Tuesday, 17 April 2012

Handrails

The vast majority of homes and business' in the UK have some form of stair or steep gradient. Whether you have a slope that leads up to your house, stairs that lead down into your cellar or stairs that lead up to the 45th floor of your business, All of these stairs and slopes need some form of safety, in this case...Handrails.

Handrails in today’s market come in a wide variety of forms. Aluminum, wood, steel, and even plastic handrails are available.

However today, by far the most popular is the traditional wrought iron handrail.

The earliest wrought iron handrails date back centuries, but they’re very different from modern ones. That’s because the definition of ‘wrought iron’ has changed these days; today wrought iron is actually a form of mild steel with low carbon content. It’s still worked by hand the way old-style wrought iron was; it’s just harder and more durable today. At Aplha Rail we are able to manufacture a diverse range of bespoke wrought iron handrails to our customer’s exacting requirements, including fantastic styling and Balustrades

Wrought iron Balustrades add even more mystique and aesthetic power to an already gorgeous handrail. More importantly, they also enforce the handrail and make it even safer for use. If you have the space, meaning your handrail isn’t already attached to a wall, a wrought iron balustrade is a perfect addition to a wrought iron handrail.

Our Handrails can be fabricated from square or round hollow section to suit customer requirements.

Check out our fantastic range!

Wednesday, 21 March 2012

Juliette Balconies


“Romeo Romeo wherefore art thou Romeo”


The Aptly named “Juliette Balconies” is of course famous from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The shallow balcony is designed to provide a safety barrier in front of French windows but at the same time give you a feeling of your very own home balcony.

Juliet Balconies are ideal for:

  • Housing developments
  • Apartments
  • Three storey townhouses
  • Schools
  • Hospitals
  • Nursing homes
  • Student accommodation
  • And on the rare occasion... famous romantic novels.

Due to the increasing popularity of Juliette Balconies Alpha Rail has now added four stunning new designs to our collection, These are:

The Washington, the Lincoln, the Jefferson and the Cleveland.

All of which are fully galvanized with a robust black powder coated finish.

Juliette balconies are not only required for safety but can be a thing of beauty, a fantastic contemporary alternative to the usual ranges out there. Juliette balconies are easy to fit and are extremely cost effective.

Check out our great range here:

Thursday, 9 February 2012

Bow Top Fencing

Bow top fencing is a traditional iron fence design that takes its name from its distinctive rounded top.

It is also a popular way to turn a standard perimeter fence into a much more attractive feature. Designed with safety in mind this makes this type of fence ideal for use on children’s play areas, in schools and play grounds.
Along with the standard bow top railing design Alpharail offers 5 additional bow top railing designs for customers to choose from, developed to meet client requirements and taking practicality, design and cost into consideration there is a bow top design available to suit all budgets.

Interlaced Bow Top Railing
This alternative to the standard design features a more decorative, interlocking design that provides a secure boundary while remaining pleasing on the eye.

Bow Top BT302
Popular for use in parks, housing estates and along garden perimeters this style of rail fence sees the addition of a vertical bar within the standard design, reducing the width between the rails.

Bow Top BT303
This design offers further alternatives to the traditional bow top design, again there is the addition of another vertical bar but this time the bar passes through the top rail into the bow itself. This variation is particularly popular when design is important to the overall finish.


Bow Top BT304

Taking the design element of the bow top fence even further the BT304 features hollow posts that are completed with finials to add a more decorative finish. Popular in housing developments and parks simply for their stunning features, this particular design is also customisable with the use of contrasting colours.

Bow Top BT305
Designed to meet the more decorative demands of customers this design incorporates a more elegant look, the smaller bow inlayed within the standard, with the high performance requirements and security benefits this type of railing provides.

Friday, 6 January 2012

Pedestrian Guardrail – Keeping Pedestrians Safe.

Normally used along higher speed road, pedestrian guard rail is designed to keep pedestrians safe. While traditional guardrail keeps pedestrians off the road except at designated crossing points, it can often be difficult to see through and obscures small children and pets that can’t be seen through the bars. There is a solution where you can use guardrail and can see through it.

Optirail only available at Alpharail offers railings that are staggered, so while the pedestrian guardrail protects the pedestrian from the cars, the cars can see the pedestrian whatever their size. As visibility will change depending on the speed and curvature of the road, there are different spacing and setting of the panels for different speed roads. The different panels also take into account the minimum stopping distance from the end of the rail and the angle that the driver will be looking through the rail. Using optirail can improve visibility by a factor of three giving pedestrians and drivers more chance of being seen, to see and to take evasive action.

Pedestrian Guardrails also have their used on lower speed roads in town and city centres, here appearance is often more important as the railings can smarten up the appearance of pedestrian areas. Decorative posts, rings and finials that tie in with other street furniture such as bins and bollards can help to give town centres an identity that the pedestrian guardrails on the higher speed roads lack. In addition to their primary function of keeping the pedestrians safe from traffic. Optirail also has a decorative guard railings option so you can have the same safety features as the optirail in a decorative railing.

Whatever the speed of the road, it is worth getting a quote from alpharail for your pedestrian guardrail to make sure the roads are as safe as possible.

Thursday, 1 December 2011

Improve the Look of your Property with Juliette Balconies

Juliette Balconies have the famous namesake of Juliet from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, traditional stagings of the play have Juliet sat at her balcony with Romeo below. However the play itself makes no written description of a balcony only a window. They are not balconies in the traditional sense in that you cannot stand on them but provide protection from falls from door openings on the first and second floors.

So why would you have a Juliet Balcony instead of a window? A window has limitations on size, but with a Juliet Balcony you can have a full size door in place of a window that lets in more light and can be fully opened and stood at in summer to provide views over the surrounding landscape.


Juliet Balconies come in a range of designs; Alpharail has 8 different designs of Juliet balconies including The Portland, The Byron, The Rufford, The Bow Fronted Ruffold, The Chatsworth, The Washington, The Cleveland and The Stafford. The range incorporates modern and traditional styles in a range of finishes. The Portland and The Byron offer a plain Juliet Balcony. Whereas the Bow fronted Rufford like its name describes has a bow front that really makes it distinctive. The Cleveland is a more modern balcony with wavy lines to appeal to a sense of fun.

If you don’t see a Juliet Balcony you like we do offer a bespoke bespoke architectural metalwork service and can help you to design your own balcony to fit your own needs and design.

Why not visit Alpharail and take a look at our range of Juliet Balconies, to add character and style to your building project.

Tuesday, 22 November 2011

Estate Railings

Estate Railings have a classic style often associated with country parks and rural estates. The traditional fence has an ancient look but offers a modern and hardy fence. The modern fence is now stronger and more resilient than the older style of estate fencing.

Estate fencing is useful for marking boundaries on a large estate and also keeping livestock from gardens and within the grazing areas. Sometimes estate fencing can be called deer or park fencing as it was traditionally used to keep deer within estates.
Deer or estate fencing is a great alternative to wire fencing and wooden posts. Wire fencing is temporary and susceptible to damage and weathering. Whereas estate railings are more durable and will last a lot longer, look more classic and have the options of including gates to provide a more traditional finish.

Estate Railings are delivered in a galvanized finish but also have the option of being powder coated. Usually estate railings are a traditional black colour but having a powder coating, gives you a choice of different colour finishes. You may for example want a green finish if the railing borders a woodland, that will pull the fence into the environment and it will not stand out as much. However the black railings on an estate rail do tend to be a feature themselves. It is useful to have the option for different colours if they are needed.

If you order estate rail from Alpharail, you can choose to have a supply and delivery or supply and fix service and you can choose from a range of heights. This allows you to fit your own railing or take advantage of the installation service.

Wednesday, 16 November 2011

Keep People off the Grass with Trip Rails

We’ve all seen signs on well-kept lawns and parks outside buildings with the message “Keep off the Grass” as tempting as the grass looks to sit on or cut across a sign is asking people to respect the grass and the sign, while there is no physical deterrent it is almost a challenge to the person walking by.

Signs like “keep off the grass” are easier to enforce with the use of trip rails. Trip rails are rails that tend to be about the height of an adults knee or lower and can line either a grassed area or a planted area to help to deter people from walking on the grass or trampling a planted area. Trip rails by their nature are not a feature like a full fence and gate but such rather a rail that prevents someone from easily passing it but in itself is not really noticed. It also means passers-by can enjoy the park or area without a physical barrier to it.

Trip rails tend to have a simple design, fabricated from either circular or rectangular hollow sections, linked together through regular posts, they can be rendered in a number of colours and finials can be added to improve the look of them. The majority of them are steel trip rails as this material is suitable to withstand weathering and easily rendered in which ever covering is needed

Trip rails from Alpharail are a good idea because the rail can be designed to the area you want to use it; this means if the area you want to protect is an awkward shape or is really long, Alpharail can create a rail that is suitable for this purpose.