Recently, construction equipment such as excavators arrived in front of one unit of a 7-story building located at No. 96 Hongxing Road, Luyang District, Hefei City. Under the observation and witness of the residents in the community, the elevator foundation pit was officially excavated, which is also the first old residential area in the district to install elevators.

The groundbreaking of the project means that the installation of elevators in old residential areas has entered a substantive stage. If everything goes smoothly, in the future, 12 households above the 2nd floor of this unit will bid farewell to the history of "climbing stairs" to go home.

For the elderly who have lived in the community for decades, this is a very exciting moment for them. For the street where the community is located and the housing and construction department of Luyang District in Hefei City, this is just the beginning. Next, they still have no idea how many old residential areas in the entire district can smoothly install elevators.

It's becoming increasingly inconvenient for the elderly to go up and down stairs

No. 96 Hongxing Road Courtyard is an old "family home" of the Anhui Provincial Health System, and the original location of the Anhui Provincial Government before relocation was only a few hundred meters away from the community.

Mr. Zhang Baojin, who is 86 years old this year, has lived in the courtyard at 96 Hongxing Road for several decades, spending almost half of his life in this community. Although the children have purchased new housing far away from the old city area and have repeatedly suggested that the elderly live with them, Zhang Baojin is unwilling.

Many of the neighbors are old colleagues and friends, and I have a deep affection for this place. I don't want to leave, "Zhang Baojin insisted on staying in this old community, which is much dilapidated and low-lying compared to the surrounding new area. As he grew older and his physical strength declined, Zhang Baojin felt increasingly inconvenient going up and down stairs.

Zhang Baojin often self mocks, "We can't actually call them upstairs every day, we can only call them to climb up." Zhang Baojin, who doesn't want to move out of the old community, is very eager to have an elevator installed in his own house at some point.

The turning point of the matter occurred during a large-scale visit and research symposium conducted by Xiaoyaojin Street in Luyang District for the renovation of old residential areas. When soliciting suggestions from resident representatives on the renovation of old residential areas at No. 96 Hongxing Road, some resident representatives proposed the idea of installing elevators in the community.

This situation is actually quite common in Xiaoyaojin Street, located in the core of the old city area. The street will immediately provide feedback on the collected opinions of resident representatives to the Luyang District Government and the District Housing and Urban Rural Development Bureau. The concentrated opinions even directly promoted the introduction of the policy of installing elevators in existing residential buildings by the Luyang District government. This policy was even several months earlier than the "Implementation Opinions" subsequently issued by Hefei City.

With the support of policies, the procedure for installing elevators becomes clear.

Mr. Zhang Baojin and two other enthusiastic residents in the same unit jointly form a resident representative responsible for the basic procedures of resident declaration. The policy in Luyang District at that time was that all residents of the unit where the building was located must give their consent before implementation. In just two days, all 14 residents in the building where Mr. Zhang Baojin is located, including those on the first floor, signed and agreed to install elevators.

With the help of three enthusiastic resident representatives in the unit building, the subsequent elevator manufacturer selection and cost sharing issues were successfully approved by all residents. In terms of cost allocation, they adopt a coefficient proportional allocation method. All floors are based on the third floor as the standard, with a coefficient increasing for floors above the third floor and decreasing for floors below the third floor. The first floor does not require payment.

There are various reasons why elevators cannot be added

Before raising funds, residents applied for a dedicated shared account to pay related fees. In just one day, all residents transferred their proportionate share of the money to the designated account.

Old man Zhang Baojin sighed deeply about this: "As long as residents have a united heart, things will be much easier to handle

The courtyard at No. 96 Hongxing Road has clearly made a good start, but this does not mean that other old residential areas in Luyang District can also proceed smoothly in the same way.

Cui Wei, the head of the Urban Construction Department of Luyang District Housing and Urban Rural Development Bureau, receives phone inquiries almost every day about the installation of elevators in old residential areas. On average, at least two groups of people come to Cui Wei's office every week to learn about this matter.

In Cui Wei's impression, No. 96 Hongxing Road Courtyard is not the first community with the intention of installing elevators, and the reason why No. 96 Courtyard became the first old community to actually start construction in the district is indeed the result of "mature conditions in all aspects".

One side evidence is that in another unit adjacent to the building unit under construction at No. 96 Courtyard, residents also have a high desire to install elevators, and the procedure is almost to the point of "everything is ready except for the east wind", but it is due to "individual reasons that cannot be installed for a while".

These 'individual reasons' can be described as diverse and mainly concentrated among the first floor residents. Some residents have deep-seated grievances due to conflicts with upstairs residents on a regular basis; Some people feel that it affects lighting and ventilation; Some people also believe that it will affect feng shui; There is also a psychological imbalance, always feeling that installing an elevator is cheap for the upstairs and not getting any benefits for oneself.

In the view of Zhang Jincheng, the director of the property management office of Xiaoyaojin Street in Luyang District, the ultimate focus of all these contradictions is only one word: money. He believes that most people have concerns about giving "unjustified money" and worrying that they may not receive the same level of feedback if they give extra money.

During the application process for installing elevators in old residential areas, some communities even encountered the following situation: some units were willing to collectively pay for the installation of elevators for residents in the community, but considering that some houses had already been sold to employees outside the unit, opinions could not be unified; There is also a situation where all residents in the community are employees of the unit, and the unit is willing to invest in installing elevators, but some employees who do not live in the old community and cannot enjoy the elevator installation service do not agree.

There are various reasons why installing an elevator is not feasible, and it is precisely because of this that relevant personnel believe that the elevator construction at No. 96 Hongxing Road Courtyard is extremely precious.

Touching the stones to cross the river

In January of this year, the Hefei Municipal Government issued the Implementation Opinions on the Installation of Elevators in Existing Residential Buildings, proposing that the city (including development zones) finance provide post subsidy for the installation of elevators in existing residential buildings with non single property rights. The specific amount is 200000 yuan per elevator, and the city and district finance will each bear 50% of the subsidy.

The final cost of the elevator under construction at No. 96 Hongxing Road Courtyard is approximately 500000 yuan. With government subsidies, residents' actual expenses will be much lower.

Now it can be said that the policy is very clear, but the specific implementation still requires a high degree of consensus among the residents of the community who apply, and the government cannot take over everything, "Cui Wei said. Cui Wei has a background in architecture. When analyzing the complexity of installing elevators in old residential areas from an architectural perspective, she found that some residents had differences in the specific process of installing elevators due to insufficient understanding of the building itself. She is particularly regretful about such a situation.

A typical example is a residential area where the application time was even much earlier than that of the courtyard at 96 Hongxing Road, and the basic plan was approved. However, during the public announcement stage of the plan, a resident suddenly changed their mind, causing the project to be delayed.

According to Cui Wei, each old building has its own structural characteristics, so the specific elevator installation plan is also different. "We need to consider not only the safety of the existing building structure and fire safety, but also the comfort of residents, the appearance of the city, and other factors

Once the installation of elevators involves the reinforcement needs of the entire building, it will inevitably greatly affect the overall cost of installing elevators. Residents generally do not understand this part of the cost and are not willing to share it, "Cui Wei said.

It is understood that the review process for the installation plan is very strict, and the review agency will invite some experts to review and check the preliminary design plan from the aspects of structure, building, equipment, etc. The drawing review process for new buildings is actually simpler, especially for those built in old houses, which may affect the original structure of the house or change its load-bearing capacity. This type of drawing review is the most rigorous

Because of this, many review agencies are even unwilling to undertake the review business of installing elevators. They find such review projects small and cost-effective, but the review process is particularly complex and requires significant human and material resources.

According to the procedures established by Hefei City, even after being reviewed by qualified drawing review agencies and fire protection agencies, the construction drawings for installing elevators still need to be jointly reviewed by relevant departments such as planning, finance, land, market supervision, fire protection, urban management, and environmental protection under the leadership of the local housing and construction agency.

Strict control measures have been implemented, and some residents may not understand why they want to relax their demands and save costs. Cui Wei can only provide one explanation for this.

Good things must be done well, so we can only strictly control at the source. If we relax the requirements now and casually install elevators in old residential areas, how can we live up to the people if various safety and hidden dangers occur frequently in 8 or 10 years? "Said Cui Wei.