Lily-Mae Golf Day photos
On Friday 26 April, The Lily-Mae Foundation hosted their annual Golf Day, to raise funds to support families affected by stillbirth or neonatal death. Joseph Ash Galvanizing and Premier Galvanizing hosted guests at the event.
Thank you to the companies who joined us on the golf course:
- Architectural Metalwork Installations
- Dixon Engineering
- Stainton
- Mech-Tool Engineering Ltd
- Lionweld Kennedy
- SC4
- Wright Engineering
- Steeltek Structural Steel
- Corten Sheet Metal
- Safety Fabrications
- Yorkshire Fabrications
- Creative Steelwork
- Brooksby Projects
- Tinsley Bridge
- Macalloy
- Hadee Engineering
- Eurorail 2001
- Mr Industrial
- Roscope
- Collis Engineering Ltd
- Canal Engineering
- NP Services
A great day was had by all, and collectively we helped the charity to raise over £25,000. Wow!
Welcome to the latest Joseph Ash Galvanizing newsletter. Hot off the press today!
To read a copy click here.
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Joseph Ash Galvanizing and Premier Galvanizing: Supporting the Lily Mae Foundation at their annual charity event
On Friday 26 April 2019 Joseph Ash Galvanizing will host up to 62 people (including 50 clients) at a charity golf day at The Belfry set up by the Lily Mae Foundation – an organisation created to support parents and families affected by stillbirth or neonatal death.
Joseph Ash Galvanizing has purchased tickets for rounds of golf, seats at the evening dinner, and is sponsoring a hole at the event.
We have been supporting the event for the last ten years and in total – alongside our clients – we’ve helped to raise over £120,000 for the charity. (Which makes us proud!)
Funds are raised through ticket sales, sponsorships and generous donations from attendees.
We’re very much looking forward to the 2019 event!
To see photos of previous events visit the Joseph Ash Galvanizing Flickr profile.
To find out more about the work of the Lily Mae Foundation, click here.
Joseph Ash Galvanizing to take part in Clerkenwell Design Week
Clerkenwell is an area of London famed for its high concentration of design houses, architecture practices and creative businesses, making it one of the most important design hubs in the world. It’s also an area framed by a thirst for history from family research enthusiasts and sociologists, and visitors to ancient buildings and architecture such as St. John’s Gate, dating back to 1504. To celebrate this rich and diverse community, Clerkenwell Design Week was created to showcase leading UK and international brands and companies in a series of showroom events, exhibitions and special indoor and outdoor installations that take place across the area. The event runs every year in May, and this year, Joseph Ash Galvanizing is proud and excited to be taking part.
Alongside partners Haines Watts, WR-AP Architecture, John Cullen Lighting, Lionweld Kennedy and Berry Systems, Joseph Ash Galvanizing is involved in a project to construct a stunning pavilion shaped installation in the middle of St. John’s Square that visitors to Clerkenwell Design Week can see, touch, walk through and interact with.
The 9 x 3 x 4m installation made from galvanised steel is called ‘BE, Well’ and is described by WR-AP Architecture as follows:
“BE, Well will take you on an evocative journey where you will experience how architecture, light and materials have an effect on the human mind. Envisaged as a platform to showcase the inherent performance and aesthetic qualities of galvanised steel via an experimental composition of utilitarian building products and curated architecture, you will firstly interact with a fine filigree of elements that will shine and refract with the everchanging sunlight. You will progress to a more enclosed construction where you will be able to connect and touch the materials as you move through the installation. The pavilion concludes with a more formal portico inspired by the adjacent St. Johns Gate housing a new Clerkenwell ‘Well’, where we invite you to galvanise and share your thoughts about the show, issues in the design and architectural sector and leave these in our wishing well for the future.”
The partnership
Haines Watts London, a top UK accounting firm, is sponsoring the project. With decades long experience of working with some of the UK’s most prestigious architecture firms, they wanted to share their support for the architecture industry by sponsoring an up-and-coming young architecture practice to design the installation.
They chose WR-AP Architecture as the designers, a young London-based practice set up by Sean Weston and Max Rengifo in 2018, which specialises in creating beautiful buildings with delightful, memorable and enjoyable experiences for their clients and the environment.
As the installation will be made from steel, Joseph Ash Galvanizing will be protecting the steel using a batch hot dip galvanizing process from one of our plants.
Joseph Ash Galvanizing is part of Hill & Smith Holdings PLC. Two other companies within the Hill & Smith group – Berry Systems and Lionweld Kennedy – also make up the partnership. Berry Systems will be fabricating the steel, and Lionweld Kennedy will be fabricating the mesh grating, which is part of WR-AP’s stunning design.
The final company in the collaboration is John Cullen Lighting, the award-winning lighting specialist, who will be enhancing the installation with a variety of lighting techniques.
Alex Shall from Haines Watts said: “We’re extremely excited to be part of Clerkenwell Design Week as we like to share our support for the architectural sector. We have been supporting architecture practices with their accounting, both big and small for decades and are known as industry specialists. Our core proposition is to work with individuals who are running practices and help them understand the commercial aspects of doing so. The commerciality of running an architectural practice is key to its success and the ‘Be Well’ installation is going to illustrate this.”
Mick Jackson, IT and Marketing Manager at Joseph Ash Galvanizing said: “Clerkenwell Design Week is a hugely creative and forward-looking event and we’re delighted that the aesthetic beauty and sustainable benefits of galvanised steel will be showcased in such an important way within a prominent place in Clerkenwell. We’re also pleased to be working with Haines Watts, WR-AP Architecture and John Cullen Lighting, as well as two of our sister companies Berry Systems and Lionweld Kennedy.”
Date and location
Clerkenwell Design Week (currently in its 10th year) will run from 21-23 May 2019 throughout the wider Clerkenwell area. It will stretch from Farringdon to Barbican, taking in streets such as Clerkenwell Close, St. John’s Square, Northampton Road and Charterhouse Street (to name a few).
Entry to the various exhibitions and installations is free to the public.
In 2018 the event attracted over 34,000 visitors and 300 exhibiting brands.
(Image provided by WR-AP Architecture.)
Welcome to the latest Joseph Ash Galvanizing newsletter. Hot off the press today!
To read a copy click here.
To receive a copy of the newsletter in your inbox each month, please subscribe. Simply scroll to the bottom of the page and look for the ‘Newsletter Sign-Up’ button.
We’re always looking for interesting articles in the steel industry too! Please feel free to get in touch with your news, and we’ll try to feature it.
Wow! What a quarter we’ve had for celebrating long-time service achievements at our plants. Eight team members have celebrated anniversaries ranging from 20 to 35 years across the Bilston, Walsall, Chesterfield and Telford plants. Amazing!
Here are the details:
Andrew Stote
In January Andrew reached his 20-year anniversary at Joseph Ash Bilston. With a keen eye for quality control, Andrew has been a night shift supervisor and a white line leader.
John Spruce
In February, John also reached 20-years’ service at Joseph Ash Bilston. John has worked on the black line, jigging the work. He has also been a fork lift truck driver at the plant.
Andrew Gale
Andy began working at Joseph Ash Telford in 1999, and 20 years later (as of February) we’re pleased to say he’s still here! A competent and experienced member of the team, he has spent many years working in the pre-treatment area as a pickler. More recently he has taken the opportunity to put his broad experience to good use by becoming a shift supervisor.
Peter Jones
Peter joined Joseph Ash Chesterfield 20 years ago, in February 1999. Peter has always worked the night shift primarily as a bath man, but he is also experienced in all other areas of the hot dip galvanizing process, having worked most roles.
Andrew Hudson
25 years ago, in February 1994, Andrew started working at Joseph Ash Chesterfield as part of a team of three in the maintenance department. Since that time the team has grown to five people and Andrew is the team manager, having been promoted to this role seven years ago.
Jackie Wright
Jackie joined the Oldbury division (Albion Galvanizers) as maternity cover for one year in March 1999. Twenty years later and she’s still with us!
After completing maternity cover, Jackie moved to Joseph Ash Telford for six years working for Fred Haycock who was the former Telford Divisional Manager. When Fred moved to Joseph Ash Bilston, Jackie worked for him there for another 12 years, and has latterly spent her 20th year working for Rob Nelson (also at Bilston). All Divisional Manager’s acknowledge that Jackie has been an invaluable asset.
Hannah Beard
Hannah joined Joseph Ash in 1999 in the commercial department at Albion Galvanizers (specialist spin galvanizing plant). Since then, Hannah has worked in a number of Commercial Management roles at Albion, at the Joseph Ash Head Office and most recently at Joseph Ash Telford. Hannah’s positive outlook and outgoing personality have resulted in her becoming well-known in the industry, forging some very important relationships with many of Joseph Ash’s customers.
Gurpal Singh
Last, but not least, Gurpal has recently celebrated a huge 35 years at Joseph Ash Walsall. Such an amazing milestone.
In 1984 Gurpal, aka Charlie, joined Joseph Ash Walsall as a Yard/Transport Supervisor and in 1999 he was promoted to Production Manager. Fast forward 11 years, and Gurpal also took on additional duties and responsibilities of Production Management at Joseph Ash Telford overseeing the production efficiencies of both plants. In 2013 Gurpal returned to Joseph Ash Walsall as Divisional Manager and began transforming the facility into a semi-automated plant. Never one to rest on his laurels, he has been busy ever since! In 2016 he spear headed the design for a vast plant extension to streamline flow and improve productivity, and in late 2018 he project managed the installation of a new galvanizing bath, and made significant improvements to the yard to improve health and safety, and storage and working area capacity.
Congratulations to everyone. Your experience and commitment are what makes Joseph Ash Galvanizing so successful!
To the external eye these photos may simply look like a vast expanse of concrete… To us however, they’re a thing of beauty as they represent a safer, more comfortable loading and unloading environment for our team members and customers. Welcome to the new yard at Joseph Ash Walsall!
2018 was an extremely busy year for Joseph Ash Walsall, and the yard was beginning to look tired, in poor condition, with pot holes appearing at regular intervals. With concerns that the holes were going to be a safety hazard we decided to use the excellent services of TG Beighton to re-concrete the 1,000 Squares metres of yard.
TG Beighton are external contractors, based in Chesterfield, who previously worked on our plant extension, and we knew they’d have the skills, experience and safety standards to provide a quality service, whilst being able to stick to a very tight deadline of just three weeks.
Three weeks in and the project was a success, and we now have more space in the yard, as well as a safer environment.
Investment in our Joseph Ash plants is crucial to maintaining our position as a leader in the UK galvanizing industry, so the replacement of the concrete was a good chance to improve other aspects of the Walsall plant at the same time:
- We also installed improved lighting around the yard, as well as new crash barriers and fencing throughout the perimeter for added security and protection.
- We added a new drainage system to prevent standing water, and improved drainage in and around the area, with a chamber being installed around the yard for underground electrical cables.
Finally, with the addition of a new galvanizing bath in late 2018 too, we have a plant we can feel very proud of.
With the first quarter of 2019 well underway, the investment we’ve made has allowed us to work even safer than before, allowing safe access and egress from the area at all times. Our employees and customers also benefit from the extra safety and security when either working on or visiting the plant. We also believe we have increased the capacity of this site which is also beneficial for storing fabrications and completing even more work in 2019.
We’re pleased to announce that Joseph Ash Galvanizing has recently been granted ‘Fit For Nuclear’ status (F4N), and we’re the first galvanizer in the UK to be accredited.
F4N is a unique service to help UK manufacturing companies get ready to bid for work in the nuclear supply chain and to measure their operations against the standards required to supply the nuclear industry – in new build, operations and decommissioning.
Developed by the Nuclear AMRC with the support of its top tier partners, F4N includes nuclear new build developers and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. These industry leaders are using F4N to identify potential companies for their own supply chains.
Being granted F4N status is a stringent process and we’re pleased to be awarded the status. As a commitment to our continued participation and as a supplier to the nuclear industry we will continue to be monitored by an F4N Industrial Advisor (IA), and we’ll be required to continue to upload periodic updates to our action plan / continuous sustainable improvement plan ensuring that we address any areas identified on the nuclear checklist.
Many thanks to everyone at Joseph Ash Galvanizing who has worked hard to achieve this status. Thank you also to F4N for granting us the certificate. We look forward to our growing relationship with the nuclear industry.
Welcome to the latest Joseph Ash Galvanizing newsletter. Hot off the press today!
To read a copy click here.
To receive a copy of the newsletter in your inbox each month, please subscribe. Simply scroll to the bottom of the page and look for the ‘Newsletter Sign-Up’ button.
We’re always looking for interesting articles in the steel industry too! Please feel free to get in touch with your news, and we’ll try to feature it.
Time and Tide for Winter Lights, by Paul & Pute
Canary Wharf in London has been hosting a Winter Lights 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 Joseph Ash Group, as it featured an installation hot dip galvanized by our Premier Galvanizing Corby team.
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=