A Spring in Your Step
Helical spiral staircase sculpture protected with hot dip galvanizing
Walking through Brighton’s newly-developed Circus Street, it’s hard to miss Alex Chinneck’s 25-metre tall spiralling staircase.
Titled “A Spring in Your Step”, the architectural illusion gradually unravels into spring-like strands, installed along the side of a modern neighbourhood development.
And back in 2021, Joseph Ash Galvanizing was proud to help hot dip galvanize this incredible sculpture.
The project scope
Alex Chinneck worked closely with Millimetre on the project.
Millimetre specialises in producing bespoke architecture and artworks at scale, offering design, research and development, consultancy, building and installation services. They contacted Joseph Ash Medway to help galvanize the steel, trusting them to take much-needed care when handling the pieces, showing the work the respect it deserved.
Hot dip galvanizing was chosen as the steel coating of choice as it is a reliable, durable, and long-lasting method of protecting steel against corrosion. Galvanized steel requires little to no maintenance, important for reducing the time and money required for touch-ups, and to avoid disruption to the adjacent building and flow of pedestrian traffic.
Galvanizing and installation
Parts of the sculpture were sent between Joseph Ash Bilston and Joseph Ash Chesterfield using Joseph Ash Galvanizing’s own transport fleet to help fully galvanize the sculpture due to its varying dimensions and total length. Joseph Ash Bilston is home to the deepest galvanizing bath in the UK, and Joseph Ash Chesterfield has a bath capable of dipping over 16 metres of steel in a single dip. Full submersion in the galvanizing is important to ensure all surfaces both internal and external are fully coated. The varying capacities across Joseph Ash Galvanizing’s nine UK sites helped ensure the entirety of the sculpture could be coated.
The sculpture was then returned to Millimetre, who took care of the installation spanning five weeks. Each of the galvanized sections were chemically anchored to the building slab on alternating floors using specially engineered fixings, with multiple hinged brackets to allow movement.
The sculpture today
Nearly four years later, the sculpture still looks great and the development around the piece is more complete and has a busier footfall.
The extended protection provided by hot dip galvanizing ensures it can reliably stay protected from atmospheric attack for multiple decades, so A Spring In Your Step will be protected for many more years to come.
About Millimetre
Millimetre is an award-winning design and fabrication company, established in 2006 and comprising of expert designers, architects, joiners and fabricators. The team’s wide range of skills and extensive experience means it is uniquely placed to deliver complex, multi-faceted projects, combining large scale with meticulous attention to detail.
About Alex Chinneck
Alex Chinneck is a British sculptor known for creating public architectural illusions. A Spring In Your Step was Alex’s most adventurous sculpture to date, consisting of non-repeating, expanding, and contracting helical form and taking three years to complete.
More of Alex’s sculptures can be found on his website.