Winter lights at Canary Wharf

Time and Tide for Winter Lights, by Paul & Pute

Canary Wharf in London has been hosting a Winter Li ghts Festival for the public every January for the last five years. It is a magical event featuring beautiful light installations, which “draw upon state-of-the-art light technology to deliver spectacular artworks, installations and experiences – many of them interactive or responsive”[1]. This year’s event was special to the Premier Galvanizing, as it featured an installation hot dip galvanized by us.

The installation – called ‘Time and Tide’ – was designed by artists Paul & Pute. Paul (from Manchester) and Pute (from Bangkok) met whilst studying for their Masters in Sweden at a Technology College.

‘Time and Tide’ is a mixture of architectural and lighting skills, built using steel bases and a central pillar, plus paper drinking straws and UV light from three Chauvet Professional Colordash PAR H12IP wash fixtures.

Because the Winter Lights 2019 theme centred around sustainability and environmental issues, Paul & Pute wanted to design an installation which “celebrated the elegance of technology, [but] also served as a cautionary sign, reminding people to guard against its excesses. With an alluring shape evocative of an hour glass, the structure symbolised that the ecological timeclock is running out… [However] it also offered hope along with its solemn warning. The geometric web of strings that made up the structure’s surface was adorned with patterns created with paper drinking straws to remind people that there is an earth-friendly alternative to plastic models.” [1]

“The paper straws were also illuminated with UV light, giving them a vibrant glow, to symbolise how our planet can become more vital and alive when ecological balance is restored.”[2]

A13 Steel Ltd and Premier Galvanizing

‘Time and Tide’s’ steel bases and pillar were fabricated by A13 Steel Ltd, using designs supplied by Paul & Pute. Each base was about 2-2.5m in diameter and the central pillar was about 4m high.

To protect the steel bases A13 Steel Ltd asked Premier Galvanizing Corby to galvanize the steel. Galvanizing is important for steel because it provides a long-life, low-maintenance corrosion protection which safeguards steel from atmospheric attack.

A13 Steel Ltd have been a good customer of Premier Galvanizing Corby for a number of years, and regularly ask the team members there to treat their steel.

Premier Galvanizing Corby also managed the collection and delivery of the steel on behalf of A13 Steel Ltd.

Here are some photos of the steel being galvanized at the Premier Galvanizing plant, and at its final destination as part of the complete installation.

John Frankland, Sales Manager at Premier Galvanizing said: “Once the project was complete and the lighting festival was underway, I was lucky to be able to visit London and see the installation amongst all the other stunning works of art scattered throughout Canary Wharf. We’re always happy to work on projects for A13 Steel Ltd, and we were particularly thrilled to be a part of this project.”

To see more photos of the ‘Time and Tide’ – whilst being galvanized and at its final destination in Canary Wharf – click here.

[1] Winter Lights Festival website: https://canarywharf.com/arts-events/events/winter-lights-2019/?instance_id=

[2] https://www.chauvetprofessional.eu/news/paul-and-pute-convey-message-at-canary-wharf-with-chauvet-professional/

[3] https://www.chauvetprofessional.eu/news/paul-and-pute-convey-message-at-canary-wharf-with-chauvet-professional/)

The residents of Oakley Vale, in Corby have just unveiled new works of art by sculptor Richard Janes, as part of a ‘Made in Corby’ scheme to bring art to the masses. Premier Galvanizing Corby was proud to play a part by galvanizing the steel.

‘Made in Corby’ is an exciting organisation that recognises and draws inspiration from the identity and reputation of Corby. As part of a national Creative People and Places network, funded by the Arts Council of England, its aim is to inspire local people from Corby to take the lead in experiencing, creating and taking part in high quality arts and cultural activities. With this in mind, ‘Made in Corby’ created an ambitious and exciting three-year programme, involving local residents, to install sculptural works of art at Oakley Vale, a 436-acre housing development situated in the South West of Corby.

‘Made in Corby’ encouraged local people from Oakley Vale to get involved, right from the start, in commissioning the works of art. An enthusiastic panel of residents from Oakley Vale Community Association volunteered and went through a process of deciding what would be right for the community. They took part in workshops, they ran design workshops for local children to take part in the process, and they even went on a road trip to London to see various pieces of sculptural art as part of an inspirational exercise.

The next step was to choose the artist. Under the ‘Made in Corby’ banner, it had to be someone local and gifted, and sculptor Richard Janes, was chosen.

Richard Janes is an artist who specialises in designing and fabricating sculpture and applied sculptural artworks which are created and sited across the UK and internationally. Richard’s work includes commissions from public, corporate and private clients. He was happy to take part in the ‘Made in Corby’ project and he set to work designing three pieces of sculpture, taking inspiration from the local surroundings, the oak forest that was originally on the site of the new housing development, as well as the existing wildlife and the industry that is still alive in the town:

Richard Janes explains his rationale for the designs in this video produced by ‘Made in Corby’ and HD Media CIC.

The children at the local community centre also had a hand in the design which reflects the local wildlife of the area.

Richard Janes and Premier Galvanizing Corby

The sculptures designed and fabricated by Richard Janes are primarily made from steel. As steel corrodes and rusts over time, it needs to be protected with a hot dip galvanized coating. Premier Galvanizing Corby was chosen to provide this service.

The steel was delivered to the Corby plant and representatives from ‘Made in Corby’, alongside Richard Janes, were invited to the galvanizing plant to see the metal treatment in action, and so that they could film the processes as part of their video diaries.

Richard Janes describes the hot dip galvanizing process in the video:

“The galvanizing is [necessary] to make the sculpture last much longer. The galvanising is 130 microns thick, which will provide more than 60-70 years before the sculptures need treating again. The galvanizing is also important as it reflects Corby’s industry, an industry that is still alive in the town.

Step one is the pickling process which removes the mill scale and any deposits that are on the steel, so that the zinc can adhere to the sculpture. After pickling, step two happens, where the steel is put into a flux bath which allows the zinc to run all over the steel very quickly, creating an even coating. Then – step three – the steel is dipped into the zinc bath at 450 degrees, and it emerges looking all silver and magical. Finally, it is dipped into a cleaning bath which puts a film on the surface which gives the surface greater longevity.

Seeing it rise out of the zinc tank is magical. It brings the creative idea into a reality.”

You can watch the full video here.

The culmination of the project

The ‘Made in Corby’ project was a great success and everyone was happy to play their part, from the local community, to the sculptor, to Premier Galvanizing, the Arts Council of England, and of course the people behind ‘Made in Corby’.

The three sculptures have been erected at Oakley Vale and the grand unveiling took place on Saturday 15 July. You can see some pictures on the ‘Made in Corby’ Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MadeInCorby/. You can also watch a video of the unveiling here.

Helen Wilmott from ‘Made in Corby’ said it is a great way to give “local people a say about how public money is spent on art”.

Premier Galvanizing Corby said: “We were honoured to be chosen as the hot dip galvanizers for this wonderful project. We attended the unveiling on Saturday and the finished products look beautiful and amazing against the backdrop of Oakley Vale. Well done to everyone involved!”

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(The photos to the right show elements of the sculptures being galvanized at Premier Galvanizing.)

… and Gary Lineker’s underwear!

What have Gary Lineker’s underwear, 15 trophies, and a sheet metal fabricator in Loughborough got in common?

2016 has seen some unprecedented activity regarding Leicester City Football Club: The Club itself won the Premier League beating odds of 5000-1 at the beginning of the season; Platinum Steelworks was asked to fabricate 15 3ft high replica trophies; and Gary Lineker presented Match of the Day in his underwear. As Lineker’s underwear has been covered enough (or maybe not…) in this past year, you’ll be thankful to know this article is going to talk about the trophies!

When Leicester City FC won the Premier League earlier this year almost 240,000 fans took to the streets of Leicester City, to celebrate the win. Fans were joyous because this wasn’t just the first time in history that the Club had won the League, but also the first time in a decade that the Club had even played in this League.

Around about this time, some fans based in Loughborough, who were so impressed with the win, decided to commission a local steel fabricator to make replica trophies of the Premier League Cup. Standard sized trophies would not be good enough however: The fans wanted 3ft high and 2ft wide Cups, and 15 of them! Platinum Steelworks was chosen for the work.

Platinum Steelworks is a Sheet Metal Contractor based in Loughborough. Run by Gurnam Singh the company usually fabricates barriers and gates, staircases and balustrades, and structural metal fabrications for buildings. The trophies were an unusual request, but Platinum Steelworks was up for the challenge.

As the trophies were made from steel, and steel needs to be protected from the environment with a hot dip galvanized coating, Premier Galvanizing Hull was also hired by Platinum Steelworks, and pulled onto the project.

Premier Galvanizing Hull have supplied Platinum Steelworks with galvanizing services for over 14 years.

A number of trophies have so far been fabricated and hot dip galvanized by Platinum Steelworks and Premier Galvanizing. And some Leicester City fans who have received them, have placed them in their gardens for passers-by to see.

Tin Tommy sculpture, looking reflective at 2016 Remembrance Day Parade

On Sunday 13 November, the town of Immingham in North East Lincolnshire, held a Remembrance Day Parade at the Pelham Road War Memorial. The event was a fitting tribute to all soldiers who have lost their lives defending our country.

As part of the ceremony, a new statue stood at the War Memorial, leaning on a memorial seat covered in poppies. The statue was nicknamed Tin Tommy by local school children in the community, and he has become so popular that he even has his own Facebook page.

Tin Tommy was commissioned by the Barton Living Memorial Trust, who raised funds from the local council and communities. The aim of the Trust is “to educate the next generation about the World Wars and the sacrifices that so many made, and to keep the memory alive“.

When standing straight, Tin Tommy is a full-sized six foot high statue of a WW1 era British soldier, with red poppies painted onto parts of his frame. The bench that he leans upon has been designed to allow people to sit and “reflect on life, history and memory“.

Tin Tommy was fabricated by Hodson & Kauss, and hot dip galvanized by Premier Galvanizing Hull.

Hodson & Kauss are expert fabricators who mainly fabricate bridges, walkways, fencing, staircases, and balustrades. Sometimes they are asked to fabricate unusal items such as Tin Tommy too. Hodson & Kauss have been using Premier Galvanizing Hull for all their galvanizing needs, for a long time. Premier Galvanizing are proud to have played a part in the construction of such an important statue.

(More photos of Tin Tommy can be found on the Joseph Ash Galvanizing Flickr site.)

Following what was an incredible three days of Tour de France action in July a renowned sculptor in the North East was asked to manufacture an individual piece to mark this prestigious event.

Before this fabulous cycling sculpture was hot dip galvanized a detailed pre galv inspection took place to ensure its suitability for galvanizing, with lots of tubes and hollow section within the structure it was essential that all the vent or drain holes were in the correct place, which they were.

The sculptor had the foresight to call and request a representative from Premier Galvanizing to call in and inspect the cyclist before having the item collected.

By ensuring that all the holes were in the correct place not only was it safe to galvanize it ensured that the finish complimented the hardwork and dedication it had taken to create the structure in the first place.

The nature of the fabrication dictated that a team would be required to hot fettle the item as it is being removed from the bath, the dedicated operatives from Premier Galvanizing are used to dealing with such items as we have an unrivalled reputation for taking care with these intricate fabrications.

Once galvanized there last stage of the process was to deliver the item back on our collection and delivery service.

With high value items such as these it is natural for customers to worry about the possibility of damage before, during and after galvanizing especially in transit. As can be seen with the photograph with the sculpture on the lorry the customer had nothing to worry about.

Premier Galvanizing are immensely proud to have been chosen and trusted to galvanize this sculpture.

We were recently asked to hot dip galvanize, on behalf of Pro-Dek Storage, 160 tonnes of steel racking to support cars for the vehicle salvage industry, to provide a long lasting, maintenance free racking system.

The challenge

With any type of racking system whether it is a simple pallet system or an industrial one such as the one used by the vehicle salvage industry the importance of fit is paramount. Although the steel is mainly straight lengths and reasonably simple to galvanize the end plates on the arms need to be clean in order to achieve a flush fit against the main member of the racking system. In order to achieve the best possible finish the arms were all hung on 2 points at 45 degrees to ensure that the end plates would fit flush and speed up the erection process.

The end client was keen to have the 160 tonne of racking erected within 8 weeks, this meant Premier Galvanizing supplied an article, collected it from the fabricator on the Monday and delivered to site on the Friday.

Throughout the project there were no late deliveries and no missing items.

The end result

The racking was supplied to site on time and erected on time to the clients specifications, providing an easily accessible racking system, which has lead to further orders.

With the Sky Cameras rolling into Blackpool FC on Sunday 17 October for their match against Manchester City it was evident that the lighting from the present floodlights would not be sufficient for the game to be screened in HD. New lighting columns would need to be installed otherwise the coverage could have been in jeopardy.

The challenge

Approximately two weeks before the erection date ASG Fabrications in Batley received an order to fabricate, hot dip galvanize, deliver, erect and install the six new lighting columns. Due to the layout of the ground there wasn’t room for traditional stadium lighting, the six new columns were to be placed on the temporary stand that was erected in the summer following their shock promotion to the Premiership.

The schedule placed upon ASG resulted in Premier Galvanizing needing to hot dip galvanize all six columns within 24hrs. Unfortunately these were not a standard dip as they were seven .6m long and the bath in Hull was only 7m long. Therefore Premier needed to double dip the columns. The end client was willing to accept the columns in self colour but ASG convinced them otherwise as they had full confidence in Premier Galvanizing meeting the tight schedule put upon them.

By convincing the end client to galvanize the columns as opposed to a single paint finish we have eliminated the need for an ongoing maintenance.

The end result

Between Wednesday 13 and Friday 15 October the columns were installed at Blackpool. The client has a maintenance free product, Blackpool has some new floodlights for their ground and Sky will have a game in HD on the Sunday.

ASG Fabrications comment: “With the help of Premier Galvanizing we have made a very important client very happy. We knew that the timescale was going to be tight for just the fabrication, erection and installation, but to get the hot dip galvanizing done as well was an added bonus. Premier Galvanizing made a commitment and as usual they delivered.”

Premier Galvanizing were asked by a long standing client P & D, based in Hull, East Yorkshire to hot dip galvanize two new base structures for the brand new biomass silos at Royal Portbury Docks, Bristol.

With ever decreasing lead times available from their main contractor, P & D knew that the schedule of works was going to be difficult to achieve. In total over 120 tonne of steel was delivered to site in Bristol by Premier Galvanizing over a two week period, proving once again that distance is no barrier to Premier Galvanizing.

The base structures seen in the photograph support the silos which will be storing wood pellets imported from North and South America, the pellets will then be transported by rail to power stations throughout the country, reducing carbon emmisions in the electricity industry.

With lead time being so short on this project, it was essential that there was no issues preventing delivery to site. Prior to the work commencing on the project a meeting was held between Premier and P & D to discuss the schedule of works and the number of loads requiring delivering to Bristol, this pre planning was one of the fundamental reason why the project went so well, with a schedule of works being available Premier Galvanizing were able even able to pre plan extra shifts at the weekend to satisfy the end client.

Premier Galvanizing have a long running relationship with Exceptional Things, who are based over in New Holland. In the past we have hot dip galvanized various prestigious sculptures such as a mining scene, and a detailed fish, all to a very high standard. So when Exceptional Things looked for a galvanizer for a new horse sculpture, there was only ever going to be one galvanizing company that they could trust and rely upon: Premier Galvanizing.

The challenge

When the customer first spoke to us about the project, they showed us a small hand held model of the horse, which included dimensions and materials. They also discussed their potential concerns regarding the aesthetic appearance and finish of the hot dip galvanized finish, as galvanizing is primarily known as an industrial process. Their concerns were eased after speaking with our Operations Manager and Production Manager. Discussions were had regarding discrete venting and drainage holes, hanging angles, suitable hanging points, potential zinc traps and minimising any risk of distortion.

On the day of the project, Exceptional Things asked if they could stay for the afternoon to observe the sculptures throughout the whole metal finishing process: from unloading, booking in, preparation, pre-treatment, galvanizing, post galvanization fettling and re-loading.

We were very happy to accommodate their request as we wanted to ensure they would be 100% comfortable with our service and procedures, whilst being on hand in case any issues arose.

The end result

Due to the forward planning, communication and teamwork between the customer, our management, supervisors and operatives the sculptures went through the galvanizing process without any incident, other than lots and lots of camera phones trying to capture the best shot!

Exceptional Things were delighted with the finish and could not believe the uniform coating we had managed to achieve and how clean the sculpture was throughout. The sculpture was delivered on time in June 2012 where it now resides in a small town up in the North East. When the sculpture was revealed for the first time, local villagers gathered for an official opening and it made front page news in the local press! Another great job done by TEAM Premier Galvanizing.

Elite Pond Covers, a successful business operating out of West London recently asked Premier Galvanizing to hot dip galvanize an intricate artistic pond cover they had been asked to supply to a client.

The challenge

In the past when Elite Pond Covers needed their fabrications hot dip galvanized, the results were often unsatisfactory. Items were either bent, mislaid or covered with a poor quality galvanizing finish. However, since becoming a customer of Premier Galvanizing at the start of the year they have suffered no such issues, and have been very pleased.

The end result

The picture demonstrates the high quality of galvanizing we produced and our commitment to our customers, regardless of the type of fabrications we are asked to hot dip galvanize.