SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Passing between the Art Gallery and the Henry Moore Institute today I was surprised to see what looked like part of the paved area had been raised. Getting closer I saw that a quite complex otherwise hidden lifting mechanism had raised the large piece of the paved area. On asking I was told it was where objects were placed on and then the section was raised or lowered as needed so that the objects could be pushed into or out of the Art Gallery. I will have passed over that section many times and never knew that it was movable up and down. The picture shows the section raised with a view of the hydraulic mechanism. There were 2 men doing some work on the mechanism.

This photo shows the raised section lined up with the access/egress to the Art Gallery.

Leodian wrote: This photo shows the raised section lined up with the access/egress to the Art Gallery. What a good idea better than seeing some ugly grid on the floor.Just goes to show what can be done with a bit of thought.Well spotted.    

This somewhat out of focus photo (taken Nov 29 2011) shows a closer view of the hydraulic mechanism in action. There were 2 safety fences, through which I was able to put my camera through a gap between wires in the first but I could not get it through a gap in the second!

its a scissor lift. We have them in some of our stores and they are always breaking down. I like the way they have paved it though!