Celebrating the heritage of Carnival and Jonkonnu

Sokari Douglas Camp applauds the Carnival spirit with hot dip galvanized steel sculptures

With London’s most famous carnival taking over Notting Hill next month, we’re showcasing a new art installation by acclaimed artist Sokari Douglas Camp, CBE.

Born in Nigeria and based in London, Sokari has exhibitions worldwide, including at the Smithsonian and the British Museum. One of her most recent was part of Kensington and Chelsea Art Week.

The artwork is a hot dip galvanized steel sculpture of two vibrantly dressed, life-size characters with ornate headgear.

The characters represent key themes:

Kalabari masquerades from the Nigerian coastal region where Sokari was born.
The vitality and spirit of the Notting Hill Carnival bouncing back after COVID.
Jonkonnu revellers in Jamaica in the late 1830s.

Sokari was inspired to create the two characters after researching the origins of the Notting Hill Carnival during lockdown and seeing some Jonkonnu lithographs by Isaac Mendes Belisario.

Jonkonnu was a festival practised during slavery in the Caribbean when plantation workers were allowed a few days off. They celebrated with “exuberant musical masquerades that recalled their African heritage”. (Source)

Sokari saw positivity in the Jonkonnu festivals because even in times of adversity, the revellers danced, sang, showed resilience, and celebrated their heritage.

Likening this to the return of the Notting Hill Carnival after it disappeared during COVID, Sokari had faith that the carnival spirit lives on.

The costumes may have changed since the 1830s – fewer sailors and petticoats, more tiny outfits, lycra and birds of paradise feathered headgear – but celebrating heritage using dance, music, and costumes remains.

Finding ‘good’ in the ‘bad’

Another theme that Sokari explored when creating these sculptures is the notion of ‘finding good in the bad’. When you look at the photos, you’ll see ornate headgear on the two characters featuring tea and sugar cane. With these references, Sokari wants to remind us that Caribbean and African slaves had harsh lives on tea and sugar cane plantations. And yet there’s a dichotomy to this, as tea is often soothing, and sugar is sweet. We should never forget there are many layers of heritage.

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The making of the sculptures

Sokari made the Jonkonnu sculptures in her Elephant & Castle, London studio by welding, cutting, and bending steel. Joseph Ash Medway – a supplier to Sokari for 15 years – hot dip galvanized the steel to give it a protective coating.

Sokari then covered the sculptures with vibrant coloured car spray back in her studio.

She had just one month to pull the whole project together! But she succeeded.

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If you’d like to see the Jonkonnu sculptures, they will be outside the Design Museum in London until 30 August 2022, and as part of an exhibit at The October Gallery until 23 July 2022. Sokari is also exhibiting at the V&A until May 2023

To read more about Sokari and her works, visit her website.

To immerse yourself in Carnival heritage, visit Notting Hill from 27-29 August 2022.

It’s not just galvanizing quality that’s important to Joseph Ash. It’s also how efficiently and safely we manage customer collections and deliveries. Because we’re always looking for improvements in this area, we have installed TIP Insight at our Joseph Ash Chesterfield plant.

TIP Insight is a telematics-based digital and connected service which allows us to track the whereabouts of our trailers and report on their health.

Recently, we’ve fitted the device to 41 transport trailers at Chesterfield.

TIP Insight will allow us to:

Monitor brake performance and tyre pressure. This enables us to comply with the brake monitoring standards set out in the DVSA’s Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness and add an extra level of safety for our drivers.
Track our trailers, giving us a real-time view of where they are, which in turn helps us improve utilization.
Geofence our customer sites, alerting us when a trailer reaches its destination.
Reduce our carbon footprint by utilizing our fleet more efficiently.

We fitted the devices to the trailers in late June, so it’s still early days in monitoring effectiveness. We’re excited about the data, though, and we look forward to using the information produced.

In our quest to reduce our carbon footprint even more we will be installing the TIP system on our whole group fleet in due course.

Find out more about TIP Insights here.

Joseph Ash Medway has recently commissioned the first phase of pallet racking in our goods in / despatch yard. This is a significant investment at our Kent plant by Hill & Smith (parent company).

The new racking improves the safety, operational efficiency, and organisation of the site’s warehousing activities by reducing the double handling of materials and congestion in this part of the yard.

The storage includes three aisles of three-tier racking, creating 151 pallet storage spaces for finished products before despatch.

Tim Palmer, General Manager at Medway, commented: “The health and safety of our teams are paramount at all Joseph Ash sites. The new racking helps us create space and improve organisation and safety in this critical business area.”

Palmer added: “The new racking will also improve our customers’ service. For example, eliminating additional handling reduces the risk of mechanical damage to customers’ valuable work. Also, the improved visibility of all work will help our loading teams ensure items do not miss a delivery run.”

The Structural Steel Design Association (SSDA) has recently announced the shortlist for the 2022 Awards. Have you made the list?

The Structural Steel Design Awards – held every year – celebrates the best-of-the-best in steel construction in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Sponsored by the British Constructional Steelwork Association and Trimble Solutions (UK) Ltd, the event awards companies and individuals who demonstrate the potential of steel with regards to cost-effectiveness, sustainability, innovation, and aesthetics.

The Awards will take place on 29 September 2022 at an evening reception in London.

The 20 diverse shortlisted entries have been announced. Here’s who made the list:

One Braham Place, London

Architect – WilkinsonEyre
Structural engineer – Arup
Steelwork contractor – Severfield
Main contractor – McLaughlin & Harvey
Client – Aldgate Developments

1 Triton Square, London
Architect – Arup Associates
Structural engineer – Arup
Steelwork contractor – William Hare
Main contractor – Lendlease
Client – British Land

Abbey Chesterton Bridge, Cambridge
Architect – Knight Architects
Structural engineer – Milestone Infrastructure
Steelwork contractor – S H Structures Ltd
Main contractor – Tarmac
Client – Cambridgeshire County Council

Assembly Bristol Building A
Architect – Allford Hall Monaghan Morris
Structural engineer – Arup
Steelwork contractor – Severfield
Main contractor – Galliford Try
Client – Bell Hammer

Bloom, Clerkenwell, London
Architect – John Roberston Architects Ltd
Structural engineer – Buro Happold
Steelwork contractor – Severfield
Main contractor – HB Reavis UK Ltd
Client – HB Reavis UK Ltd

Bombardier Maintenance Hangar, Biggin Hill
Architect – Civils Contracting Ltd
Structural engineer – REIDsteel
Steelwork contractor – REIDsteel
Main contractor – Civils Contracting Ltd
Client – Biggin Hill Airport Development Ltd

Central Atrium Hilltop, RHS Wisley
Architect – WilkinsonEyre
Structural engineer – Michael Barclay Partnership LLP
Steelwork contractor – Hillcrest Structural Ltd
Main contractor – Osborne Ltd
Client – Royal Horticultural Society

Esperence Bridge, King’s Cross, London
Architect – Moxon Architects
Structural engineer – Arup
Steelwork contractor – S H Structures Ltd
Main contractor – Galldris
Client – Argent

Fire Station Auditorium, Sunderland
Architect – Flanagan Lawrence, Howarth Litchfield
Structural engineer – JC Consulting
Steelwork contractor – Brims Construction Ltd
Client – The Sunderland Music, Arts & Culture Trust

Houlton School, Rugby
Architect – Van Heyningen and Haward Architects
Structural engineer – Price & Myers
Steelwork contractor – Mifflin Construction Ltd
Main contractor – Morgan Sindall Construction
Client – Urban & Civic plc

Hydro Ness, Inverness
Architect – Leslie Hutt Architect
Structural engineer – Hasson Engineering Solutions
Steelwork contractor – M. Hasson and Sons Ltd
Main contractor – Bradley and Company, Hydro NI
Client – Highland Council

Joules Head Office, Market Harborough
Architect – Edge
Structural engineer – Cundall
Steelwork contractor – Bailey Construction Ltd
Client – Joules

LCT 7074 Canopy, The D-Day Story, Portsmouth
Architect – Pritchard Architecture
Structural engineer – Mann Williams
Steelwork contractor – Hillcrest Structural Ltd
Main contractor – Ascia Construction Ltd
Client – The National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth City Council

Lords Cricket Ground, Compton & Edrich Stand Redevelopment
Architect – WilkinsonEyre
Structural engineer – Buro Happold
Steelwork contractor – Severfield
Main contractor – ISG Construction
Client – Marylebone Cricket Club

One Crown Place, London
Architect – KPF
Structural engineer – AKT II
Steelwork contractor – Severfield
Main contractor – Mace
Client – AlloyMtd

Pace Gallery, Hanover Square, London
Architect – Jamie Fobert Architects
Structural engineer – Price & Myers
Main contractor – QOB Interiors
Client – Pace Gallery

St. James Quarter, Edinburgh
Architect – BDP
Structural engineer – Arup
Steelwork contractor – BHC Ltd
Main contractor – Laing O’Rourke
Client – Nuveen

The Glassworks, Barnsley
Architect – IBI Group
Structural engineer – Adept Civil and Structural Consulting Engineers
Steelwork contractor – Billington Structures Ltd
Main contractor – Henry Boot Construction Ltd
Client – Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council

22 Bishopsgate, London
Architect – PLP Architecture
Structural engineer – WSP
Steelwork contractor – Severfield
Main contractor – Multiplex
Client – Lipton Rogers Developments

Brittania Leisure Centre, Hackney, London
Architect – Faulknerbrowns Architects
Structural engineer – Buro Happold
Steelwork contractor – Severfield
Main contractor – Morgan Sindall Construction
Client – Hackney Council

Tower of Light, Manchester
Architect – Tonkin Liu
Structural engineer – Arup
Main contractor – Vital Energi
Client – Manchester City Council

Good luck to all the shortlist entries!

To see last year’s winners, click here.

The annual Galvanizer’s Association Galvanizing Awards (affectionately known as the GAGAs) took place last Friday, 1 July. It was a great afternooon!

The GAGAs celebrate the use of galvanizing in architecture and art.

The winners of the 2022 Annual GAGAs – who all received a highly coveted GA oil can – are as follows:

Architecture Award

The Architecture Award celebrates the most innovative and effective use of galvanized steelwork in architectural projects. This year’s Architecture Award went to two joint winners:

The C1 Design District, London, by Architecture 00, and Surrey Docks Farm by PUP Architects.

Sustainable Award

The Sustainable Award celebrates projects where galvanized steel is used mainly for its ecological benefits, which are clearly reflected within the project’s description and the philosophy behind it.

Flimwell Park in East Sussex by Architecture Ensemble won this year’s Sustainable Award.

Engineering Award

Architect: Tonkin Liu, Engineer: Arup, Manufactured by Cake Industries

The Engineering Award celebrates the most innovative and effective use of galvanized steelwork, but with special attention paid to structural functionality and industrial use of galvanized steel.

The Swing Bridge by Tonkin Liu is this year’s Engineering Award winner.

Duplex Award

The Duplex Award takes into consideration projects that use galvanized steel coated with any of the organic coatings i.e. wet paints, powder coating etc. As with the architecture and engineering awards, it includes all sizes of project and the functionality as well as the aesthetics of the structure will be of interest.

This year’s Duplex Award was won by GK Engineering for Goodluck Hope Building.

Detail Award

The Detail Award is granted to projects that display interesting and innovative uses of galvanized steel in elements that are not the main part of a structure. But form a detail, which supports the overall functionality and aesthetics of the architectural or engineering project.

This year’s winner of the Detail Award is Thomas Randall-Page for Art Barn.

The Highly Commended Detail Award went to Nick Hill Architects for Notting Hill Garden House.

Art Award

The Art Award is awarded to the most compelling use of galvanized steelwork in contemporary art and the built environment.

This year’s winner of the Art Award is Katie Ventress Artist Blacksmith for The Boulby Miner.

Special Mention

Finally, this year’s Special Mention in Architecture Award went to Nissen Richards Studio for Sutton Hoo.

The judging panel for the 2022 GAGAs consisted of Matthew Wells (Techniker), Isabelle Priest (RIBA Journal), Jack Broad (Carmody Groarke), and Iqbal Johal (Galvanizers Association).

Congratulations to all the 2022 winners, and shortlisted entries!

This month we’re talking GAGAs, Intergalva, ESG Week, International Women in Engineering Day, Jurassic World Dominion, dinosaurs, and promotions.

We’ve also had more peacock visits at Telford!

Finally, we’re sharing a recently produced poster to help you make sense of all the lingo surrounding sustainability and the environment. We’ve called it the ‘Carbon Jargon Buster’. We hope you find it useful.

To read a copy click here.

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The annual Galvanizing Association Galvanizers Awards (GAGAs) will be announced next week (Friday 1 July), and we’re looking forward to it, especially as it’s a face-to-face event again.

Some amazing entries have made the shortlist, and we’re proud that some of the projects have been hot dip galvanized by Joseph Ash Galvanizing and Premier Galvanizing: The Hothouse by Cake Industries, The Whitby Trail by Emma Stothard Sculpture, the Swing Bridge by Tonkin Liu and Cake Industries, and Nest by Ian Gill Sculpture.

Here’s the full shortlist.

If you’re heading to the Ceremony next week, we wish you luck in winning one of the awards!

As weather forecasts across the UK look good this week, with plenty of sunshine, we’re celebrating ‘Mr Blue Sky’ in Newham.

‘Mr Blue Sky’ is a cloud-shaped sculpture which sits atop a row of shops in Plaistow, London. It was commissioned by Shape Newham, who play a key part in a borough-wide investment in public art.

The fabricator was Cake Industries who created the sculpture from folded aluminium panels.

Joseph Ash Galvanizing was proud to hot dip galvanize the steel supporting structure behind the panels.

Look out (or look up!) for the sculpture if you’re in the East London area this week.

Architect: AOC Architects
Structural Engineering: Momentum Structural Engineers
Main contractor and installation: Olli Construction

Following World Environment Day at the weekend, the Joseph Ash Group has designated the first week of June to be ‘ESG Week’. During this week, we’re raising awareness of the environment and social and governance issues affecting our colleagues, clients, and suppliers.

This is the first year for our new annual event, and so far this week, we’ve delivered presentations on ‘What is ESG?’. We’ve also provided resources (posters and links to activities) to team members to help them understand some of the terminology used (e.g. ‘Carbon Neutral’, ‘Net Zero’, ‘Carbon Offsetting’). Plus, we’ve shared advice on being more energy, waste and water conscious both at work and at home.

Later this week, we’ll be conducting safety tours to reinforce the importance of health and safety in the workplace.

Here are some of the important topics we’re covering:

Environment

Compliance with all environmental legislation

Minimise all negative environmental impacts from our operations – emissions to air, water and land

Minimise our resource usage and support a circular economy

Reduce our carbon emissions and work towards achieving Net Zero carbon emissions.

Social

Managing the risks to the health, safety & wellbeing of our colleagues and other stakeholders

Improve the talent and diversity of our colleagues and create a value-based culture within the business

Positively engage with our local community by providing support to local initiatives and charities

Supporting apprenticeships.

Governance

Effectively identifying, mitigating, and controlling business risk

Operating in compliance with all applicable legislation

Ethically conducting business and working with integrity

Using reputable suppliers and working with customers that support our values

Ensuring all decision-making is carried out with our values, strategy and impacts considered.

Michael Worth, Head of ESG & Technical at the Joseph Ash Group explaining our galvanizing process ‘Green Plan’

If you want to know more about ESG across the Joseph Ash Group (Joseph Ash Galvanizing and Premier Galvanizing), please get in touch. We’d love to tell you all about it!

Welcome to our latest newsletter. This month we’re talking Platinum Jubilees, peacocks and plant news. We’re also sharing more ‘design for galvanizing’ advice, and celebrating the achievements of our clients at the recent Chelsea Flower Show.