Rhino enclosure, Folly Farm

Hot dip galvanized by: Joseph Ash Bridgend and Joseph Ash Telford
Fabricator: Folly Farm
End client: Folly Farm
Finish provided: Hot dip galvanizing
Size and amount of steel: 14 tonnes

Project goals

In 2015 Folly Farm in Wales welcomed two very rare black rhinos to its family of animals, but needed a bespoke indoor facility for the rhinos to call home. A building, now called the Kifaru Reserve, was constructed, featuring separate interlinking rooms for the rhinos, who are quite solitary creatures.

What happened

Folly Farm fabricated the steel frames for the rhino home themselves at their in-house fabrication unit. Joseph Ash Galvanizing was tasked with the job of hot dip galvanizing the steel frames.

As the local plant to Folly Farm, Joseph Ash Bridgend collected all the steel (14 tonnes worth) and galvanized the smaller pieces. Joseph Ash Telford, home to the widest galvanizing bath in the UK, was tasked with dipping the larger steel.

Once this process was complete, the steel was delivered back to Wales, where the Joseph Ash Bridgend team placed everything onto Joseph Ash Galvanizing trucks and drove it back to Folly Farm.

Outcome

The rhinos were safely housed in their new enclosure, with a durable steel finish made to last for decades.

Folly Farm chose to contract the work to Joseph Ash Galvanizing as our wide range of bath sizes across our network our plants made sure no steel fabrication was too big to be protected. Joseph Ash’s flexible service got the job done to a premium quality while also taking the hassle out of transport and supplier logistics.

Hot dip galvanizing improves the appearance, as well as protects and prolongs the life of steel, so we hope the rhinos will enjoy their new surroundings for many years.