Following the exponential success of the precast column business, we are proud to announce our expansion to fabrication of precast stairs at our Luton Facility. The bespoke Stairmould has been purchased from Construx, a Belgium based company that supplies all the major precast companies in Europe and North America.
The £45k Stairmould was delivered in September and is now housed on the front section of the external casting bed. The 24-step Stairmould (10m*2.5m in plan) was purchased with and extra Top Landing Panel that gives us the opportunity to cast 2 sets of a stair flight+attached landing combos in one pour. The dynamic kit is hydraulically operated to give us almost any stair (tread & riser) profile used as standard in the UK.
To help accelerate the curing of the stairs, be more productive, protect the stairs and our operatives from the elements, we have also purchased a dynamic Retractable Curing Tent from Germany. The £18k kit supplied by Kraft, is 12m long, retracts to 4m in length and will slide back another 4m on extended rails. This will give us the opportunity to completely expose the entire stairmould when required and to lift the cured stairs vertically off the stairmould, reducing risk of damage to almost zero. When used with the moisture and CO² curing kit, you could strike a set of stairs 4 hours after it is cast!! Delivery is due on 03rd November, with the install to be done immediately thereafter and main production to commence w/c 07th November.
We are also designing our own stairs to help ensure that the prolonged design period that we normally experience is drastically shortened. Added to this, we are using the dynamic RVK/Invisible Connector system wherever possible, thereby doing away with the cumbersome and high-risk method of drilling and fixing in of support angles whilst working at height.
The 1st set of stairs has already been cast for use in the new GCL head office upper car park access core. Currently, we are looking to start fabricating precast stairs for 102 Camley Street for which the design sign-off is imminent. Future projects include Abbey Area and London Docks.
Onwards and Upwards