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  • British Standards
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The Retracting Stairs

The Sesame retracting stairs are the foundation of the Sesame System with the main objective to provide pedestrian/wheelchair access to a building all in one given space. When the lift is not in use, the full width of the staircase is available for pedestrian passage.

Using the retracting steps idea we can now provided a wheelchair access lift ideal for listed buildings and those of architectural merit.

The system blends into its surroundings as the steps can be clad in whatever material matches the area.

Please click on the following worded link to view a short Movie of the Sesame System in action. Sesame System Movie

Cladding the Sesame Stairs

• The Sesame Stairs can be clad in whatever material the client desires, from carpet to marble.
• We do not clad the System ourselves; we leave this to the sub-contracted experts i.e. stonemasons, to lay the stone. The client may wish to use their on site floor-layers, stonemasons, etc, to save cost, alternatively we will use our sub-contractors.
• We will issue detailed drawings to the subcontracted floor-layers prior to the cladding of the system outlining in detail the procedures, cuts and finish quality expected for a Sesame System.
• Sesame will supervise the cladding at all times to guarantee the highest quality finish.
• The Standard Stair width of a Sesame system is 1000mm. This width can be changed depending on the sites requirements as each Sesame system is bespoke to its site.
• The Tread and Height of each step is variable depending on the site
• Our standard system requires a 6mm gap separating each moving step.
• A British Standards maximum of a 10mm separating gap is required for Sesame systems with a large number of steps clad in a heavy material such as stone.
• A 6mm gap is required from both sides of the moving steps to its neighboring walls.
• The moving steps are guided to keep an average even 6mm gap on both sides with a maximum of 2mm play.
• It is recommended that each step has a different shade of step nosing to outline the start or finish of each step to aid partially sited users.
• For strength we recommend a riser thickness of 30mm for stone, marble etc. We supply a 25mm lip for the riser to sit on, therefore a 5mm recess can be cut in the stone to overhang and conceal the lip.
• The riser support lip can be made to length depending on the material used. As a guide our standard lip is 15mm deep.
• The Sesame steps must have a 90 degree finish or, where an overhang is necessary, a maximum of a 15 degree finish angle. This is to allow the lifting platform to pass the retracted steps without any potentially crushing overhang from the tread over the riser on each step. Again, the example link Sesame Retracting Stairs shows a 90 degree riser to tread meet.
• Each Sesame stair tread must be cut a minimum of 20mm deeper than the surrounding permanent treads so that this 20mm can sit back from the above riser to infill the 6mm gap. On site, if the Sesame steps tread needs to be made larger for any reason, this extra 20mm also gives ample spare material to be brought out on show whilst keeping the 6mm gap infill.
• If you havent already, please click on this Sesame Retracting Stairs link to view a simplified example of the Sesame steps. You will notice on this example the stone depth proceeding an extra 50mm rather than 20mm below each step.

Controlling the Sesame Stairs

The Sesame Stairs can be controlled by our standard "Stairs forward" and "Stairs Back" buttons. These buttons have our "Press and Hold" feature, where the movement of the steps comes to a complete halt when the button is released, therefore constant pressure is needed. The client may request a different control mechanism depending on who is using the System. For example a frequent trained user may have a swipe card/key switch to automatically retract the steps, to raise the lift and to extend the steps. In this instance each swipe-card/key station must be accompanied by an "Emergency Stop" button for safety reasons

Please view our web page The Controls for an outline of the many button station possibilities. This page includes drawings of the Standard Button Plates for each control station.

The Speed of the Moving Sesame Stairs

The Sesame Stairs extend and retract speed is variable depending on who controls the System, i.e. a trained member of staff or a member of the public. Sesame will set the speed relevant to these variables. The speed can then be increased upon client request up to a maximum of 0.15m/s (British Standards & Part M of the Building Regulations).