School unveils Matthew Lane Sanderson sculpture in grounds
Solihull School unveils a wonderful sculpture by Matthew Lane Sanderson in the grounds of its chapel. Sculpture hot dip galvanized by Joseph Ash Galvanizing.
Solihull School in the Midlands is an independent day school for boys and girls aged between seven and 18. The school moved to its present site in 1882, and has seen many improvements since, with recent developments including a new sports pavilion, PE facilities, additional teaching areas and a dedicated music school. One of the most recent developments at the school was the addition a new Matthew Lane Sanderson sculpture on the forecourt of the school chapel. The School has also just opened a new state of the art Sixth Form Building, complete with innovative teaching and private study areas and a panoramic top floor terrace. This new building will be the site of a second sculpture by Matthew.
The chapel and the sculpture
The school felt that the forecourt to the chapel needed redevelopment, as it was looking bland and tired. In addition, some of the paving had cracked and was a health and safety concern.
It was thought that the area needed a new central focus, and after seeing sculptures at other schools, coupled with a desire to promote art and design across the School, the decision was made to commission a sculptor to produce an eye-catching installation.
The brief that was given to various sculptors included a work of art that would:
- Foster a sense of community – an important part of the School’s ethos
- Celebrate the School’s choral successes and excellence
- Promote the School’s Christian foundation, without the need to have an overt religious figure
- Be a strong image, but not one that was too “abstract”.
Many sculptors expressed an interest in the work, but the School liked Matthew’s ideas and approach.
Matthew Lane Sanderson
Matthew is a renowned Midlands based sculptor who specialises in ‘Big Art’, sculpting large public installations, and smaller private pieces, out of industrial materials.
Matthew set to work on designing and creating the sculpture that now sits on the chapel forecourt. The sculpture is called ‘Conduct’.
‘Conduct’ is 5 metres tall and 3 metres wide, and is stunning.
Joseph Ash Galvanizing is pleased to have played a part in the sculpture’s history as the steel was hot dip galvanized at our Joseph Ash Walsall plant.
Richard Bate, Bursar and Clerk to the Governors at Solihull School said:
“The sculpture has helped transform the chapel forecourt, along with the significant repaving and installation of planters/benching in the area surrounding the sculpture.”
Matthew currently has 50 sculptures displayed permanently across the UK, and regularly uses steel to fabricate his art.
We look forward to following the developments at Solihull School and to seeing more of Matthew’s work at our plants.
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In June 2012 the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service submitted plans to demolish the fire station in Hirwaun in the Cynon Valley in Wales, in order to replace it with a new environmentally friendly, state-of-the-art fire station, worth £1 million. Permission was granted by the Rhondda Cynon Taf council, and the work soon began.
The new fire station was built by Andrew Scott Ltd, a construction and engineering company, who then commissioned Shufflebottom Ltd to make the steel frame.
Shufflebottom supplied almost 16 tonnes of steel to Andrew Scott Ltd for the build, some of which Joseph Ash Galvanizing was pleased to hot dip galvanize.
The new fire station is an interesting building because it was designed to not only act as a fire station, but also for use by the whole community. It also had to blend in well with its surroundings, which includes housing, industrial units and mountains. Finally, it needed to be environmentally friendly.
As well as being made of steel, the building – with its integrated training tower – also uses salvaged Welsh slate, timber cladding and two green roofs complete with grass that absorbs pollution in the atmosphere and reduces heating bills. The local wildlife was also considered in the design as the building includes bat boxes and a sparrow terrace.
Shufflebottom is a valued customer of Joseph Ash Galvanizing. We were more than happy to assist with this project and we were also thrilled for both Shufflebottom and Andrew Scott Ltd when they won a RIDBA FAB award for the building in the Spring of 2015.
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Andy Scott is a renowned artist, known for his distinctive hand-crafted figurative sculptures, which are dramatically displayed as landmarks internationally and across the UK.
Because many of Andy’s works of art are huge in size and fabricated from steel, he regularly engages the services of Joseph Ash Galvanizing to galvanize and prolong the life of the sculptures.
Back in January we wrote about some steel horses which Joseph Ash Galvanizing treated for Andy. You can read about these equine beauties here.
More recently however, Joseph Ash Galvanizing also treated a six metres high sculpture which now stands outside the new Crayford Library in Bexley, Kent.
The sculpture is called ‘Propella’ and features a lady standing on a plinth with her arms outstretched, holding a propeller, wrapped in a spiral of swirls.
The statue commemorates the former Vickers Company factory which once stood at the same location employing 12,000 local men and women between 1914 and 1918, producing armaments for WWI. Interestingly, the famous Vickers Vimy Aircraft was also built there (the first plane to cross the Atlantic), and the plinth that ‘Propella’ stands upon is based on the shape of the Vickers Vimy engine unit.
The sculpture – which was paid for by the Crayford Town Hall Square developers and Sainsbury’s – also has symbols relating to the textile company David Evans which was also a prominent local business.
The sculpture is made from hot dip galvanized, welded mild steel.
Above, you can also see a photo of another horse statue which we recently galvanized for Andy. This stunning steel horse has now been installed at its permanent home in Scotland.
Andy regularly uses Joseph Ash Galvanizing services as we have one of the largest galvanizing baths in Europe at our Telford plant.
With Andy’s permission, we’ll continue to publish more steel sculptures as and when Andy asks us for our services. We look forward to seeing his latest works of art!
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Unique Roundhouse steel frames showcase at the Livestock Event 2015.
Roundhouse Building Solutions Ltd is renowned for designing and developing a uniquely round agricultural building which not only optimises animal welfare, but also significantly reduces operational and building costs for farmers. The company is a valued client of Joseph Ash Galvanizing and our Chesterfield plant regularly galvanizes the steel for the roundhouse frames.
When Roundhouse Building Solutions recently exhibited at Livestock 2015 – the leading event for the UK livestock sector – they asked Joseph Ash Galvanizing to showcase our steel finishing capabilities by exhibiting too. We were more than happy to attend in order to support Roundhouse Building Solutions and to display the superior quality and finish of the galvanized frames.
Because the roundhouse buildings are covered in a fabric canopy it is very important that there were no imperfections (rough or sharp edges) on the galvanized coating. Roundhouse Building Solutions uses Joseph Ash Galvanizing to galvanize many of these buildings because we pride ourselves on the quality of our finish.
The building shown in the photos was hot dip galvanized by Joseph Ash Chesterfield, and shipped directly to the exhibition at the N.E.C. in Birmingham for erection. You can also view a selection of roundhouse steel buildings here.
Geoff Simpson from Roundhouse Building Solutions said:
“To erect a full size Roundhouse livestock building at the National Exhibition Centre was a big promotion for our company and we wanted the highest standard of galvanized finish to display our steelwork to its best advantage. Joseph Ash Galvanizing have always delivered first class galvanizing both in appearance and finish. The steelwork always arrives on time and in good condition and the delivery drivers are a pleasure to work with. It may sound like a cliché but we really cannot recommend Joseph Ash Galvanizing highly enough”.
Joseph Ash Galvanizing looks forward to working with Roundhouse Building Solutions for a long time into the future.
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Imagine a home with an entrance that would make people stop in their tracks and be amazed at its beauty. Thanks to Richard Murphy, of Murphy & Hunt, there is such a house in Cwmbran, Wales, the owners of which are lucky enough to have this stunning steel gate on their land.
Richard Murphy who runs Murphy & Hunt – a steel fabricating company based in Abergavenny, Wales, fabricated the gate.
The gate was designed and built to look like wildlife has intertwined itself with the steel and taken over the railings.
Standing at over 3.7m wide and 2.2m high, the gate took about a week and a half to make.
So that the steel is protected from corrosion and lasts for many years, Richard – a valued customer at Joseph Ash Galvanizing – asked our Bridgend plant to hot dip galvanize the metal. The gate was collected from Murphy & Hunt by members of the Joseph Ash Galvanizing team, hot dip galvanized in two parts at Bridgend, and then delivered back to the company, where Richard painted it before delivering it to the end customer.
If you are interested in having your own steel gates fabricated, you can contact Richard Murphy of Murphy & Hunt by email on mhfabrications@hotmail.com.
Steel fabrications can be art forms, and this gate definitely falls into the category of art. It is truly stunning and we are proud to be a part of its history in order to help protect its future.
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The employees at Joseph Ash Galvanizing are lucky to be able to galvanize all different shapes and sizes of steel, which ultimately form parts of bridges, buildings, railways and fencing. Every so often however, the plants receive requests to treat steel for unusual objects or sculptures. This happened recently at our Bridgend plant when the team there was asked to galvanize an eagle with a 12ft wingspan!
Anthony ‘Fred’ Peacock of Marche Studios in Shropshire fabricated the eagle. Anthony manufactures sculptures from metal and has become well known for producing art in the form of dragons and aliens.
Anthony fabricated the steel for Steve Waite, of Johnston, Pembrokeshire, as Steve has a love of eagles. Steve wanted this sculpture to be at his home and the eagle now resides on a fallen tree made from four inch steel pipework, which spans 30 feet across Steve’s driveway on the entrance to his garage.
The tree that the eagle is perched upon was designed and fabricated by Steve and P.G.S. Fabrications in Johnston. Joseph Ash Galvanizing galvanized both the eagle and the branch.
Steve said: “The eagle is a sacred symbol for me and Native Americans, and I have lots of eagles at my home. I see this particular eagle as my totem. It also attracts lots of attention. My home is located across the road from an industrial site and many people stop to look at it and take pictures.”
Steve added: “I would like to say that all the staff at Joseph Ash Galvanizing handled my work in a very professional manner. I was very happy with the result.”
Elvira Brocher at Joseph Ash Galvanizing Bridgend commented: “It’s very interesting to see the amazing pieces of art that are sculpted by metal fabricators, that come through the yards at our plants. The shapes are definitely not as straightforward as the pieces of steel we general dip into our galvanizing baths – flooring, guardrails, fencing etc – however we love a challenge! We also love to see the finished products once they have been installed at their future homes, and because of this we’d like to thank Steve for sending us some photos of the finished eagle guarding his driveway!”
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Hague Construction Ltd engages Joseph Ash Galvanizing to galvanize steel beams for an Essex bridge.
Hague Construction Ltd is a civil engineering and design and build contractor based in Rochester, Kent, specialising in all aspects of in-situ concrete works, ground works, reinforced concrete structures and the design and build of steel framed commercial buildings.
Some of Hague’s partnership agreements include local authorities across the south east such as Kent County Council, Medway Borough Council, Essex County Council and Surrey County Council.
Many of Hague’s projects include highways structures, and as such they were given the task of reconstructing Lexden Bridge in Spring Lane, Colchester, Essex.
The existing Lexden Bridge crosses the channel of the River Colne and was built as a single span structure in 1904, which could only hold a three tonne weight limit.
The primary elements of the existing steel bridge superstructure consisted of two lattice girder edge beams, 13.44 metres in length, which spanned longitudinally between mass concrete abutments and with a transverse spanning deck. The deck was constructed of steel transverse members in-filled with mass concrete. The clear span between the face of the abutments was 12.18 metres.
Due to the age and structure of the bridge, Essex County Council commissioned Hague Construction to demolish the bridge and replace it with a new reinforced concrete bridge.
The abutments will be supported on CFA piles and the raised height of the new bridge deck will require a change to the vertical alignment of the carriageway.
A temporary footbridge and footpath will also be constructed to maintain pedestrian access across the River Colne and a coffer dam is required to enable the abutments to be constructed.
The Lexden Bridge project is part of a programme of works, which will feature on Channel 5 in 2015 as part of a six-part documentary about local authority engineering works.
Joseph Ash Galvanizing is pleased to have assisted Hague Construction in this project, after we were asked to hot dip galvanize the steel components of the bridge, and deliver them direct to the site in Colchester.
We look forward to seeing the bridge finished and we’ll publicise the date of the Channel 5 documentary when we know its scheduling.
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A stunning force of nature.
US award winning writer, Alice Walker, once said: “Horses make a landscape look beautiful.” At Joseph Ash Galvanizing we couldn’t agree more, especially when we were asked to hot dip galvanize these amazing steel horses by artist Andy Scott.
Andy Scott is a Scottish sculptor who graduated from the Glasgow School of Art in the mid eighties. Andy hand-crafts figurative steel fabrications ranging from 2.5 to 30 metres in height, in order to create stunning works of art that can be seen across the UK and internationally. (You can see many of Andy’s works on his website).
To protect the steel from rusting, as well as to give the fabrications a beautiful shine, Andy requires his artworks to be galvanized before public placement, and he has often used Joseph Ash Galvanizing for the large-scale works.
These stunning equine sculptures, which are made up of five horses in total – a standing stallion and four galloping horses – were galvanized at Joseph Ash’s Telford plant in the Autumn of 2014.
The horses varied in size from 2.5 to 3.5 metres tall, and due to their complex shapes and intricate forms, they had to be handled extremely carefully.
The Joseph Ash Telford plant has a large galvanizing bath, which meant that the horses could be dipped in their entirety to ensure an even galvanized coating.
Andy said:
“Joseph Ash’s large capacity tanks allow me to create works which have dimensions over the restrictions of most normal tanks.
“My sculptures always require special handling and the team at Telford always deliver an excellent job, ensuring a great finish to the works I’ve often taken many months to create.
“It can be nerve-wracking entrusting my creative works to others to finish, but I have always been delighted with the end results, the quick turnaround, and the friendly service offered in handling my unique projects.”
The horse sculptures have ended up on a private estate in Long Island, New York. At Joseph Ash, we’re pleased that Andy chose us to hot dip galvanize the horses as we enjoyed being a part of this unique project and are proud to have taken part in their journey.
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The Commonwealth Games 2014 are underway, and Joseph Ash Galvanizing and The Structure Group – one of our customers – are not only taking an interest in the sports, but in the behind the scenes building work that has led to Hampden Park being the main stadium for the opening ceremony and the athletics. Why? Because we were involved!
In 2013, Glasgow 2014’s head of development, Ian McKenzie made the decision to temporarily convert Hampden Park from a football stadium to an athletics venue, ahead of the Commonwealth Games in Scotland. His decision was driven by the desire to make use of the excellent stadiums that Glasgow already had, rather than build a new one especially for the Games.
In order to convert Hampden Park into an athletics stadium, he hired The Structure Group to make a temporary floor, more suitable to running and long jump rather than football.
The Structure Group have a great reputation for building temporary structures for major sporting events in the UK – the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the Great North Run for example – and so they were the natural choice.
How the temporary floor was built…
In order to construct a floor to meet the size requirements of the Commonwealth Games and the International Association of Athletics Federations, The Structure Group knew they would have to build a platform 1.9m above the existing pitch level. The diggers were sent in towards the end of 2013 to remove the turf, and steel beams and posts were then put into place, which were covered with special decking and then a suitable athletics track.
It was a huge project with over 18,000sqm of heavy deck, over 6000 steel stilts, and 2000 tons of steel components. It took nine months to complete and was ready well ahead of schedule, ready for the Commonwealth Games to open last week.
Joseph Ash Galvanizing are proud that The Structure Group asked us to galvanize the jack heads that sit on top of the steel stilts and therefore to be a part of this project. We have hot dip galvanized steel components for The Structure Group for a number of years and it’s great to work on projects that contribute to events such as the Commonwealth Games.
Watch this great video to show the making of the raised floor.
The Structure Group is a world leader in the supply of temporary elevated decks and structures. The company was forged around its leading product, the TSG HeavyDeck system. This steel framed, panel system boasts a weight loading capacity of up to20kN / sqm. and allows TSG to specialise in the provision of temporary stadium conversions, sporting arenas, showrooms, grandstands and temporary structures.
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Clay Architecture wins prestigious RIBA award for Medway Crematorium project.
MGC – a Joseph Ash plant in Medway – and Hellings Fabrications Ltd are pleased to have been part of the project.
Clay Architecture in Gravesend was chosen by Medway Council in 2013 to redesign and rebuild part of Medway Crematorium in Chatham, in order to house new fuel efficient cremation ovens. It was a great choice by Medway Council as Clay Architecture has recently won the prestigious regional RIBA award for their work.
As part of the project, Clay Architecture asked Hellings Fabrications Ltd to build a two tonne window screen, which Hellings then asked MGC – a Joseph Ash plant in Medway – to hot dip galvanize and powder coat. The screen is a beautiful addition to the redesigned crematorium and MGC are very proud to have been part of its production.
The screen was designed by Clay Architecture to sit in front of the crematorium’s chapel window in order to provide privacy for families attending cremations. It was also designed to let in natural sunlight, whilst at the same time preventing glare from the morning and evening sun.
It is a complex structure with many intricate sections designed to sympathetically suit the existing patterns on the crematorium’s windows.
Hellings managed the fabrication from their Margate workshop, and MGC then galvanized and powder coated it from their Medway plant. Because it is so large – measuring 5.8 metres high by 4.7 metres wide – it had to be fabricated and galvanized in four parts.
When the structure was ready, MGC transported it to Medway Crematorium, where Hellings erected it on site, using special lifting equipment.
Clay Architecture was shortlisted for the RIBA prize along with six other sites in Kent. We’re really pleased they won, as the redesign of Medway Crematorium is stunning piece of architecture.
Medway Galvanising Company (MGC):
Medway Galvanising Company was acquired by Joseph Ash in May 2013 and is currently still trading as MGC. For steel finishing needs in the south east, this plant delivers a one stop shop service of shot blasting, hot dip galvanizing, spin galvanizing and powder coating all from under one roof. All architectural and steel structures are accepted.
Based in Gravesend, Kent Clay Architecture was set up by Architectural Association graduates and husband and wife team Camilla Prizeman and Kasan Goh when they took over the 96 year-old George Clay Partnership in 2000.
Based in Margate, Kent, and opened in 1982, Hellings Fabrications manufacture and install a wide range of architectural metalwork, specialising in fabricating one-off products from designs specified by their customers.
RIBA – The Royal Institute of British Architects
Photos by Quintin Lake
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