ARCHITECTURAL METALWORK THAT EARNS ITS PLACE IN THE BUILDING

Architects and shopfitters specify metal when timber cannot take the load, the wear or the cleaning. A bar frame, a wine rack, a run of display shelving or a custom door frame is in the guest’s eyeline. That means the same discipline as kitchen work — square, consistent, clean welds — with a higher demand on finish.

We build bar framing, wine racks, shelving, general framing, sheet fabrication for architectural faces, fire hydrant cages and gas cages. Some of that is decorative. Some of it is compliance. All of it has to look like it belongs in the room, not like a leftover from a factory catalogue.

Stainless is usually the right call for bars, wine and food-adjacent display. Powder-coated or dressed steel still has a place on cages and back-of-house frames. We will not put a food-grade polish on a hydrant cage, and we will not leave a bar top looking like plant steel.

Bar framing has to take stone or timber tops, under-bar equipment and years of staff leaning on it. The metal is a chassis. If the chassis is out, the stone shows it. We work from the joinery set and the services layout so bottle wells, beer fonts and tap towers land on structure, not on a void.

Wine racks are a mix of load, rhythm and access. Bottle spacing, label facing and how the rack meets the wall all show. A few millimetres of drift across a feature wall is visible from the door. That is a cutting-and-bending problem before it is a welding problem.

Display shelving and custom frames follow the same rule: the first unit sets the language, the rest must match. If you need a family of pieces across several tenancies, say so at quote. Repeatable jigs are how we keep a rollout consistent.

Fire hydrant cages and gas cages are specified because someone has to lock, ventilate and identify hazardous or valved equipment. They still sit on a façade or in a car park. Mesh, framing, hinges and pad points have to be robust without looking improvised. We treat them as architectural metalwork with a job to do, not as farm gates.

Public and coastal sites need the grade conversation again. A cage in a basement can be a different metal to a cage in salt air. If the architect has already written 316, we build 316. If they have not, we will ask rather than guess.

Fixings are part of the design. Visible tek screws on a feature frame are a decision, not a default. Concealed brackets take more coordination with the builder. Put it on the drawing.

Architectural metal arrives into a sequence of slabs, frames, services and finishes. We need a datum, a finished floor level and a honest programme. “It has to be on site next week” is only useful if the walls it bolts to exist.

We can install, or we can deliver for your shopfitter. If we install, we want the same person who made the piece looking at the wall. That is how scribes, packers and last-minute site welds stay controlled.

If your set is still schematic, we can help turn it into fabricatable details. If it is already in construction issue, send the PDFs and the hardware schedule. Architectural metalwork is one of our core services; the journal note is here so the specification is as sharp as the finish you are paying for.