LIFT supplier Caltech Lifts is hoping a contract to supply stairlifts to a location for Hollywood movie Cloud Atlas may lead to future orders from filmmakers or Hollywood’s older A-listers.
The family-owned company based in Dundee is one of the UK’s leading suppliers and maintainers of a range of lifts and was first approached by the Assistant Set Decorator for the film, Carrie Garner, in August 2011. She asked if they could supply two stairlifts to act as props for a three-day location shoot at Overtoun House, Dunbartonshire.
It doubles as a Scottish retirement home in which Oscar-winner Jim Broadbent’s character Timothy Cavendish finds himself trapped after agreeing to hide there while on the run from a gangster. But he soon finds that his brother (Hugh Grant), who he cuckolded, has plans to keep him there!
Safety
Caltech supplied two Brooks Lincoln stairlifts to the film company in September 2011 for the garden and a hallway, but as they were not to be fully installed or used the firm removed the batteries for safety. Despite that they play a supporting role in the blockbuster, which also stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon and Hugo Weaving.
Caltech Director Andrew Renwick (right) only discovered the extent of his firm’s stairlifts’ role when he went to his local cinema at the start of March with his fiancée Suzie. “I half expected the scenes with them to be cut, but they were clearly in-shot at least twice! I almost shouted out, but a swift elbow from Suzie reminded me I was in a packed cinema! It was pretty exciting to see the stairlifts we provided in the film,” he said.
Hollywood market
“We’re hoping this is the start of a new market for us — providing lifts for other movies and TV shoots, or who knows, we may even get asked to supply stairlifts for the more senior members of the Hollywood A-List! We’d love to be stairlift supplier to the stars.”
There’s one lift though which Caltech are delighted they DIDN’T supply — the passenger lift Halle Berry gets stuck in at one point in the movie!
Until the first stairlift order comes in from Tinseltown’s veterans, Andrew will be busying himself preparing for his April wedding to fiancée Suzie Reid. “If any Beverley Hills VIPs want to place an order during my honeymoon, they’ll have to speak to my dad or brother!” he laughed.
Established in 1978, Caltech Limited is one of the UK’s leading suppliers and maintainers of lifting equipment, including passenger lifts, goods lifts, disabled access lifts and stairlifts to the Public and Private Sectors including local government as well as the health, construction, oil/energy, renewables and property sectors.
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Sandra Cole05/08/2022I would like to say a huge thank you to your team for the excellent customer service you have provided to my parents in Dundee. You have gone way beyond providing a service. My mum is disabled and cannot function at home without her stairlift. She is by all accounts housebound. The support you have given them is quite frankly unbelievable and it is blatantly apparent how much you care. I cannot recommend your company highly enough. My parents are my world and I have no words to explain just how well you have looked after them. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are amazing. Sandra Cole.Lynn N14/02/2022Quoted and fitted a stairlift for my parents at short notice and at a significantly lower price than all the national competitors. Happy to support a local company, and we were delighted with the service - from sales staff to the guy who performed the installation.kev08/06/2021We (Alpha Projects) have worked with Caltech Lifts on several projects and would not hesitate to highly recommend the company. We have always found Caltech to offer a friendly, personable service and carry out their works in an efficient, safe and timely manner.John Fort07/05/2021Cannot thank Caltech enough for swift service in getting our lift back up and running in time when we urgently needed it most, could not have got this service any where else top job guys - Thank you again - The Fort Hotel Broughty Ferry DundeeJason Sellars18/12/2020An absolute pleasure to deal with. Having discussed my requirements Caltech were able to provide a stairlift that matched my criteria and budget perfectly. Very impressed by their clear, friendly and fast communication as well as punctuality . Installation work by engineer Tony is impeccable, and was carried out very efficiently with no disruption at all. He also gave excellent step by step instructions on using the lift (we all observed Covid awareness throughout). This stairlift has helped to lift my mum out of what has been a very difficult time for her, and I'm so pleased to have supported such a well deserving local company. Thanks again Murray, Graeme and Tony!Robert Sloan13/12/2020I would highly recommend Caltech Lifts as just installed a stair lift into my mothers home. From start to finish all those involved have been very professional, efficient, keeping us informed throughout the whole process. The installation was carried out to a high standard. Special thanks to Graeme and TonyHenry Donaldson19/07/2020We recently had a problem with the lift in the care home myself and my wife run - our current service provider said we were going to have to spend £20,000 to upgrade the equipment so naturally I got a second price. To my absolute delight Caltech sent an engineer out to take details but also to spend a little time on the lift to which they managed to resolve the intermittent fault and it has now been running perfectly for 6 weeks!! Can't thank the team enough.Brian J Kidd03/07/2017Super helpful. Great service and staff, highly recommend
