Heritage Open Days: Behind the Scenes at the Leas Lift

Name: Heritage Open Days: Behind the Scenes at the Leas Lift
Start: 2025-09-20T09:00:00+01:00
End: 2025-09-20T11:00:00+01:00
Location: 133 Sandgate Road, CT20 2BL Folkestone, United Kingdom

Schedule

Sat Sep 20 2025 at 09:00 am to 11:00 am

UTC+01:00

Location

133 Sandgate Road, CT20 2BL Folkestone, United Kingdom | Folkestone, EN

Saturday 20th September 2025, 0900–1100, 1130–1330 (BSL), 1400–1600 & 1630–1830
In celebration of Heritage Open Days 2025, we’re offering a unique opportunity to step inside the Leas Lift lower station restoration site. This special two-hour behind-the-scenes experience includes two detailed presentations and a hard hat tour – offering an in-depth look at both the architectural vision and engineering challenges of restoring this historic site.
30 mins – ACME Architects Presentation Discover the Leas Lift’s rich architectural history with ACME Architects. Their presentation will demonstrate a full site analysis, highlighting the site context and location, constraints and opportunities, and the vision and objectives shaping the restoration. You’ll learn about the lift’s historic map progression, previous colour schemes, and the architectural challenges posed by both the lower and upper station sites. ACME will also explain the project brief, spatial requirements, and design principles, before revealing the proposed works to the lower station building, new extension, and upper station improvements. Finally, illustrative renderings and physical material samples will bring their proposed design to life.
30 mins – RAPID Engineering Presentation RAPID will present the engineering history of the lift’s operation, covering the original water delivery and storage systems, key issues discovered during the restoration, and the repair works planned to address them. You’ll also hear an update on progress to date, and RAPID’s plans for the final operation of the lift once complete.
30 mins – Q&A Session An opportunity to ask questions to the architects, engineers, and site team about the restoration project.
30 mins – APEX-Led Hard Hat Tour of Lower Station A guided tour of the lower station restoration site led by APEX Construction. This is your chance to get up close to the works in progress and gain a deeper understanding of the craftsmanship and care involved in restoring the Leas Lift.
Due to the nature of the restoration site, we regret that we are unable to offer wheelchair access. If you are a wheelchair user or have other access needs which mean you cannot attend but are interested in the Leas Lift restoration, please contact us at [email protected] and we’ll do our best to arrange an alternative visit.
BSL interpretation will be available during the 11:30am session – please indicate when booking if you require this.
Group sizes are limited to just 10 people per session – pre-booking essential.