Iron castings have been used in architectural designs for over 400 years. The Georgian and Victorian periods saw a surge in the use of cast iron for architectural projects, the high point being the late Victorian era. Everywhere you look in the towns, cities and villages of Great Britain you will see examples of the use of cast iron whether it be railings round a church yard, the parapet on a bridge or a cast iron lamp post.
Diverse Cast Iron
The ability to cast complex and decorative shapes in cast iron has led to this diversity and modern architectural projects still use this material. The introduction of ductile cast iron in the late 50’s opened up a whole new market for architectural castings as this new version of cast iron added mechanical properties close to mild steel to the existing properties of cast iron. This resulted in applications where strength and toughness were required, combined with the aesthetic appeal of cast iron. Call Durham Foundry on 0114 249 4977 to discuss your Architectural Castings & Architectural Cast Iron project.
Architectural Cast Iron At Durham Foundry
At Durham Foundry we have been producing architectural iron castings for over a hundred years. As well as castings for the architectural market, our customer base also covers the engineering, decorative, and artistic sectors and we can supply castings from one off up to small to medium batch production using Alkali Phenolic resin bonded sands.
Architectural Specifications
Our workforce of highly skilled moulders can work from complex loose pattern equipment, particularly where low volumes are required, whilst our moulding line is suited for batch production. Our long trading history, coupled with an investment programme that has enabled us to keep up with modern production methods and environmental legislation has meant that we have been involved with many architectural projects and continue to do so. All our architectural iron castings are produced to a current ISO specification, ISO 185 2005 for grey iron or ISO 1083 2004 for ductile iron, along with any further certification which a customer may require.
Architectural Applications
Our diverse customer base has also given us experience in a wide range of applications for iron castings beyond the architectural market, including pumps and valves, forges, foundries and rolling mills, automotive and aerospace, a wide range of OEM’s, quarries and mines, railways and rolling stock, local authorities and artists and sculptors.
We also have long term trading relationships with local pattern makers, machine shops and surface finishers which enable us to quote for the complete supply of machined and painted castings.
