Steel for Attleborough's sheds, made up the A11
Structural steel fabrication for Attleborough's food processors, hauliers and builders. New door openings, loading bay canopies, mezzanines and extra bays for buildings already in use, plus beams for the town's new housing, made to your engineer's drawings.
Attleborough, some 17 miles south west of us by the A11.
Changing a building that is in use
A warehouse or food plant rarely stands still. Tenants change, lines grow, and lorries get bigger than the doors.
Swift Fabrication Services Ltd is a welding and steel fabrication firm in Norwich, around 17 miles up the A11. Attleborough sits on that road, with food processing and distribution at Haverscroft Industrial Estate and Bunns Bank, and Snetterton's business park just beyond. Much of the structural steel wanted here alters a building already hard at work.
Any change to a frame starts with a structural engineer. Cutting a bigger doorway through a braced bay, hanging a canopy off existing columns or loading a slab with a mezzanine all need their calculations, and we do not design or certify. We build what they draw, and we add the practical side: a measured survey, bolted connections to the old steel, and fitting by our own crew.
Steel fabrication in Attleborough
Openings, canopies, floors
Free estimate, then an agreed price
About 17 miles along the A11
Alterations and new steel
Most of what follows bolts onto, or cuts into, a frame that already exists. The third block is for the builders putting up the town's new homes.
Goalpost frames and trimmers for wider or taller roller shutter doors, new personnel door openings, replacement columns and dock leveller surrounds. Extra bays added to a portal frame, with rafters, purlins and cladding rails matched to the building you have.
Canopies over loading bays and yard doors, so pallets stay dry between trailer and shed. Mezzanine floors for packing, storage or offices above the warehouse floor, with stairs, handrail and pallet gates. Roof and yard platforms for chillers and other plant.
Attleborough has major housing growth planned, and extensions follow new estates. For builders here and in Old Buckenham, Great Ellingham and Banham we cut UB and UC beams, fit end plates and bearing plates, and make goalpost frames for wide rear openings.
Old buildings are seldom quite what the original drawings say. So before pricing an alteration we like to visit, measure the columns and rafters your new steel meets, and photograph the connections. That survey and your engineer's drawing give you a free estimate, and the price is agreed before material is bought.
Fabrication happens in our Norwich workshop. Holes are drilled to match the existing steel wherever that can be done, so site work is mostly bolting and not welding. A coat of primer is usual, and paint, galvanising or powder coating can be arranged. The run to Attleborough is short, a HIAB lorry carries the heavier pieces, and fitting can be done at a weekend or while your bay is empty.
Let us know about yard traffic, lorry booking times, forklift routes and any food safety rules for contractors before we arrive.
Timing the work
Distribution and food sites have peaks: harvest, Christmas, a new contract starting. Alterations belong in the gap between them. Tell us early which weeks the bay, door or floor area can be released, and we will schedule survey, fabrication and coating to land in that gap, or say so if it cannot be done.
For pricing we ask for the engineer's drawings, the address, the finish and your dates. A landlord's consent for altering a leased unit is yours to obtain. Where a specification names a welding standard or coded welders, pass it on and we will confirm what we can supply. Asking for an estimate commits you to nothing.
Get a price for your steelBefore we visit
Any drawings of the existing building, even old ones from the original supplier. The engineer's scheme for the change. Photographs of the columns, bracing and cladding where new steel will join. Headroom and floor details for a mezzanine. For house beams, just the engineer's drawing and a note of how the steel gets to the back of the plot.
From Attleborough we also reach Snetterton, Old Buckenham, Great Ellingham and Banham, with Wymondham up the road and Thetford down it. The villages either side of the A11 are an easy trip from Norwich, and the rest of Norfolk and Suffolk is served too.
The fabrication quote checklistAsked locally
Door openings, working round deliveries, house beams, distance and quotes.
All our FAQs in one placeWe can make and fit the steel for it. The opening is part of the building's frame, so a structural engineer has to design the new goalpost or trimmer and say how the old steel is supported meanwhile. Working from that drawing, we fabricate the frame and install it, often over a weekend.
Yes, with planning. We agree a segregated work area, delivery times that miss your busy hours, and out of hours fitting where a door or bay must be closed. On food sites we follow your contractor rules and hot work permits, and bolted connections keep welding in the building to a minimum.
Yes. One RSJ for a kitchen extension is as welcome as a frame. Send the engineer's drawing with the section, length and plate details. We do not choose beam sizes, as that is the engineer's job and Building Control will want the calculations. Delivery from Norwich is about 17 miles.
How a job runs, step by stepYes. The estimate costs nothing and the price is agreed with you before steel is ordered. If the survey or a drawing revision changes the job, we tell you the new figure first.
We can. Our own installers bolt new steel to existing frames, set mezzanines and lift canopies into place around Attleborough and Snetterton. Lifting plant is chosen to suit your yard and headroom, and RAMS are issued ahead of the work so your site team can approve them.
Steel erection in AttleboroughIts length, depth and clear height, what it fixes to, the engineer's drawing, the finish and the site address. Photographs of the wall and columns behind it help a great deal. Our checklist covers the rest.
Open the checklistOften ordered together
Swift Fabrication Services
Send the engineer's drawings, the Attleborough address and the weeks that suit. We will survey if needed, estimate free and agree the price before cutting.
