National Lift Tower

The National Lift Tower stands in St James End, west of Northampton town centre. It is a lift-testing tower built by the Express Lift Company and opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1982. The tower is 127.5 metres tall and has six lift shafts of varying heights and speeds. It was designed by architect Maurice Walton and features small, obround-shaped windows. The tower was granted Grade II listed building status in 1997, making it the youngest listed building in the UK at the time. The tower is worth the journey for its unique role in lift testing and safety research. It was used by the British Standards Institution for type testing of lift safety components under BS 5655 and BS EN81 standards. The tower has been used for buffer testing and safety gear testing to ensure lifts stop safely in free fall conditions. After falling out of use in 1997, it was renovated and reopened in 2009 for research, development, testing, and marketing by lift companies. It has also been used as the world’s tallest drainage-testing facility. Visitors find a tall, tapering concrete structure with six lift shafts. The high-speed shaft has a travel of 100 metres and a theoretical maximum speed of 10 metres per second. The tower is privately owned and used for industry testing, but abseiling has been allowed up to 24 times a year for charity. It can be seen from Arbury Hill, the highest point in Northamptonshire. The tower once housed a community radio transmitter but was removed due to late rent payments.