Project scope

Technically, we aren’t London steel fabricators, we’re based in Kent, but we work in London a lot. This project was located in Sutton, South London, in close proximity from our steel fabrication workshop in Gravesend.

At first, we received drawings from our customer so we can provide a quote. Our quote was then accepted and we were instructed to start work. The next stage is us sending a drawing for approval to our customer. Sometime drawings are very simple as they just need to get the information to the fabricator.

Once our customer approves our drawing, we then move onto the next stage which is steel cutting. We use laser guided steel cutting, which allows us to work within mm tolerance. Steel and iron are usually the most popular metals cut in this way. The thickness of the metal will depend on the size of the laser cutter, but some can work with thicknesses of up to 30mm. Absolute perfection!

Next step is the steel fabrication. The fabricators prepare the steel and plates, and once they’re ready, they will then tack weld the plates on.

The work is then double checked to make sure the lengths are correct and the plates are square. Once that is done, the fabricator will fully weld and complete his job.

The steel is then taking out to our steel painting area for the correct steel finish to be applied.

This time we used fire paint. It’s a type of steel finish that is the most commonly used to protect steel against fire and acts as an insulator, forming a solid char in response to heat. Fire rated intumescent paint can be applied on steel as a thin or a thick film coating. Intumescent fireproof paint forms a thin top layer that prevents deformation and damage to the surface of fabricated steel. The painted coating swells under the influence of high temperatures, expanding many times, turning into a reliable thermal barrier.

After all the above, the fabricated steel is stacked ready to be loaded onto one of our fleet vehicles.

Once we arrive on site, we place the steel with one of our cranes exactly where our customer needs it. On this occasion it was up onto the scaffolding.

The steel is then checked again, and the job is signed off and over to the builder to put it all together as it was designed.