Tall Order For Otis In China

Farmington-based Otis Elevator Co. has won a $23 million contract to provide high-speed elevators at China’s Guangzhou International Financial Center, an office and hotel building that will be among the tallest in the world.

Otis will install a mix of its “Skyway” double-deck elevators with speeds up to 1,378 feet per minute, and its “Elevonic” high-speed gearless elevators capable of up to 1,575 feet per minute, according to a statement from Otis President Ari Bousbib.

Otis is also providing its “EMS Panorama” system, a Web-based application that enables building staff to monitor, control, report on, and manage a variety of elevator functions, Bousbib said.

“With this system, building staff can monitor elevator performance, security, traffic patterns, key equipment events, and many other critical functions,” he said.

When completed for the 2010 Asia Games in Guangzhou, China, the tower will reach a height of 1,417 feet and be among the tallest buildings in the world, Bousbib said. The 103-story building is designed for offices on lower floors with space above the 70th floor for a luxury hotel, he said.

The Chinese contract comes just a month after Otis won a contract in March valued at more than $10 million to provide elevators for the planned 60-story Trump International Hotel & Tower in Toronto. When completed, the building will be the tallest residential building in Canada, according to the announcement from Bousbib. It will have 261 luxury hotel condominiums, in addition to 118 conventional condominiums, and a sky lobby on the 31st floor, Bousbib said.

Otis will provide a mix of 411 elevators for the tower, Bousbib said.

The Canadian deal came just about a week after Otis won a much larger contract worth $74 million with from ECE Europa Bau & Projektmanagement GmbH to supply elevators, escalators, and moving walkways for 19 shopping centers planned throughout Europe.

ECE Europa is developing 19 centers in Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, and Ukraine, Bousbib said.

Otis bills itself as the world’s largest manufacturer and maintainer of “people-moving products” including elevators, escalators, and moving walkways.

Otis is a subsidiary of Hartford-based United Technologies Corp.