When historic meets modern: Moorgate building redevelopment

A recent innovative Moorgate development in London will provide contemporary office, residential and retail space. The property located within the Bank Conservation Area will be the new eight-storey building behind a retained Victorian façade.

Allies and Morrison Architects that have drawn up the plans for the development have commented on the project saying ‘Designed to integrate happily within the character of the surrounding area, the development occupies a city block of approximately 2,060 sq m which will be consolidated into a single unified building. The facades of 8-10 Moorgate and 17 and 16 Tokenhouse Yard are to be retained, refurbished and incorporated into the scheme. The Moorgate facade will form the principle frontage and entrance to the office building, while 17 Tokenhouse Yard will contain a number of small residential units.’

The modern extension of the building was developed by Waterman and William Hare structural engineers, which have contracted Barnshaw Section Benders to supply quality bends for the project.

Barnshaws benders provided 400 beams, largest of which was 610x305x179 UB. Altogether the beams weighed 360 tonnes and formed the structure of the Moorgate building. Barnshaws managed to deliver the curved material very quickly, it only took the benders 10 weeks.

For more information about Barnshaws section bending capabilities please click here.

Cardiff waste-to-energy project led Barnshaws to become the largest cellular beam benders in the market

Barnshaw Section Benders have been involved in several large-scale energy and renewables projects, and the latest work supplied to Cardiff is no exception. This prestigious job involved Barnshaws Structural Division working with ASD Westok and Fisher Engineering, which is a part of Severfield-Rowen PLC.

Working together with ASD Westok, Barnshaws were asked to produce some of the deepest cellular beams ever requested.  The largest being a 1594mm deep beam, which is formed from one of the biggest universal beam sections that Tata produce- 1016 x 305 x 438kg Ub’s.  Not only were the beams large in terms of depth, they were also large in length with upwards of 23m of bar to be curved. 

On top of the curves for ASD Westok, Barnshaws have also been curving a number of bars direct for Fisher Engineering, which includes a variety of sections and sizes ranging from 457mm deep universal beams, to 400mm deep rectangular hollow section (RHS). Both cellular beams and sections have taken Barnshaws expert benders 3-4 months to form and together they weighed approximately 500 tonnes.

Barnshaws have a strong relationship with ASD Westok, and the early consultations enabled the client to see that Barnshaws was willing to invest heavily in order to meet their requirements.  Barnshaws have invested more than £70,000 on new equipment and tooling, which means that the company can now curve the largest cellular beams available. Through continuous collaboration with Severfield – Rowen PLC, Barnshaws have a long history of producing work that otherwise would have been impossible. 

Barnshaws provide bending globally

Barnshaws is known to have been a part of many cutting edge projects outside the UK and the company was recently awarded with another innovative job contracted by UK Steel Exports.

Barnshaws benders got awarded the work for storage tanks due to competitive pricing and quick turnaround as well as good history of providing excellent quality bends to the customer.

The benders provided 122 random lengths of rolled 150 x 75 PFC that were exported to an international location for the formation of storage tanks.

For more information about Barnshaws section bending capabilities please visit www.barnshaws.com/section-bending.php.

Barnshaws make waves with Pelamis' next generation of renewable power

The recently launched P2 machine is the latest generation of energy conversion, developed and manufactured by Pelamis Wave Power, with various curved sections bent by Barnshaws Section Benders.

Regarded as the world's most forward-thinking wave energy developer, Pelamis Wave Power have strived to design a machine with the potential to provide 2,000 TWh/year. After working with the energy developer on the original Pelamis prototype, Barnshaw's Hamilton branch in Scotland are pleased to be carrying the relationship forward into the next generation of sustainable energy.

The 180m long 'sea-snake', is designed to sit on the water surface as waves pass through the cylindrical body, converting ocean wave energy into electricity. The modular design contains five 33 – 38m long tubes, with a 4m diameter, each hinged together allowing sections flex relative to one another.

Curved pieces provided by Barnshaws include 15 x 200mm thick S355 plates, bent into cans for the body, plus 100 thick hydraulic connectors and several plates used to construct the nose cone and 'fins'.

Barnshaws were chosen to be a part of this pioneering project, after Pelamis Wave Power selected suppliers working to the highest quality, safety and sustainability practices.

For further information on the Pelamis machines, visit www.pelamis.com.

Forty years in business and Barnshaw Section Benders is still going strong- the tube and plate bending specialist has enjoyed a good year in terms of activity despite the recession

The Birmingham-based company's services include section bending, tube bending, plate rolling, submerged arc welding, press braking and tee splitting as well as profiling and shearing.

Commercial director Greg North says that demand for its services is down on last year but work on several large construction projects will help it to achieve a turnover in line with expectation.

"We have been doing quite a lot of work on various venues for the Olympics," North said. "There has been a lot of opportunity there so that has been quite good for us. Schools and colleges and hospitals have been the main area of growth on the structural side."

Surviving numerous tough markets over the past four decades can be hard, but not if you have the right approach and attitude to the market. "This year we are 40-yearsold and the business has changed so much over that time that we look at ourselves as innovators rather than followers," North said. "We have innovated differently and allowed certain structures to grow, certainly with the innovations that we have developed.

"So we tend to look for new markets rather than let them find us. That has been our real success story."

Barnshaw's growth has been impressive since 1969 but North and his team do not underestimate the problems that the current climate the company is operating in can bring.

"Of course it is tough now and everyone has to batten down the hatches and look after the costs. You have got to do that in business anyway. We are certainly a company that if we see a need for anything that needs investing we will do that."

One particular area that Barnshaws has invested heavily in recently to help fight its way through the recession has been in new machines and technologies. During the past year it has not only focused on updating its equipment but to also provide the business with more capacity.

"We are always looking for extra capacity," North said. "We are finding that, especially in structures, everything is getting bigger and larger. This new facility that we have got has boosted our capacity."

One reason for this is that there was a time when engineering companies told architects what their limitations were, but now it is the other way around.

"We used to tell them what we can do but now if they can draw it then we have got to look at trying to bend it somehow. That is what we have done, invested in bending bigger, larger, tighter sections than ever before. So it gives the architect a little more licence."

This investment in machinery has been funded by the company alongside a grant from Advantage West Midlands. "They are a big supporter of Midlands manufacturing and have given us substantial levels of support."

Barnshaws has sites spread throughout the UK with branches in the West Midlands, Manchester and Hamilton. Each site has different bending facilities to meet the needs of its local markets.

The company has around 150 staff with 80 based in the West Midlands at its branches in Oldbury and Coseley.

The technology that Barnshaws uses for bending is the most advanced of its kind in the world. Its capacity in each of its specialist services covers the whole range from very small sections and thin plate up to huge sections 1000mm in size and plates up to 100mm thick. Its production system is modern and efficient so that small orders for two rings can run along side large multi million-pound call off orders.

Barnshaw meets all current environmental legislation and holds the ISO 9001 - 2000 standard. Almost all waste is re-cycled and absolutely no hazardous materials are used in its processes, which are continuously reviewed at board level.

Its objectives are set to continuously improve lead times, efficiency and reliability. Its current quality achievement is 99.6 percent accurate, a rate that far exceeds other suppliers of curved steel in the UK.

As North and his fellow directors look to the future they will be following the same path that the company has taken for the past forty years by looking to develop its methods of bending to help industry in general.

"When we first started the company a lot of business we had was for heating and ventilating, pressure vessels and general engineering," North said. "Those sorts of things are still made in the UK, but at a far reduced level. Imports have increased from companies with lower manufacturing costs.

"So we needed to look at what our market is in this country and with structures being difficult to import that is where we have concentrated our efforts. Not forgetting manufacturing, of course you can't. We are investing in new machines and key technology on that score."