The UK’s digital switch over is fast approaching, bringing significant implications for the lift industry’s emergency communication systems. A major talking point in the sector, we wanted to understand a little more about the challenges and opportunities presented by the analogue switch off in January 2027, so we caught up with John Jackson, Country Sales Manager for Northern Europe at AVIRE, experts in communication systems.

Lift owners face a crucial transition around communication as part of the digital switch over – what challenges are building owners and lift operators still underestimating?

We estimate only around 40 to 50% of businesses have completed their switch, and that at the time of the switch off, there will still be about 35% left. This is the first major issue, that people will be left without emergency communication systems, which is a massive safety concern. Then we’re looking at supply and demand issues as people realise the urgency of making their systems compliant. This may well affect product availability, and, of course, there is a finite amount of labour and technical expertise to carry out the work. Our message is to act now so that we can ensure as many customers have compliant and safe lifts as possible, come January 2027. Currently we’re looking at around 160,000 still not switched over.