AVIRE EXPANDS PRODUCT RANGE WITH MICROKEY ACQUISITION
AVIRE EXPANDS PRODUCT RANGE WITH MICROKEY ACQUISITION
Avire has acquired SETCO S.A., a Barcelona-based company that specializes in emergency telephones, GSM wireless transmission and monitoring systems for elevators under the Microkey brand. Avire Managing Director Rob Lewis said the move adds R&D resources that will lead to new products and technologies. Avire observed “the combination of machine-to-machine and cloud technologies is beneficial to Avire customers, allowing lift controllers to provide status information and to be remotely updated and maintained. As Microkey has predominantly been focused on the Iberian peninsula, this acquisition offers exciting new growth opportunities via Avire's global sales and support channels."
PLAN WOULD REPLACE HOTEL IN LONDON BOROUGH
If architects SimpsonHaugh's plans come to fruition, a landmark hotel in the London Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea would be demolished to make way for a new project that would include a hotel, residences and a publicly accessible "garden square," BD Online reports. Property owner Queensgate Investments and developer Rockwell engaged SimpsonHaugh to design a replacement for a 28-story, early 1970s hotel designed by Richard Seifert. The existing structure is deemed outdated, costly to maintain and offers little capacity for upgrading, the developers said. The new building would have a stepped design of seven, 18 and 28 stories but would house only 756 rooms — 150 fewer than the current Kensington Forum Hotel. It would, however, add 178 residential units. The borough is expected to rule on the plan by 2019.
FATAL ELEVATOR MISHAP INVESTIGATED IN SOUTH KOREA
Police in South Korea are investing a November 18 mishap in which a mechanic died as a result of becoming stuck between an elevator car and shaft, The Korea Herald reports. The incident occurred at approximately 6 p.m. at a shopping mall in Seongnam. The 44-year-old mechanic was working alongside four others, but returned to the jobsite after they left to attend to unfinished work.
DEFECTIVE PARTS DELAY STM ESCALATOR REPAIR WORK
Defective replacement parts are delaying Montreal’s multimillion-dollar Société de transport de Montréal (STM) project to replace 24 escalators (ELENET 646) and repair 39 by 2020, DeathRattleSports.com reports. Repair work has been suspended indefinitely, with escalators at the Édouard-Monpetit, Jean-Talon, Saint-Michel and Côte-des-Neiges stations on the Blue Line out as of November 2017. Escalators at Édouard-Monpetit and Jean-Talon had been out since July 2016. At least one escalator at each affected station has been kept up and running, and STM is trying to work the situation out with the manufacturer.
