Metal railings and gates manufacturer Alpha Rail has moved to a new purposely designed factory having invested over £800k in refurbishments.
Founded in 1985, Alpha Rail has over 30 years of metal fabricating expertise and is one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of metal railings, pedestrian guardrail, Juliette balconies and metal gates.
The company has been involved in many prestigious projects across the UK. These include The Royal Parks in London, The London 2012 Olympic Games Athletes Village, many housing regeneration schemes, school playground redevelopments and major sporting venues such as the Kia Oval cricket ground.
Local projects have included the Hucknall Town Centre Improvement Scheme, the A453 widening project on Remembrance Way and the £5.2m renovation of Forest Recreation Ground.
Having been previously based in Kirkby in Ashfield, the company had outgrown their old premises and over the years had expanded office capacity using temporary buildings. These were no longer fit for purpose and in late 2015, the Directors decided to invest in the company’s future growth and relocate to a site which represented the quality of their end product.
Commenting, Alpha Rail Finance Director Mark Sipson said: “It’s fair to say that our old premises had become very dilapidated and it was getting quite embarrassing when visitors came to see us. The new factory has been designed to streamline work flow which will help increase productivity and business efficiency. We are delighted with our new environment which also benefits from the latest in environmentally efficient heating and lighting systems."
The new factory is located on Nunn Brook Rise on The County Estate in Huthwaite. Built in 1984, it initially comprised four separate units. Alpha Rail has developed the site to create one open plan unit which now provides over 16,000 square feet of floor space and two storey office space.
In total, over £800k has been invested to include reconfiguration of the factory floor to accommodate metalworking machinery and dedicated areas for each fabricating process. Modern staff canteen and locker areas have also been installed. The interior fit out has provided a reception area, new meeting rooms, bright and airy offices for the estimating team and CAD technicians, finance, sales and admin staff as well as easy to access archive storage areas.
Externally investment has been made in providing level and easily accessible concreted storage areas for raw steel and finished metalwork. This ensures products can be safely and efficiently transported in and out of the factory and loaded on to lorries for onward delivery for installation at project sites across the UK.
Alpha Rail Sales Director Phil Ball added, “The new factory now reflects the quality of the end product we manufacture. The increase in production capacity and speed in which we can now put metalwork through each fabrication process will enable us to promote our expertise further. This will hopefully increase the number of commercial projects we do for public sector organisations, building contractors, landscape architects, building and civil engineers, fencing and landscaping contractors.”
Funding to purchase the factory and complete the refurbishments was arranged by Alan Mele, Relationship Director at Barclays. Commenting he said, “I am delighted that we have been able to support the company in the next phase of their development and look forward to working with them in the future as they implement their growth plan.”
Alpha Rail employs over 40 staff and has a turnover of £3m. The company is committed to providing local employment opportunities and a number of local contractors were involved in the factory refurbishments. These included, Crown Construction (Contracting) Ltd, Alan Benfield Ltd Electrical Contractors, PM Property Maintenance, Newview Digitech Ltd, Attenborough Doors Ltd, Premier Heating Services (East Midlands) Ltd.
