Category Archives: Steel Staircase

All Metal Solutions 4In June, this year All Metal Solutions were featured on the BBC’s DIY SOS programme. The programme went out showing that we had supplied and fitted a range of steel products for the extension of a local property including:

  • handrails for the steps to the garden
  • a bench
  • 3 shelf units
  • table legs for the dining room table
  • steel butterfly

All Metal Solutions 2The handrails are products we often make for residential use to keep safely projects like this and commercially with regard to safety of the public and workers.

The handrails were a last minute make overnight product which had to be powder coated and installed in less than 48 hours whereas it normally take the company around 2 weeks working in a normal period. The bench was pre-ordered so were ready when filming began and just needed installing after the main building was completed.

All Metal Solutions 3The other products were to ensure the inside of the house were finished to make it a wonderful space for the family concerned and were specified by the designer, again in advance of the programme’s filming. In keeping with the whole concept the table required a set of table legs for the dining room table along with three shelf units, all for use in the interior of the property.

All Metal Solutions 5This beautiful, but complicated butterfly is part of All Metal Solutions expansion into consumer artworks suitable for putting in the finished garden. This product would normally take a while to produce and luckily All Metal Solutions were given some time to produce this prior to the programme being filmed.

Our contact to produce the range of products featured in DIY SOS came through HLS structural engineers who also worked on the project and a company All Metal Solutions both recommend  and occasionally  work with.

To find out more how we could help you just follow this link>>>All Metal Solutions 6

 

The set of EastEnders

Steel requirements come to us in all shapes, sizes and from some amazing places!

eastenders steel requirements 2Well by now you have all seen the episode of EastEnders when the bus crashed into the ‘all steel’ Tube bridge!

What you might not have known is that we, All Metal Solutions of downtown Hatfield had a big role to play in that episode that was shot last December.

The bridge on the set is made of timber, and painted to look like a full steel bridge .

We were asked to come along and remove part of the bridge and rebuild using steel and steel panels as they wanted to crash a bus into it and make it look as real as possible in the way the bridge would look after and the impact it would have on the bus hitting it.

If you follow this link to the Eastenders’ bus crash it will give you images after the impact, it worked so well that they were able to drive a 2nd bus into the bridge to see if they could get a harder impact. In fact their steel requirements were more than exceeded by our supplies.

And then to complete the job back went the wooden bridge and their set designers made it look if it had been “repaired” by the time it was next viewed .

From our point of view, let’s hope the bridge falls down in the future so we can repair it with real steel!

Our ‘Friendly’ Suppliers

staircase steel requirementsIt’s not only stars with their steel requirements, but we also help our suppliers.

Knowing of our work done previously with steel bannisters for stairs (including one we did for a Ralph Lauren display in Harrods), a supplier asked them whether we could help.

The images seen here are of a stainless steel mirror finish handrail we have just completed.

They wanted to get rid of traditional handrail in their cottage. There is not much natural light above the stairs and the mirror finish on the inside of the steel stringers helps reflect more natural light on to the treads.

staircase steel requirements 2Bespoke mirror cladding covers to cover up all the existing timber work, and the glass also allows more natural light to come through the balustrade on the stairs.

These show our versatility, so even if it a simple steel beam or a complex piece of steel that needs manufacturing, All Metal Solutions are here to help you get your products produced to the highest standards and to a competitive price.

Just contact us with your needs from this link >>>

Metal Handrails masterIn a world where we are now more considerate towards the disabled, metal staircases are giving way to accessible ramps with metal handrails, and lifts as well as the standard staircase.  This is especially true in public access buildings such as railways stations across the country.

Recently a contract was issued to a main contractor, Hollywell Building Services,  on behalf of the end user Abellio Greater Anglia for the re-configuration of the ticket office to accommodate less abled persons at Stansted Mountfitchet station in Essex.  As part of this project,  new steps, a ramp with metal handrails and disabled friendly counters were required.

metal handrails and grilles Stansted Mountfitchet Station
Stansted Mountfitchet Station

All Metal Services were awarded the subcontract to supply and fit balustrading and Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) compliant metal handrails  to the new facilities, as well as producing and fitting modifications to the existing anti-vandal grilles.

In the first instance we took the architects drawings supplied and produced DDA compliant designs for approval by the client. After approval we then proceeded to procurement and manufacture whilst liaising with Abellio Greater Anglia and Hollywell Building Services to ensure that all the manufactured components surrounding the staircase and ramp would be delivered on time and installed with the minimum disruption to the operation of the station and to the public.

Metal Handrails
Metal Handrails

To ensure the best possible customer experience and to comply with DDA regs we used a “Warm to the touch” paint finish on the yellow metal handrails. The re-configuring of the anti-vandal screens was necessary to allow the new DDA handrails to have sufficient clearance so as not to cause snags and catches to the traveling public.

This is just another example of how All Metal Solutions not only create solutions to construction problems   but also look at the wider consequences of their proposals whether  they be metal handrails in railway stations, shop fitting items in high end outlets or simply metal beams required by the building trade (commercial or residential).

To find out more about how All Metal Solutions could help your project come to fruition whilst at the same time taking into account full end user requirement as well as cost and quality just follow this link.

The Steel Staircase Problem

Cosmetic International  employed Woodhouse Contracts of Hatfield as the main contractor on their Watford site. Woodhouse’s requirement was to fit a compliant steel staircase into a limited space between a concrete slab and a proposed new disabled lift and that it be not only a compliant but aesthetically pleasing.

Steel staircase architect drawing
Steel staircase architect drawing

All Metal Solutions was approached to become the sub-contractor to design, build and fit the stairway. We designed several versions as solutions to the problem for comment. After both the Client and main contractor commented and after various further issues were discussed; All Metal Solutions produced a final drawing of the steel staircase for structural approval .

final steel staircase 2Building regulations state that every building must be designed and constructed in such a way that every level can be reached safely by stairs or ramps.

As half of all accidents involving falls within and around buildings occur on stairways, this risk can be greatly reduced by ensuring that any change in level incorporates basic precautions to guard against accident and falls.

Regulation for Steel Stairways and Landings

The effective width is measured between handrails, clear of obstructions. The effective width of our stairway was in accordance with the recommendations of a minimum of 800 mm from one storey to another where a continuous handrail is fitted to both sides of a flight with no more than 16 rises.

final steel staircaseThe design of any pedestrian protective barriers in and around such gaps in any protective barrier should not be large enough to permit a child to pass through. To ensure this, openings in a protective barrier should prevent the passage of a 100 mm diameter sphere. However, the space between a rise in a stair and the lowest edge of the protective barrier may be larger than 100 mm, provided the lowest edge of the barrier is not more than 50 mm above, and parallel to, the pitch line of the stair.

There are more points to be considered of course and we took all the necessary steps at this design stage to ensure we complied.

On approval we manufactured and have since installed the steel staircase as can be seen from the pictures. However, the job is not yet complete. As soon as the builder clears the area we will be installing the glass panels onto the stainless steel handrails.

Summary

The problem was to construct and fit a steel stairway with limited space between a concrete slab, a new lift and a main entrance doorway. In addition the client also wanted clear under stair space for storage.

The solution that was eventually put into practice was affected by good old fashioned drawing and drafting works. Delays that occurred in the process caused by planning and client discussions meant  All Metal Solutions had to accommodate a delayed start date of over a month, and to provide a quicker turn round when the go was finally given; demonstrating All Metal Solution’s great flexibility and awareness in our planning and costing.

For more on what we could do for you just follow the link here .