newsteelconstruction.com

NSC Archives

Projects and Features

Steel takes stock

Barrett Steel has recently acquired the former Parker Steel site in Shoreham

Despite an unsettled construction sector, Barrett Steel have had a markedly positive six months. The business has secured its position as one of the UK’s largest steel stockholders, with over 110 thousand tonnes of stock in situ, through new acquisition and investment in the latest fleet and processing technologies.

Barrett Steel has been a proud supplier of the steel construction market for generations and despite recent uncertainties, has continued to invest in supporting the industry whilst securing jobs for many in the sector. Long-established as a key partner to construction businesses across the UK, the 6th generation family business prides itself on being the most versatile of providers to the construction industry. An industry that has been embedded right at the core of Barrett’s success since the business began with Henry Barrett in Bradford back in 1866. Continuing this commitment, Barrett Steel are proud to continue their headline sponsorship of Steel for Life.

2019 has seen the number of Barrett depots across the UK rise to 30 operating sites and offices, with the acquisition of the former Parker Steel site in Shoreham being the standout investment for the group over the last 12 months. James Barrett, Group Managing Director commented, “This acquisition allows the Group to develop its presence in the south of England which complements our existing processing hubs in the North showing how positive we are about the future of the steel industry.”

The acquisition of the Barrett Steel Shoreham site in August this year marked a very exciting time for the Barrett Steel Group. The Barrett Steel Shoreham site has provided the group with the perfect platform to service its ever growing customer base in the south of England. The acquisition added an exclusive and dedicated bulk receipts port facility to the business as well as six Ficep Saw-Drill lines, including two new Ficep Endeavour Saw-Drill lines, taking the total number of these machines within the group to four. This has enabled Barrett Steel to increase speed of supply across the UK on processed materials.

Barrett Steel has been supplying the construction industry since 1866

Barrett Steel plans to add further saw and angle lines at the Shoreham facility

John Childs, Group Operations Director recently commented on the port facility. “We have safely discharged over 15,000 tonnes of steel stock in just six weeks thanks to the hard work of our dedicated team on site and the excellent work of Shoreham Port.” Barrett Steel are delighted to have retained 50 staff at Shoreham and are looking to re-employ additional ex Parker employees who left their roles before Barrett Steel acquired the site. Barrett Steel believe passionate local employees are critical to the success of its businesses across its UK network.

Future investment planned for the Shoreham site includes adding further saw and angle lines whilst simultaneously upgrading the materials handling equipment and cranes currently on the site.

One of the biggest new additions to Shoreham this month has been the arrival of six new HGVs, consolidating Barrett Steel’s commitment to a greener fleet. Barrett Steel’s environmental credentials in the reduction of CO2 and equivalent emissions have recently been recognised by Masternaut, with the awarding of a Gold Certificate.

As a key market for Barrett Steel, the construction sector is mainly supplied from the group’s largest division, General Steels. As part of the General Steel Division, Barrett Constructional Steel (based out of Barrett’s Bradford head office) focuses exclusively on larger steelwork contractors, who are likely to have unique and challenging requirements due to the larger size and complexity of their projects. The General Steels division provides all the steel elements needed to create modern structures including heavy structural sections, steel plate, tubular sections, light sections, flats and angles.

Barrett Steel prides itself on being a one stop supplier for the construction industry. Daniel Redgwick, Commercial Director of Barrett Constructional Steel supported this by commenting, “We are proud to offer the complete package to our customers. We carry an extensive range of material ex-stock and within the Group have access to a wide range of state-of-the-art added value processing, meaning we can tailor our offering to the market requirements at every level. Not only do we possess the stock depth on our core steel offerings, but we also have access to a wide range of ancillary products used by the construction sector regularly on many projects which enables us to be the perfect partner in supply.”

Continuous investment in quality and productivity enhancing state-of-the-art equipment continues for the group in 2019/2020. This is in line with the current restructuring of the Barrett Steel Tubes business in Dudley to a dedicated manufacturing hub and centre of excellence for section/hollow section processing. The site is home to 12 laser processing machines including the LT20 Jumbo laser which lends itself perfectly to the processing of constructional components due to its capacity to laser hollow sections up to 508mm in diameter and 14 metres in length. This investment in processing within stockholding allows contractors to focus on design, more challenging fabrication operations and the erection process.

The acquisition of Shoreham has also boosted Barrett Steel’s dedicated profiling team based at the C Roberts Steel Services site in Rotherham. Tom Barrett, Group Commercial Director and current Managing Director of the C Roberts depot spoke about the growth of the team commenting, “It is a notably exciting time for the Barrett Group, and we have seen extensive growth in our profiles team here at Rotherham. We are enjoying working in partnership with the team at Shoreham to expand our profiles offering across the UK. With the profiler at Shoreham expanding our Rotherham capacity plus a further two HD plasma machines and a new laser due on site as we move towards 2020, we will be better positioned than ever to offer a complete package to our construction customers across the UK.”

Today steel stockholders need to offer an ever varied supply of processed material into the construction sector. James Barrett commented, “Over 150 years working hand in hand with the construction industry has enabled Barrett’s to be in tune with the challenges our customers are facing daily. Recently, we have noticed that site dates are finalised but then, due to hold ups with drawing release, our customers are often faced with increasingly shortening lead times for fabrication and supply. At Barrett’s we work seamlessly with our customers to not only ensure stock availability at short notice but to ensure, where we can, that our investments in advanced processing can assist our customers to hit ever tighter schedules.”

The experience entwined in the Barrett Steel operation means not only does the group have the scope to supply a wide variety of stock and processed products, but additionally their long-established supply chain relationships pass on an enormous amount of benefits to the customer. Whether it’s sourcing different types of stock, such as nonstandard specification for the nuclear construction sector, or by reducing costs for end-users thanks to single-source operation, their supply chain allows reduction in costs and transport requirements across the board.

There is no escaping the ever-changing political landscape and the threat Brexit poses to many of the UK’s industries. However Barrett Steel are reassuring customers they continue to monitor the overall situation and they have put procedures in place in preparation for the various scenarios the steel industry faces. What is for certain in these current times is that Barrett Steel’s team of experts can boast significant levels of technical knowledge. This level of knowledge and understanding of the sectors they are servicing allows them not only to create tailored solution-based offerings to assist their customers with the ever-changing challenges they face but backs that up with the investment in stock, transport and the processing capabilities required to cater perfectly to the construction industry for many generations to come.

Barrett Steel
is a headline
sponsor of
Steel for Life

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Share this post

Related Posts

THIS MONTH'S MAGAZINE

Click on the cover to view this month's issue as a digimag.

Archives