Gallery stairs, mezzanine balustrades, Juliet balconies for old loading doors, canopies and steel framed screens for converted warehouses, quayside flats and town houses in King's Lynn. Fabricated in Norwich, 44 miles to the east, and brought over on a planned visit.
King's Lynn, about 44 miles west of Norwich along the A47.
Architectural steel, West Norfolk
Old brick, heavy timber and tall openings suit plain steel: plate stringers, flat bar panels and fixings left on show, neatly done.
King's Lynn made its money as a port, and the old town between the market places and the Great Ouse is still full of merchants' houses, yards and warehouses running down to the quay. Many are now flats, offices, bars and studios, or soon will be. Swift Fabrication makes architectural metalwork for King's Lynn conversions and for homes across West Norfolk, in mild and stainless steel.
We should be plain about distance. Lynn is about 44 miles from our workshop, so we cannot pop round. The job is organised instead: one thorough survey, every piece fabricated and checked together in Norwich, then delivery and installation in as few visits as the work allows. Drawings come from your architect, load calculations from your engineer.
How we plan a project
About 44 miles by the A47
Free estimate, fixed with you
Planned and agreed ahead
What conversions call for
Turning a warehouse or a merchant's house into places to live and work throws up the same steel items time after time. These three groups cover most of them.
Tall warehouse floors are often split with a sleeping gallery or mezzanine. We make the stair as plate or box section stringers with steel or timber-ready treads, and the balustrade as flat bar panels, mesh or glass-ready posts. It all goes through the door in pieces and is assembled inside.
An old loading door makes a fine full height window once a Juliet balcony guards it. We make them in flat bar, round bar or as glass-ready frames, along with entrance canopies, steel framed lobby screens and brackets for hanging signs.
Bar and counter frames, back bar shelving, steel and glass partitions, table bases and handrails. Supplied to your shopfitter or installed by us, with paint, powder coat or a stainless finish arranged to suit.
Organised around the distance
Because we are not round the corner, the first stage matters more. Send drawings, photos and sizes so we can estimate without a trip. If the job goes ahead we come to King's Lynn and survey the lot in one go: openings, floor levels, wall construction, the route in from the street and where a lorry can stop.
The estimate is free and the price, travel included, is agreed before we start. We then make the full set of pieces and check they go together in the workshop. A missing bracket is a small thing in Norwich and a wasted day in Lynn. Fitting is booked for a set date with your builder. Finishes can be arranged and add to the lead time.
Narrow lane or yard access? Tell us the width of the tightest doorway and we will size every piece to pass through it.
Owners without drawings
Homeowners in Lynn, Dersingham, Hunstanton or Downham Market are welcome to send a photo and a few measurements of the stair, doorway or terrace. We talk through sections, fixings and finish by phone and email first, so that when we drive over it is to measure for a job that is ready to go. Then we help turn the idea into a design we can fabricate.
We fabricate and we fit. We do not certify. Calculations and Building Control approval for a balcony, stair or canopy come from your engineer or designer, and we work to them.
What to send us firstKing's Lynn and West Norfolk
The route from our Norwich workshop runs west on the A47 through Dereham and Swaffham to King's Lynn. We cover the old town and the quays, the Hardwick and North Lynn estates, the Nar Ouse business area, and out to Downham Market, Terrington, Dersingham and Hunstanton. Jobs along the way are easy to pair with a Lynn visit.
Much of the old town is listed or lies in a conservation area. Listed building consent and planning are for you or your architect to secure. Beside the tidal river, and on the coast at Hunstanton, galvanising under the paint is money well spent.
All King's Lynn servicesKing's Lynn questions
Travel, surveys, listed buildings, getting steel into tight old buildings and the towns nearby.
No, but we plan it. At about 44 miles each way, we estimate from drawings and photos, make one survey visit, and fit in as few trips as possible. Travel is part of the price we agree, so nothing is added later.
Yes, once consent is in place, which is for the owner or architect to obtain. We can agree fixings with your architect so they go into mortar joints or new structure where possible, and we make pieces small enough to carry in without marking the building.
In pieces. Stringers, treads, landings and balustrade panels are made separately, sized for the tightest door or passage on the way in, then bolted or welded together in place. Tell us about access at the start and we plan the splits around it.
Yes, along with Dersingham, Terrington and the villages between. They are planned the same way as King's Lynn, and we pair visits where we can to keep travel cost down.
The Great Ouse is tidal at Lynn and the quays are exposed, so outdoor mild steel should be galvanised before it is painted or powder coated, or made in stainless. Indoors, primer and a top coat are normally enough.
Structural steel in King's LynnSwift Fabrication Services Ltd
Email drawings or photos with sizes, or call 07495 409006. We will give a free estimate for architectural metalwork in King's Lynn and explain how we would plan the visits.
