Latest News

26 Jun

A bright future for British iron foundries

In June 2018 we paid a visit to some of the foundries that cast our products and also took a look at some new foundries for future product development. It was an excellent visit and very exciting seeing all the workings of the foundries and we were made most welcome. If it wasn’t so early in […]

19 Jan

Sub Floor Ventilation – Hallways

Period Property Sub Floor Ventilation The Hallway Walking along the high street in Bath, doing a bit of shopping, I couldn’t help but notice this hallway “vent” in one of the properties along the high street. Actually, it’s not one of the worse I’d seen but it struck me how much effort had gone into […]

27 Sep

Preventing Condensation Part1

Here are our top 10 tips to reduce condensation………. When taking a shower or a bath, keep the bathroom door closed and if there is an extractor fitted, make sure it’s on. Don’t forget to pull the plug and drain the water out of the bath as soon as you’ve finished! Drying clothes on radiators generates […]

28 Jun

St Pancras Hotel, London

In June we took a tour of the fabulous St Pancras Renaissance Hotel in London and also the impressive station of St Pancras to explore the wonderful architecture and look for inspiration in search of new designs and ideas for products. Our guide, Mike, took us on the hotel tour, which is open to non residence of […]

28 Oct

Upgrading Old & New Channel Gratings

Channel gratings, “Aco” drains, pavement drains, trench drains and French drains, whatever you know them as they’re the sort of long narrow drains you often see along the pavement or below door thresholds on footpaths or household patios. Aco drain overhaul and new installations with cast iron grilles can be fraught with difficulty because matching the channel with […]

3 Jun

Improving Exteriors in Conservation Areas

Rainwater from down pipes used to emit from an open drainpipe on this old wall. It looked a real mess but what other alternative was there? Now, the pipe is finished off with a cast iron conservation 4 or 5 inch cowl, it looks neat, tidy and in keeping with this period cottage, North Devon […]

12 May

Efficient Drainage ?

You would think that drain grilles would be capable of draining water away, wouldn’t you? Well unfortunately no, as these modern narrow slit grilles show. This is an all to common problem with modern channel gratings and one of the reasons we developed the cast iron Quatrefoil channel grille system. The modern grilles shown in […]

17 Mar

Installing Quatrefoil Channel Grating Part 1

Channel Gratings are ideal for collecting surface water along the lengths of pavements, drives and at the base of doorways and conservatories. Here we are installing a Quatrefoil channel grating at the base of a 2.4 metre wide garden step in the grounds of a listed building. Our system uses the Manthorpe plastic channel with […]

16 Mar

Installing Quatrefoil Channel Grating Part 2

Once the channel gratings are all in place, carefully mortar/concrete the pathway ensuring the fall is towards the channel and the channel falls gently towards the drain hole. It may be worthwhile placing the cast iron Quatrefoil grilles in position to ensure the concrete doesn’t distort the plastic channel. Allow to set and then clean along the plastic […]

12 Jan

Quatrefoil Junction Box

We’re pleased to announce the introduction of an essential grille that will really expand the opportunities for different layouts using our Quatrefoil channel grating system. The Quatrefoil square is an essential grille to have when using our Quatrefoil channel grates in an L, T or X shape. The junction box beneath the grille clips into the […]