VANDALISM? Why lifts are smashed out in derelict buildings

This video explains why lifts in derelict buildings are smashed out.
An act of vandalism, or something else?
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[@abdullahtshabal9522]

Knocking out the lifts also eliminates a safety hazard further down the line for demolition/construction workers or explorers, so there isn't the chance of suddenly a big metal box careening down a hundred meters to crush someone into a bloody paste

[@tizu69]

@@funkpop-l8o Safety brakes won't really help if the shaft get's torn apart - they are solely intended for when the lift in a normal functioning shaft speeds up over a certain threshold

[@wdowa94]

Cab is falling upwards IF there is speed governor installed (every lift is having speed governor)... There is very small possibility to drop cab downwards if there is safety gear on cab frame

[@wdowa94]

@@tizu69 Dumb thing is... MOSTLY They work only in downwards movement... When ropes starts to slip / brake fails cab speeds upwards... Speed governor should be activated, but there is no physical brake to brake or retard the fall of counterweight

[@damonjenkins2185]

As a HVAC technician I would like it if you went more in depth with those systems, lift motor rooms are cool but HVAC systems are cooler in my opinion (pun definitely intended). I liked how you touched briefly on the BMS room in these videos but I want to see the plant/boiler rooms. I understand there might not be much left due to the scrap value of copper

[@JBF-GST-Tanda]

Cooler (thermally) ;-p

[@TonyVRailfanning]

Well done as usual, why was this building abandoned in the first place? A 45 year old building would not be considered old

[@paarke]

I used to work in the adjoining building which is part of the same complex and we were told that there were some major design flaws with the ventilation system and lots of people working in there ended up feeling ill. It was too difficult or expensive to fix so it was abandoned. I think there may have been some fire safety issues too. We used to use some of the rooms in the podium when I was there but the door into the tower was kept locked so I never went in there. Security used to go in there to patrol it and as far as I know it was still in reasonable condition when I left in 2006, although we did have a bit of an issue with people getting in and setting the alarms off which triggered them in our building too.

[@ZugTheDragon]

Iirc, in one of the parts he mentioned that the lack of natural light inside caused sickness.

[@iangrice329]

Could have been used for homeless, sure thay wouldn't complain about lack of natural light.

[@Tigrou7777]

asbestos could be a good reason

[@ybunnygurl]

I can't speak for this building but in the US by me they're tearing down all these buildings that are about 45 to 50 years old mostly because a lot of them are brutalist and built out of concrete and the concrete is starting to fail; some are sick buildings in other words there's no light and there's not enough air flow and people get ill when occupying them; and in the United States especially the reason a lot of buildings get torn down is because lead and asbestos abatement cost more than just tearing down the building and building a new one.

[@Petertronic]

Loved the animations! Makes sense to use the lift shafts for rubbish when stripping out all the floors. Would be super cool if you can get footage of the demolition when it happens!

[@mrmattandmrchay]

Thanks and it would be interesting to have filmed that. Probably get a bit "samey" after a while though!

[@stagergamer4172]

The question was constantly scratching at the back of my head, I'm glad I finally have closure on why, sucks that we couldn't see what they would have looked like

[@WackoMcGoose]

What I expected: Taking it out so the elevator doesn't, with decay over time, suddenly plummet and turn a random person below into a red mist What it actually was: Using the shaft as a trash chute, b/w tax code shenanigans to make a building legally unuseful ...Yeah, okay, that makes sense.

[@DanielMeakin1]

I've found this video really interesting. Also the low lifts was interesting as to why they didn't scrap them.

[@jamesbehrje4279]

When I was a young kid me and my cousin explored abandoned buildings when we found one that had open access such as unlocked doors or broken windows. We never did anything to damage the building more though. We might of broke glass bottles and small stuff but we wouldn't do anything to seriously vandalize the place. The one place we went into used to be a restaurant that was on the side of an airport runway. I think the name of the Restaurant was "Runway 86" or something like that. This was pre 911 days and the area wasn't patrolled like it is today. When i say next to the Runway i literally mean next to the runway. The only thing separating diners from the aircraft was a window. Good times being a kid.

[@Techno-Universal]

They probably did this to the Burke street Myer department store building when they fully rebuilt it in the 2000s! The only things they kept were the lift shafts and the two original facades! :)

[@mr.struppi9903]

Wonderful Video! Nice that you pointed out that stealing or breaking things that belong to other people is absolutely ridiculous and wrong. Also considering the aspect that those people are working hard for being able to earn just enough money to be able to live! You are definitely the best KZbiner who makes (extraordinary) videos about elevators and about old technical things! I am watching you since I was eight years old! Thank you so much for spending tremendous amounts of time and effort for creating those high quality (and not quantity) videos!

[@pjcnet]

Five Ways Tower is literally 10 minutes walk from me. Vandals and even worse people setting traps give responsible urban explorers a bad name and can ruin it for everyone. Interesting video about the lifts, thanks.

[@cdoberman1984]

What kind of traps do they setup?

[@blablabla2d]

Nice video, but its just sad that people come to derelict buildings just to mess stuff up and destroy things...

[@mrmattandmrchay]

Yep, different people, different values I guess.

[@caroleast9636]

Vandals are the lowest of the low 8:55

[@psirvent8]

The "certain KZbin channel" who threw the transformer down the shaft begins with B and loves cartops, right ?

[@Manne-Frede]

Nah it cant be the channel that starts with a b and ends with o. He said in some of his videos that he hate people ruining urbex sites

[@michaellane1887]

He just fixes abandoned elevators in urbex sites, gets them running again, rides them for fun and then uses them to crush things they throw in the pit.

[@psirvent8]

@@Manne-Frede I know he absolutely hates this channel indeed. And that's precisely why I thought of it when he was talking about vandals in this video.

[@psirvent8]

@@michaellane1887 Yes I have seen these videos. Maybe he does more evil things as well though ? 🤔

[@mrmattandmrchay]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hHrFdWmChJydfqc The voices in the background were kids that he used to take a long - please don't blame them, kids are kids and look up to us "responsible" adults for the rights and wrongs. It would appear that a certain individual don't know right from wrong!

[@SylvieonPiggyFan29YT]

Oh it's good to see you again

[@AnotherSwissYoutubeUser]

This is one of the videos from the genre "I have no clue what this is but it looks interesting so imma watch it anyway."

[@jan99642]

you don't know what's this about bruh

[@caroleast9636]

This is most definitely not that sort of “genre” If you knew a bit more about the subject you would realise that 8:55

[@gblargg]

Interesting, I should have guessed a side-effect of government. I figured it would be to get the copper from the cables. This reminds me of how when a building burns here in the USA, if they keep one of the columns or something the rebuild is considered an addition or something, rather than a new structure.

[@oneteaminbristolbcfc]

Fascinating, thank you very much for this

[@shoppy00]

The image you used is not of a transformer, that is construction site power / junction box. Great video.

[@mrmattandmrchay]

Yes, I'll accept the correction thanks. Still shouldn't have been chucked down the lift shaft as it wasn't scrap. Just mindless vandalism from a certain member of our community. Two faced.

[@vinylcabasse]

8:02 TIL SWOP in British English is the same as SWAP in 'murican

[@mrmattandmrchay]

It's a typo on the engineer's behalf!! :D Should be SWAP

[@dishydave1819]

Very interesting. So what we are saying is that empty buildings are *legally* vandalised in order to ensure that there will be minimal opposition to demolition and any opposition there is will be more readily overcome now the building is unusable without investment in reversing the [legal] vandalism which would likely cost more than the demolition and rebuld cost. Seems to be another typical example of British illogical waste, but very very interesting.

[@Matthew_Trainspotter]

Nice explanation! Loved the video 👍

[@mrmattandmrchay]

Thanks mattplayz!

[@coolsnake1134]

That definitely makes sense, it’s already there structurally and it’s going to be torn out anyways so why not convert it into a trash chute, beats hauling all the scrap metal and stuff down 20 flights of stairs out to the skip or truck. I’ve done a pre-demolition gut on a house that was going to be demolished For a builder and I did something similar except this place didn’t have an elevator so I just cut a hole through the floor from the second floor all the way down to the basement and put up temporary barricades so no one would accidentally fall through it. So satisfying to throw a 400 pound bathtub from the second floor and have it come crashing down in the basement so I could haul it out the walkout basement into the scrap trailer. Then something else that was super satisfying was to throw a heavy chain around the boiler and put the other end on the hitch of my truck just absolutely tear of the ever living hell out of everything to drag this 800 pound boiler out of the basement. By the time I was done the lawn looked like monster jam came through there

[@seangriffon6502]

I want a lift car so bad. I want to put it in my bed room, wire up the ceiling lights, make the door open and close by the door opetator. I can put my bed in the lift car, and sleep in the lift car. Would be so cool. Here when the demolished a local hospital, they used tbe lift shafts as rubbish chutes.

[@RandomMinecraftperson]

if they use the middle shaft as rubbish chute, then why are the other 2 lifts removed as well ?

[@mrmattandmrchay]

If you look at the bottom of the shaft, it gives a larger area to use. Also, things getting chucked into the middle shaft could land on top of the adjoining lift cabs. I guess the removal of all the lifts on that side wasn't much more than removing one. Another idea, if they chose to, they can have one, two or three rubbish chutes if one isn't enough.

[@mrmattandmrchay]

please see my reply above :)

[@coondogtheman]

2:50 is that a loudspeaker in the arrow sign above the elevator door? Curious if you hooked it to an audio source if it would work.

[@RWL2012]

yes it is

[@coondogtheman]

@@RWL2012 If I could I'd keep all of those signs and make something out of them. Not sure what they use for an amplifier or if it's just a tone generator.

[@RelogeYT]

This is very interesting. Did you identify the make of the elevators? Thank you for the amazing vid :D

[@mrmattandmrchay]

These are Schindler and thanks for the compliment

[@SoulJem0]

Schindler R series Aiconic

[@AkmalPROMVP]

What if modernization was banned

[@jamessickmore236]

Wow that building was only used for about 40 years WTF?

[@Lift.Tracker]

It was abandoned in 2005, so actually only about 25 years!

[@jamessickmore236]

@@Lift.Tracker wow worse than i thought lol

[@turbinegraphics16]

they don't want housing to get too cheap

[@marksmith-ew7ir]

Great on the reason plus I think it was easy not keep the dust more controlled from getting air born

[@mrmattandmrchay]

Very interesting concept, and I suppose the only way to clear the building. The dust must have been enormous and the poor neighbours also with the constant crashing when stuff was thrown down.

[@PikachuElevators]

Knocking Out with Rocks In Basement And I Broke It And Is Broken and the high rise lift lobby

[@frankiefiveangels601]

Could a person in this building use lift 5 to traverse low and high rise levels and avoid on the lobby on 12? It looks as if it make stops on all floors but the car park.

[@mrmattandmrchay]

Lift 5 - yes, it does stop all the way up. My original voice over did mention that Lift 5, although part of the high rise group, also did the low rise floors. But I decided to scrap this voiceover as it was easier to say "high rise" and "low rise" to avoid complication. Also Lift 5 could have been a maintenance lift used only by services staff or engineers. Cannot confirm either way.

[@Boyracer2983]

Sick building syndrome ruined this building. id love to know who owns it, and why they haven't done anything. Also why the council hasn't issue any enforcements on it? Five ways tower construction is very similar to Trident House on Granville street/Tenant street just a few streets away. I wonder if the same architect was used? Great video also. Thanks ❤❤☮☮✌✌

[@mrmattandmrchay]

I believe this is being demolished this year or early next year. I think I know the building that you mean opposite. I love these types of buildings. Thanks for the compliment also :)

[@Boyracer2983]

@@mrmattandmrchay no way, demolition is going to be expensive, have you seen the listed white render houses around it? 🤣🤦

[@andrewtaylor1996]

People will be taking the cable to weigh in

[@Bombiedude.]

They shouldve hired the kool aid man to take these down lol

[@DavidMauk-yi3pi]

Will I die

[@DouglasASean]

Community’s need to be empowered to re-commission the building and get a home out of it

[@simonstergaard]

i dont know why i find lift videos interesting.. maby because its a mix of urbex and technology. most urbexers have no clue about what they encounter when its technology.

[@mrmattandmrchay]

I like to think I go the extra mile! It's normally after I replay my footage, other youtubers tell me thing and/or I do a bit of research and things like this dawn on me!

[@zalzalahbuttsaab]

Love the subject. Commentator sounds like a robot. Annoying background music.

[@dieseldragon6756]

*Awesome video* guys! I think the majority of us probably assumed this was all down to classic vandalism. Who ever would've thought it was to do with practical uses (Let's be honest: A lift shaft is the safest heavy waste chute a demolition team could ever wish for!) and saving £££s on the redundant buildings tax bill? 😁 That said, it also explains why derelict office sites never seem to be bought back into use until the building is demolished and then rebuilt, and this is clearly not great for the environment. 🌍😞 Obviously: A building intentionally rendered „unusable“ is going to be pretty hard to save, but I wonder why they couldn't render buildings similarly „unusable“ (But eventually recoverable) by simply clamping the cars/CWs in place and removing the logic? 🤔🛗😇

[@MiamiMillionaire]

👍

[@NonEuclideanTacoCannon]

Myself and several others lived in a similar building for a while. The power was still on for some reason, and we were able to figure out water. Not hot water, though. Anyway yeah, the lifts were definitely destroyed beyond repair. The stairs weren't destroyed though.

[@mrmattandmrchay]

I can imagine what it'd be like to occupy such a building. I suppose it must be eerie at first, but then like everything, you just get used to it.

[@samexahr3326]

I suppose in the footage of the 3M building, it was being demolished, no barriers to stop someone from going up besides barriers around the site itself. The 3M building had a wide base which housed the old market and lobby. Not being structural to the overall tower, that was demolished first. I guess so you get closer access to the upper floors via demolition equipment. This left the ground floor open with no external walls. There are photos of the upper floors prior to demolition, likely before the stairway gone at the bottom

[@Phil_Wragg]

This is a great KZbin channel, teaching us stuff we never knew we needed to know 👍🏻

[@mrmattandmrchay]

Thanks, I'll take that as a compliment :)

[@notreyf]

Thanks for calling out the idiots, and for always using common sense when making your vids.

[@ZZ9ProductionsOFFICIAL]

my first thought on those lifts had been vandalism purely because of how big a state they are in so it was very interesting to learn about these two other reasons they're like this. i suppose there is an element of vandalism to it as well too with (to name one example) that right shaft door at 2:29 which looks like it's had a hole burned right through it

[@mrmattandmrchay]

Yes about the door, not sure why someone would purposely want to burn a hole through a metal door.

[@rhr-p7w]

@@mrmattandmrchay workers testing/playing with their blowtorch?

[@WackoMcGoose]

@@mrmattandmrchay Maybe to show that the lift is out so people don't try to open the door? (not that you should be trying to manually open an elevator door in ANY context, even in a fully working building)

[@LiliumBS]

oh i tought the outer doors were wood and hte inner doors metal

[@DarkVoidIII]

Smashing lifts out would probably be a deterrent to copper thieves looking for easy to steal copper. They don't care how it comes out, if it's accessible they'd probably rip out whatever they could get their hands on. Making it far less accessible would be a big deterrent.

[@jupieterr]

Very interesting, this is what KZbin is for, entertaining videos about obscure topics!

[@mrmattandmrchay]

LOL, I guess you're right there!

[@gigigigiontis8]

You're spot on about B*no being an idiot. Same reason I stopped watching him

[@Bombiedude.]

Up in the US where I live they typically dont smash them out they let nature do the hard work in taking it down and it actually saves alot of money on demolition vehicles

[@tombuntin3026]

Its dangerous to hangout of a elevator.you can fall to your death!😮😮😮😮

[@BritishEngineer]

8:01 “DO NOT SWOP!”

[@TheTheo58]

I recall in 2006 when the former Frank Mayer (Macy's till it closed in 2017) under went renovation on the upper levels for the Nines Hotel. One of the fright elevators on SW Alder was removed and later replaced by a smaller one. There is one fright elevator still in use with a sidewalk landing door I believe it goes to the 5th floor Several of the windows have shades with signage "Elevator Shat" I think this fright elevator is traction likely a basement machine, with the sheave room just above the 5th floor.

[@michaelbailey4164]

Alex DeLarge once lived there.

[@monad_tcp]

5:38 exactly what I suspected when I saw the hole in the wall

[@MahmoudAli-127]

Cute hotel

[@sgbuses]

What does the 'LSF' on the controller panel at 8:12 mean?

[@SamSitar]

from another video we see the lowrise lifts have exit only doors on 13.

[@SiimplyDejella_Lovesjesus]

Tell me why I think your gonna drop the thing your recording on down one of the shafts- my anxiety is going up- 📈📈📈📈📈

[@FubarMike]

What is this "certain youtube channel" you speak of? Although I don't condone vandalism when I see a grand piano at the bottom of a large flight of stairs I can't help but think I've missed something that was filmed

[@Fiery.Dragon]

It is Beno - I do not condone nor recommend support of vandalism.

[@mrmattandmrchay]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hHrFdWmChJydfqc The voices in the background were kids that he used to take a long - please don't blame them, kids are kids and look up to us "responsible" adults for the rights and wrongs. It would appear "some" don't know right from wrong!

[@mrmattandmrchay]

Thanks, I'll take that as a compliment :)

[@FubarMike]

@@Fiery.Dragon Cool If what you goys say about him vandalizing shit is true I still won't sub to his channel out of principle.

[@Ariccio123]

​@@mrmattandmrchay I'm not gonna blame them, but also, I am a bit surprised to see they actually threw a worksite transformer down the shaft... What?!

[@lukedavis436]

shame all the cool stuff usually gets destroyed, i can only think of the parts you could re-use out of copiers, at least some of the fluroscent fixtures remain

[@mrmattandmrchay]

Yep, complete waste, but I suppose it'd take more money to recycle or reuse it.

[@rupe53]

@@mrmattandmrchay ... used office equipment doesn't sell well because newer gear is cheaper and faster. Lighting fixtures of that era are also old hat due to LED units being cheaper. By the time you paid skilled labor to remove the stuff (undamaged) it's cheaper to throw it away.

[@SoulJem0]

Why would they knock out lift 4 when it served the basement it isint worth digging a hole in the ground just to get in the basement it takes alot of effort to get all of the rubble out example the rocks at 0:36

[@Stealth86651]

My guess is a cheap way to disable the shaft and make it unusable. They're more concerned about lawsuits and injury than anything else, and a bunch of rocks can fill it quite easily.

[@Bombiedude.]

They shouldve hired the kool aid man to take these down lol

[@KutWrite]

Great story telling and cautions. Loved the music too. Subbing!

[@snoopdog2344]

That’s not good

[@oh_finks]

what is the youtube channel you refer to?

[@nothingnothing1799]

Im sure he didnt mention the name as yo not be responsible for any harassment

[@Simbson]

Best YT-channel about lifts with good acoustic music- well done!

[@mrmattandmrchay]

Thanks very much! I do try my best and glad you think it's worth it :)

[@Thelift2013]

bruh why not dismantle them and put them somewhere else? maybe if they build another building they will have an elevator in storage

[@mrmattandmrchay]

Slight problem... H&S, method statements, agreeing with landlord, entering derelict buildings with permission (never get that approved), no power, no welfare facilities - would need to hire, equipment to do the removal and transportation and funding for that, a crane to lift equipment off roof (probably around 2K per day to hire) + qualified driver, probably take 1-2 months to do all that, storage location, funds/money, hiring people to remove a 23 storey lift, knowledge on a lift that's 50 years old, no-one would be interested in a 50 year old lift, no profit with installing an old lift that may not run anyway... Apart from that, good idea. :/

[@zrellll]

the ones that know the youtube channel mentioned about throwing transformers, they know hahaha

[@sandippatel2472]

Great video loved it thanks

[@mrmattandmrchay]

Many thanks Sandip :)

[@brunoais]

Thank you very very very much for this video! Super informative as usual! Keep going! Quality over quantity! I just wish youtube told me this video exists earlier...

[@Just_David684]

The tower is getting demolished now sadly

[@mrmattandmrchay]

Seen a few messages relating to this on facebook. But they could be doing what they did to the bracknell 3m tower and Hallam Towers hotel in Sheffield... to stop people getting in they knock out the tower floors leaving the rest of the tower on stilts. Wonder if they're just doing that, or taking the tower down as well? It seems that the tower floors have been taken out, but seems strange they would do that 'first' if they're taking the whole building down.

[@nyotamwuaji6484]

wait, urban explorers set booby traps? or did vagrants or maybe, depending on the area, gang members or homeless people or maybe drug dealers set the traps to keep people out?

[@corydee123]

Such a shame that they have allowed undesirables to occupy that tower otherwise it would still be in use today as it was a very well constructed building.

[@samuellourenco1050]

Elevator repair companies stealing parts, I imagine.

[@Noo-Noo7950]

I Want To Know, How Likely Is A Lift To Break Down, I’ve Started Avoiding Scared Of Getting Stuck.

[@wiiuenjoyer36]

Not very likely at all. It’s like a 1 in 1,000,000 chance.

[@swiftsilver]

Super interesting

[@ryoojiz]

5:10 very smooth... very smooth 😂

[@Matty12333]

is there asbestos present?

[@elevlogic]

This morning I was watching your video and was thinking exactly abot that question!

[@mrmattandmrchay]

Looks like I've timed it perfectly :)

[@elevlogic]

@@mrmattandmrchay Definitely! 😁

[@jimnalgrin3515]

The electrical contacts for lifts are all precious metals. Never look into a lift shaft. I've seen people beheaded by the counterweights. It isn't pretty..

[@trevstreasurehunts9701]

Id love to see the video of the 110 converter box being thrown down a lift shaft is it on yourube and do you have the channel name

[@istankimjong-unbutcantstan3398]

Dang, I practically got this hot out of the oven

[@dollarama8652]

gas the place or at least put Asbestos in the air.. anyone that enters better have a oxygen gas respirator.

[@VintageVaughnVehiclces]

My parents house had a three-story dumbwaiter shaft that the dumb way to was never installed. We would have parties and friends would bring over everything glass I could find and we go to the third floor and throw bricks and bottles down the laundry chute we threw so much glass down the laundry chute that there was so much glass one guy was stuck on the counter in the laundry room watching the stuff smash and then he realized he didn't have any shoes and he was trapped in that room will the party went on elsewhere and it was a very very large house and we heard this guy screaming help in the basement and somebody went down with shoes and had to walk across all the glass and carry him out of the laundry room it was quite funny had to get shovels and trash cans to clean up the glass it was worth the fun television sets turned on with a long extension cord dropped down the laundry sheet were most exciting or one place at the bottom and you drop a large piece of steel or piece of concrete and smash the screen while it was turned on was also great amount of fun