Lifts and Escalators in Singapore: Design and Safety Rules

Vertical transport is one of the few building systems that people trust with their bodies many times a day. Lifts and escalators must move people efficiently, fit within the structure, work with the fire strategy and stay safe for decades of heavy use. Achieving that depends on good design at the start and disciplined maintenance throughout the building’s life.

This article explains how lifts and escalators are planned and integrated into a building, the main safety principles, and the Singapore regulatory framework, which changed in October 2025 when BCA brought lifts, escalators and mechanised car parking systems under a new fixed installations regime.

Planning vertical transport

Design begins with people flows. For lifts, a traffic analysis estimates how many people must be moved at peak times, such as the morning arrival in an office or the evening return in a residential tower, and tests combinations of number, capacity and speed against target waiting and journey times. Tall buildings may divide lifts into zones serving different floor bands, use sky lobbies or double-deck cars, and separate passenger, service and fire lifts.

For escalators, planners look at the peak flow between levels, the arrangement of up and down units, landing space and how escalators lead people through the building. In retail and transport buildings, escalators also shape circulation patterns and sightlines, so they are an architectural decision as much as a mechanical one. Both lifts and escalators must also serve people with disabilities, which affects car sizes, controls, signage and the provision of accessible lifts where escalators are the main vertical route.

The choice of system follows. Our guides to the types of lifts, the hydraulic elevator and the escalator cover the options and their characteristics.

Integration with the structure

Lifts and escalators impose specific, concentrated loads that the building must be designed to carry. Lift shafts need pits at the bottom for buffers and equipment, and headroom at the top. Traction lifts deliver rope and machine loads to the top of the shaft or the machine room floor; machine-room-less lifts hang their machines on shaft walls or beams; hydraulic lifts concentrate load on the pit floor. Guide rail brackets transfer lateral forces into the shaft walls along their height, and shafts must be built within tight tolerances of verticality and dimension.

Escalators span between floors on a steel truss resting on support points at each landing, with a pit at the lower end and sometimes intermediate supports for long rises. The floor openings they pass through interrupt slabs and beams and need trimming members designed for the loads around the void. In existing buildings, adding a lift or escalator involves new openings, pits and possibly new foundations, which is an addition and alteration requiring structural design and approval. These issues are easiest to solve early, when the structural grid and core layout can still accommodate them.

Fire safety and lifts and escalators

The SCDF Fire Code 2023 sets several requirements that shape vertical transport design. Under clause 6.6, buildings above certain heights must provide fire lifts with protected shafts, protected lobbies adjacent to exit staircases, exclusive electrical sub-main circuits and standby generator supply, and a fire lift switch at the designated floor. When the fire alarm activates, all lifts in the building must return to the designated floor, usually the first storey, and on a power failure lifts must switch to the standby supply and home.

Escalators create openings between floors that would otherwise be separate fire compartments, and the fire strategy must address them through measures such as sprinklers, smoke control, shutters or treating connected floors as an atrium. Lift shafts themselves are protected shafts, and lift landing doors play a role in maintaining fire separation between floors. Our article on fire protection for structures covers compartmentation in more depth.

Safety devices and design standards

Lifts are protected by layered safety systems: overspeed governors and safety gear that grip the guide rails, buffers in the pit, door interlocks that prevent the car moving with doors open, door edge sensors, protection against unintended car movement, overload detection, emergency lighting and two-way communication in the car, and automatic rescue devices that bring the car to a floor in a power failure. Escalators have emergency stops, comb plate and skirt switches, handrail monitoring, missing step detection, overspeed and reversal protection, and controlled braking.

In Singapore, SS 550 is the code of practice for the installation, operation and maintenance of electric passenger and goods lifts, and SS 626 covers escalators and moving walks. BCA has adopted SS 626:2024 as an acceptable solution under the new regulations, with a transition from the 2017 edition. Design work for lifts and escalators requiring approval is carried out and certified by suitably qualified professionals, typically Professional Engineers with the relevant specialist registration.

The BCA regime for lifts and escalators

Since 1 October 2025, lifts, escalators and mechanised car parking systems in Singapore have been regulated as fixed installations under the Building Control Act and the Building Control (Fixed Installations) Regulations 2025, together with the Building Control (Reportable Matters) Regulations 2025 and an order defining exempt installations. These replaced the previous lift and escalator regulations under the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act. The key duties are:

Permit to Operate — owners must hold a valid permit before operating a lift, escalator or mechanised car parking system, applied for and renewed through BCA’s online portal.
Registered contractors — owners should engage BCA-registered fixed installation works contractors for installation and major works, and registered service contractors for maintenance and testing. Persons carrying out the work must also be registered with BCA.
Maintenance — at the frequency prescribed in the regulations, which for most lifts and for escalators is at least monthly, unless the manufacturer specifies more frequent servicing or an approved alternative applies.
Annual inspection and testing — every year, in the presence of an independent Specialist Professional Engineer or inspector, before the permit is renewed.
Major alteration or replacement — the owner notifies BCA and obtains plan approval where required; the work is carried out by a registered works contractor under a supervising Qualified Person who certifies the installation as fit for operation before a new permit is sought. The existing permit ceases when such works begin.
Reporting — reportable safety incidents must be reported to BCA within hours, and safety risks related to products within a defined period.

Lifts in private homes fall within the same framework, with maintenance frequencies and exemptions defined in the regulations and the exemption order, so homeowners should confirm the current position with their contractor or BCA. Our article on the home lift in Singapore covers the practical side of adding a lift to a house.

Living with lifts and escalators

Most of what keeps lifts and escalators safe happens out of sight: monthly servicing, annual testing, prompt repair of faults and timely modernisation of ageing equipment. Owners and managing agents should keep maintenance records, follow up on contractor recommendations, display permits as required, and treat repeated breakdowns as a sign that components or controllers may be reaching the end of their life. Modernisation, such as replacing controllers, machines or doors, can bring older installations closer to current safety standards, but major works trigger the approval and recertification process, so they should be planned with the building’s engineers.

Frequently asked questions

Which law regulates lifts and escalators in Singapore?

Since 1 October 2025, lifts and escalators have been regulated as fixed installations under the Building Control Act and the Building Control (Fixed Installations) Regulations 2025, administered by BCA. These replaced the earlier lift and escalator regulations made under the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act.

What is a Permit to Operate?

It is the BCA permit an owner must hold before operating a lift, escalator or mechanised car parking system. It is renewed after the installation has been examined, inspected and tested, with an independent specialist present, and it ceases if the installation undergoes major alteration or replacement.

How often must lifts and escalators be maintained?

The regulations prescribe the frequency. For most lifts and for escalators it is at least monthly, unless the manufacturer requires more frequent servicing or an approved alternative such as remote monitoring applies. Annual inspection and testing is required in addition to routine maintenance.

Why do all lifts go to the ground floor in a fire alarm?

The SCDF Fire Code requires lifts to return to a designated floor, usually the first storey, when the fire alarm activates. This prevents occupants being carried to a fire floor or trapped, and leaves the lifts available for firefighters, who use dedicated fire lifts with protected power and lobbies.

Can I add a lift or escalator to an existing building?

Usually, yes, but it involves new shafts or openings, pits and sometimes foundations, as well as fire safety and accessibility considerations. Structural design, plan approval, installation by a registered contractor and a Permit to Operate where required are all part of the process.

Planning a lift, escalator or core alteration in an existing building? Talk to our consultancy or get in touch.