mm and a 650 mm pit. It tells designers to check whether a national procedure applies and whether prior approval is needed.
Replacing an old lift raises the same questions, because the new lift has to fit the existing shaft. Our lift modernisation page explains how we approach replacements. Where no passenger lift will fit, a platform lift may be an option.
Getting the measurements right.
A lift company needs accurate dimensions before it can quote for a new or replacement lift. If you can, have these ready:
- Drawings of the building, showing the shaft, the floor levels and the heights between floors.
- The number of floors and entrances, and whether the car needs doors on more than one side.
- The existing lift’s details, from the plate in the car and the latest report of thorough examination.
- What the lift has to carry, such as wheelchairs, trolleys, furniture or goods.
The lift company’s surveyor then measures the shaft, pit and headroom, with the lift made safe first. Because the sizes have to hold over the full height of the shaft, they check it at more than one level.
Safety first
Never enter a lift shaft or pit, or open lift doors with a release key, to take measurements. Only trained and authorised people should do this, with the lift made safe first. If you need dimensions, ask your maintenance provider or a lift company to survey the shaft.
Check your understanding.
Three quick questions on this lesson. Choose an answer to check it, or open the answer below each question.
-
Where is a lift’s headroom measured from?
Show the answer
B. The top landing floor level. Headroom runs from the top landing floor level to the underside of the shaft ceiling. It has to fit the car, the equipment on its roof and a safety space above it.
-
What is the smallest passenger lift car Approved Document M sets for buildings other than dwellings?
Show the answer
B. 1100 mm by 1400 mm. The minimum car is 1100 mm wide by 1400 mm deep, which takes a wheelchair user with a companion. A 2000 mm by 1400 mm car also lets a wheelchair user turn round.
-
Why does a lift need free space below the car in the pit?
Show the answer
B. So that someone working there is not crushed when the car is at its lowest point. The Lifts Regulations 2016 require free space or refuge beyond the ends of the car’s travel, so that people working in the pit or on the car roof are not crushed. Nothing should be stored in a pit, and it should stay dry.
Sources.
The primary sources for this lesson. We checked them when the lesson was last updated on 18 October 2026. How we research and check our lessons.
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Related reading
Planning a new or replacement lift?
Talk to an engineer. We can survey your shaft and explain which lifts will fit.
Common questions.
Quick answers to common questions about this topic.
What size is a standard passenger lift?
There is no single standard size. The minimum car Approved Document M sets for buildings other than dwellings in England is 1100 mm wide by 1400 mm deep. In KONE’s MonoSpace 4 DX range, that car is rated for 8 persons or 630 kg and needs a shaft 1570 mm to 1600 mm wide and 1750 mm deep, depending on the door.
How deep is a lift pit?
It depends on the lift, its speed and its equipment, so always use the manufacturer’s figures. KONE’s planning guide for its machine room-less lifts at up to 1 m/s gives a pit of 1100 mm, or 1400 mm where the counterweight needs safety gear. Lifts designed to BS EN 81-21 for existing buildings can have shallower pits, such as 650 mm in the same guide.
How much headroom does a lift need?
Headroom is measured from the top landing floor to the underside of the shaft ceiling. It has to fit the car, the equipment on its roof and a safety space above it. In KONE’s guide for lifts at up to 1 m/s it is the car height plus 1220 mm to 1380 mm, depending on the ceiling, so a 2200 mm high car with a standard ceiling needs 3500 mm.
What is the minimum lift size for a wheelchair user?
In buildings other than dwellings in England, Approved Document M sets a minimum passenger lift car of 1100 mm wide by 1400 mm deep, which takes a wheelchair user with a companion, with doors at least 800 mm wide. A car 2000 mm wide by 1400 mm deep takes any type of wheelchair with several other passengers and lets a wheelchair user turn round.
What does the rated load of a lift mean?
It is the load the lift is designed to carry. A plate in the car shows it in kilograms, with the maximum number of passengers, and the lift must not start normally if it is exceeded. Reports of thorough examination usually call it the safe working load.