A Halifax company is over halfway through a major project in the heart of London.
Hargreaves Foundry has now cast 221 columns at heights of up to six metres and weighing over two tonnes for the development at One Pancras Square, King’s Cross, London.
Casting began in June 2012 and the columns are made from recycled scrap iron and so far 215 tonnes of scrap have been melted down at the Halifax factory at Water Lane, South Parade.
As batches of columns are completed they are taken to London and lifted into position by crane to form a colonnade around Building B2 which is one of six around Pancras Square between St Pancras International and King’s Cross Railway Stations.
There has been four years of construction across the 67 acre development which is expected to be completed later this year.
The Hargreaves contract worth well over a million will involve 396 columns.
Hargreaves Foundry managing director Michael Hinchliffe said; “Our company shares a Victorian heritage with the King’s Cross area as records show it was established before 1881,” he said.
“Today, with a staff of 72 we are one of the few foundries left in the UK capable of producing the size of these castings and the volume required.
“We recruited seven new foundry people for this landmark project. As an iron founding company, we have supplied castings to the engineering and construction industries for approximately 130 years.”
The process involved in making the columns is largely unchanged since Victorian times and can tke up to three days involving up to 12 iron founders.
Hargreaves has retained specialist pattern making and foundry skills and undertakes major art casting for sculptors including Anthony Gormley.
It is also well known as a manufacturer of cast iron drainage products and there is a sister company - Hargreaves Lock Gates with the works based at Sowerby Bridge.
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