Gallery balustrades, feature stairs, glazing frames for old cart door openings, brackets and straps for oak, canopies and balconies. Made for barn conversions and country homes around Dereham and mid Norfolk, by a workshop 16 miles away in Norwich.
Dereham, about 16 miles west of Norwich on the A47.
Rural architectural steelwork
A converted barn mixes soft red brick, flint, old oak and new glass. Steel has to fit between them without shouting.
The farmland around Dereham is full of brick and flint barns, cart sheds and granaries being turned into homes, holiday lets and offices. Those projects need a particular kind of architectural metalwork: slim, dark, plainly detailed and made to sizes taken from the building itself. Swift Fabrication makes it for owners, self builders, architects, builders and oak framers.
Mild steel and stainless are both worked here, to the architect's drawings where they exist and to site measurements where walls lean and floors drop. Oak shrinks and moves as it dries, so fixings for timber can be slotted or adjustable if the designer asks. Flitch plates, ties and anything else carrying load are made to your structural engineer's details.
Steel fabrication in Dereham
Barns, farmhouses, cottages
Estimate free, price agreed
About 16 miles along the A47
Made for mid Norfolk homes
A conversion tends to use steel in the same three places: the big openings, the way up to the first floor, and the points where metal meets timber.
The wide opening where the carts went in usually becomes a wall of glass. We make the steel surround, mullions and transoms your glazier fixes into, plus a goalpost frame behind when the engineer asks for one. Door canopies and small porches can be made to match.
A double height barn wants a stair and a landing worth looking at. Stringers, treads and balustrade panels are made separately in Norwich and assembled in the building, with oak-ready treads, flat bar or rod infill, or posts set out for glass.
Post shoes, beam brackets, straps, tie rods and flitch plates, either hidden or left on show with a dark, plain look. Shelf and worktop brackets, log store and table frames too. Coatings are arranged to suit.
How a rural Norfolk job runs
Get in touch once the shell is sound and the openings are formed, or earlier if your architect has already drawn the steel. Plans, a sketch on the back of an envelope, or photos with a tape in shot are all useful. Say what the piece sits against, brick, flint or oak, and whether it is indoors or out in the weather.
You will have a free estimate and an agreed price before we make anything. We come out to measure, because in an old barn the drawing and the building seldom match. Timing depends on the design, the steel and any coating being arranged, so the date we give is one we expect to keep, not a hopeful one.
Down a long farm track with no electricity connected yet? Not a problem. Our van carries its own power for welding on site.
Building it yourself?
Many people converting a barn near Dereham manage the project themselves and order each trade direct. If that is you, send what you have. We will go over section sizes, how the steel fixes to old walls and green oak, how it gets through the door and the coating, then help shape a design that can be made.
Calculations and approvals stay with your professionals. A gallery, balcony or stair that Building Control wants checked needs figures from your engineer or designer, and a listed barn needs consent arranged by you.
Checklist for a quoteDereham and the villages round it
Dereham is close enough to our Norwich workshop that a visit to measure or fit is a morning's work, not an expedition. We cover the town and the country around it: Mattishall, Shipdham, North Elmham, Swaffham and the lanes between. Long or heavy pieces are made in sections that can be carried in where a lorry cannot reach.
Commercial work is welcome as well. Shops and pubs in the town centre, and units on the Rashes Green and Yaxham Road estates, can ask us for counters, screens, canopies and handrails.
Mobile welding in DerehamBarn conversion questions
On old walls, green oak, finishes that suit a barn, and who is responsible for what.
Yes. Glazing frames, stairs, gallery balustrades, brackets and canopies are all things we fabricate. We measure the barn itself, make the steel in Norwich and fit it, or supply only if your builder or oak framer prefers to install.
Indoors you have more freedom. Powder coat, paint, or a clear lacquer or wax over cleaned steel for a raw look can be arranged. Outside, or in a damp unheated building, galvanise first. Tell us how the room will be used and we will suggest one.
It can, with care. Flint and soft brick do not hold fixings the way modern blockwork does, and green oak moves as it dries, so the fixing method should come from your engineer or designer. We then make the plates, slots and brackets to suit.
Unlikely. Anywhere around Dereham, from North Elmham to Shipdham and across to Swaffham, is an easy trip from Norwich on the A47. Rough tracks and no mains power do not stop us.
If the barn is listed or in a conservation area, new metalwork may need consent, and that is arranged from your side through your architect or the council. Once the details are approved we make the steel to them.
Structural steel in DerehamSwift Fabrication, Norfolk
Send plans, a sketch or photos with rough sizes, or call 07495 409006. We will reply with a free estimate for architectural metalwork in Dereham or anywhere in mid Norfolk.
