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Introduction to steel as a material
It is incredibly hard to overestimate the importance of the steel industry as a whole in our regular lives. Many different devices, appliances, and structures are made with some form of metal, with steel being one of the more popular ones.
Steel has a plethora of different advantages on its own, including its incredibly high strength, its relatively low weight and its ability to be modified to meet specific goals. This kind of modification is only possible because steel itself is already an alloy of iron and carbon – which is why it is not particularly difficult to add other specific materials to the alloy during the initial forming process to change the properties of steel in a predictable way.
Luckily, the steel itself and its modifications are rather easy to predict and calculate with high accuracy, which is why this kind of alloy modification is so widespread now – making it one of the biggest advantages of steel as a construction material, first and foremost.
Steel’s ability to be mass-produced and prefabricated is also a big advantage on its own since it allows it to speed up the overall construction process by mass-producing the necessary details and steel elements whenever they are needed.
Of course, it would not be fair to mention so many advantages of steel while also not going over this material’s issues and shortcomings. For example, corrosion is a big limiting factor for all steel – as a process of material degradation in specific conditions that cannot be prevented completely, even with the aforementioned alloy modification. This issue is at its most noticeable when the steel structure in question is exposed to a combination of wind and water on a regular basis (a bridge is one of the more popular examples of these conditions).
Another notable disadvantage of steel as a fabrication material is its susceptibility to high temperatures – as a material, steel tends to lose a lot of its tensile strength when exposed to an intense level of heat for a prolonged time period. This is the main reason why steel’s fireproofing is a necessity for every situation where it can be close to a source of intense heat for an unknown time frame.
Steel fabricators
There are several large types of companies that interact with steel as a material in some way or form. One of these types is called “steel fabricator” – a company that uses steel in its raw form to create a multitude of different items or objects that can be used in either assembly or construction processes.
There are a lot of different processes involved in the steel fabrication process, including cutting, welding, machining, and bending, among many others. Even though these processes can be extremely precise and demand specific machinery to be used in the first place, there is no shortage of steel fabrication companies all over the world.
For example, Germany is considered the biggest steel supplier in Europe, and there are a lot of steel fabricators that are located in Germany. However, Germany is not the only country in that region that has a lot of steel fabrication companies – we can also mention the UK as an example of that. While the UK does not have nearly enough steel fabricators to match the popularity of Germany in this department, there are still quite a lot of different companies that offer all kinds of steel fabrication-related services while being located within the boundaries of this country.
In the list below we have compiled the 15 biggest examples of steel fabricators located in the UK, showcasing each company’s strengths and specialties. This list is not used as a ranking for these companies and their performance, the numeration is simply there for the sake of convenience.
London Steel Fabrication Ltd. is a notable steel fabricator based in the capital of the United Kingdom. It provides a plethora of different services and has several different job categories it excels, including the creation of structural steel beams, gates of variable complexity, all kinds of railings, staircases, shutters, fences, and more. The company claims to have a competitive combination of price and quality, while also being extremely fast in its steel fabrication processes.
Alpha Manufacturing is an award-winning steel fabricator that has been working in the industry since 1989 and is offering not only sheet metal fabrication services but also integrated engineering and metal design. The range of operations that the company is capable of performing with sheet metal includes welding, folding, machining, punching, and laser cutting. There are also powder coating, general assembly capabilities, and more. This kind of versatility allows Alpha Manufacturing to provide services in a multitude of sectors, including electrical, petrochemical, automotive, agricultural, healthcare, and so on.
While it is true that a lot of German steel fabricators are family businesses, that’s not to say that it is the only country to have these kinds of businesses. CSJ Steel Fabrication is a family-run steel fabricator that has been around since 2001, offering a multitude of steel products and services for commercial or residential purposes. The company in question is capable of producing steel products such as balconies, staircases, railings, security grilles, balustrades, gates, and various types of structural steelwork. They can also perform on-site welding and other steel-related operations that fall under the umbrella of repair jobs for steel objects.
London and its surrounding areas are not the only region of the UK that has steel fabrication companies in it. There are many different regions in the UK that have their own local steel fabricators, such as this particular company – Metal Fabrication Co. (Cardiff) Ltd. It is a company with over sixty years of experience on the market, offering one of the biggest assortments of steel products and services in South Wales. The company combines speed with quality in its services, using a variety of techniques and instruments to accommodate each and every customer’s wants and needs.
Providing a complete set of services in-house is a rather common occurrence for steel fabricators in the UK, with A13 Steel being a popular example of that. A13 Steel has a long list of satisfied clients that have used either the products or the services of the company. The list of services includes not only steel fabrication as a whole, but also a number of specific operations, including steel profiling, site survey, crane hire, and more. When it comes to products, on the other hand, A13 can offer fences, steel beams, balconies, staircases, and many different steel connection types for countless use cases and purposes.
Another example of a complete steel fabrication cycle performed in a single company is Birmingham Fabrications, offering a long list of products and services from the steel fabrication department. The company produces staircases, balustrades, steel frames, and many other elements with steel as the main material. They can also offer assembly and fabrication on-site, repair jobs, maintenance, mobile welding, as well as painting, shot-blasting, and transporting the products in question.
PMS Fabrications is a well-known steel fabricator from Carlisle that operates in Cumbria and all over the UK, offering high-quality steel fabrication services and products. It has a modern workshop in its base location that can produce an astonishing number of different steel elements for numerous purposes. PMS Fabrications can create roof systems, balconies, bridges, railings, walkways, fire escapes, stairs, and balustrades, while also offering crane hire services and more specific structural steel element creation.
Being one of the longest-running steel companies in the country, Adey Steel has been around since 1925 and is still a competent family-owned business that can work with a myriad of different steel projects. Not only this company has a lot of experience in providing materials and steel elements for construction purposes, it also provides these elements to the engineering industry, as well as the energy sector, the civil infrastructure sector, the railway sector, and more. The combination of dedication and experience allows Adey Steel to remain one of the best UK-based companies in the steel fabrication industry.
Hartwell Manufacturing is a massive steel company that has been in the steel fabrication industry since 1974. It is based in Ossett, Wakefield, with a massive manufacturing unit of 80,000 square feet in capacity, capable of fabricating a multitude of different steel objects/services split into five general categories – tanks/vessels, site services, material handling, chimneys, and general fabrication facility. The company works with both non-ferrous and ferrous metals, can provide objects of up to 100 tonnes in weight, and produces many different steel projects on a regular basis – from staircases and handrails to silos, steam headers, and specialized heavy structures.
Not every UK-based company has to be tied to one region in its capabilities. M J Ellis Manufacturing is a Winchester-based steel fabricator with over 35 years of experience in the field that not only works with clients in the region it’s based in, but also in Salisbury, Portsmouth, Southampton, South London, and Basingstoke. The company is an expert in steel fabrication and installation services, with specific operations such as structural steelwork, architectural metalworking, laser cutting, free site surveys, profile cutting, and so on.
Lycett Fabrications is a Tamworth-based steel fabrication company that strives to provide the best possible level of service to each and every one of its clients, be it a one-off order or a contract with massive fabrication volumes. The range of possible steel fabrication operations that Lycett can provide includes flame cutting, machining, welding, shot blasting, sawing, and finishing. The company’s services are accredited to ISO 9001:2008, and they can work within a large variety of sectors and industries, such as transport, mining, environmental, agriculture, waste management, and more.
Being one of the top steel fabricators in the UK, Gray Fabrication is an expert in the field of bending, pressing, and rolling operations, combined with their CNC and welding capabilities to provide all kinds of steel elements to its clients. Renewable energy, general engineering, as well as oil and gas industries are some of the more notable clients of this company. It is capable of handling projects of any scope, from smaller one-off projects to massive contracts for international clients. Gray Fabrication is a company that combines its experience in multiple different fields with high-precision machinery to make sure that all of its clients receive only the best results of their investments.
SAMS Fabrication might not have a lot of decades in the field, but it compensates for that with its experience and willingness to experiment with new technologies. It is a 25-year-old company that has collected a massive amount of experience in multiple steel fabrication-related fields over the years, and now that knowledge is being used to perform many different service types. The company can work with not only stainless steel but also copper, aluminum, and brass, with any task complexity, be it a small simple project or a massive months-long production order. The company combines the quality and speed of creation when it comes to its products, offering an unprecedented experience in this particular field.
Baker Steel Trading is a steel fabricator with a large focus on the steel construction industry. It works with structural steel, as well as with hollow sections and rolled sections to create not only different parts of buildings or different structural elements but also railings, gates, and several other types of similar steel structures. Other features that Baker Steel Trading can provide include on-site fabrication, installation, on-site survey and measuring, crane hire, and mobile welding. The company also relies a lot on the usage of 3D models for its projects to achieve the highest accuracy level possible for each and every one of its steel products.
Another example of a UK-based steel fabrication company is Canterbury Steel – a company that performs many steel-related services while being based in Canterbury, as the name suggests. It is over twenty years old and has managed to develop a vast portfolio of projects and experiences to make each of its services as good as they can be. Not only they are capable of performing steel fabrication as a whole, but there are also services such as steel installation, steel supply, and more. The company serves its surrounding areas, as well as Whitstable, Greenhill, Faversham, and Herne Bay, to name a few locations.
Conclusion
There is quite an assortment of steel fabrication companies that are located in the UK and can satisfy either the needs of the surrounding areas, the needs of the clients from different parts of the world, or both. However, the steel fabrication company does not have to be located in the UK to be able to provide steel fabrication services for clients in the UK territory.
IST Engineering is a good example of such a company. While it is located in Estonia, it is extremely close to all three of the major transportation types, which makes product delivery extremely fast and easy no matter where the client is located – and that includes the United Kingdom, too.
IST Engineering is an experienced company of professionals in the field of steel fabrication, offering the ability to manufacture specific steel parts or even entire steel modules to create houses from. It has been around since 1991 and earned its reputation via satisfied clients from all over the world.
- Introduction to steel as a material
- Steel fabricators
- London Steel Fabrication Ltd
- Alpha Manufacturing Hixon Ltd
- CSJ Steel Fabrication
- Metal Fabrication Co. (Cardiff) Ltd
- Birmingham Fabrications Ltd
- PMS Fabrications Ltd
- Adey Steel Ltd
- Hartwell Manufacturing
- M J Ellis Manufacturing
- Lycett Fabrications Ltd
- Gray Fabrication Ltd
- SAMS Fabrications
- Baker Steel Trading
- Canterbury Steel
- Conclusion
