Caunton Engineering Ltd - Structural Steelwork Contractor

Introduction

Caunton Engineering is one of the UK’s leading steelwork contractors, fabricating in excess of 40,000 tonnes per annum with a turnover in the region of £100m. Caunton specializes in the design, fabrication and erection of structural and secondary steelwork, operating across all sectors of the construction industry. With over 50 years trading longevity, Caunton have developed proactive relationships with their clients and supply chain, with a focus on engineering excellence, embracing partnering and collaborative working opportunities. This enables the company to proactively contribute and utilise our experience, knowledge and expertise to aid successful project delivery. The Caunton offering includes in-house engineering, design, production, fabrication, and project management ensuring our projects are managed, planned and controlled throughout all stages of the delivery process. Caunton employs 250 people and can manage projects of virtually any size, up to 15,000 tonnes of structural steel, in a single project. Caunton are based in the Midlands, near Nottingham and operates nation-wide with directly employed erection and design teams. As a company, we are Quality Assured to BS EN ISO 9001, have Environmental Certification to BS EN ISO 14001 and have gained certification to the Prestigious Welding Quality Management System BS EN ISO 3834 Part 2. Safety is paramount. The Health & Safety Management System is accredited to BS EN 45001 standards, with adherence to the Policy Statement on Health and Safety the highest priority. Training too is of great importance by means of the company’s accredited Apprentice Academy.

Caunton holds Safety Schemes In Procurement (SSIP) registration through its certification body SCCS. (This scheme emphasises that safety is at the heart of procurement). The company is an active member of BCSA, and a Gold Status holder within the Steel Construction Sustainability Charter. Caunton Engineering have been active now for over 20 years in the Investment in People (IIP) framework.

Caunton Engineering is a member of the Caunton Holdings Group.

2025

Having successfully navigated the Covid Pandemic, Caunton emerged a more agile and stronger business. Like so many we were forced to adopt new working practices. By embracing new technologies, investing in our IT systems, and our commitment to engineering excellence, we weathered the storm with the support of our employees and customers.

There was a surge in demand throughout 2022 and 2023, as the market continued to readjust post-pandemic. We undoubtedly benefited from the growth in online retailing which resulted in a substantial increase in the distribution sector. Additionally, there continued to be a growing demand for renewable energy facilities to serve the ambitious “Net Zero by 2050” national objective, and we are pleased to have supplied steelwork for several of these projects. Demand certainly eased off, as a 2024 General Election beckoned, and a recession threatened. Turnover was much reduced throughout 2024.

We had a visit from former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, then chancellor at the time, when he made an announcement of his budget plans speaking from our factory building. He was also to receive welding training from one of our Academy apprentices.

We were sorry to note the passing of two celebrated former directors – Joe Locke, a respected industry champion, and Mike Fewster our former Managing Director.

The company was honoured by the award to Caunton Engineering founder, and former Chairman David Bingham, of the Freedom of the Borough of Broxtowe.

After two years of being unable to support work placements due to Covid, we were back on track with these and from the end of June to September 2022 we facilitated 12 work placements for students attending local schools.

There was steady investment in resources and equipment throughout the period. A welding robot was introduced in 2023 and initially operated by our apprentices in a research and development phase before going into mainstream production. This was followed in 2025 by the introduction of two major robotic machines –one cutting by gas and plasma, and the second by laser – with a total investment of over £2million.

We continue on our carbon roadmap journey towards becoming Net Zero with constant incremental gains -the latest being the withdrawal from service of diesel combi-lifts and the introduction of fully electric ones.

Within our painting facility we have extended the skill base and broadened our offering to include the application of Intumescent paint – a growing demand in the industry.

Our Apprentice Training Academy enjoyed a major refurbishment, and celebrated its 20th year in 2025 having received an adjudication of “Good” in Overall Effectiveness following its first inspection by Ofsted in 2022.

During the period the company was proud to launch its Social Values Document which is posted on the Company’s web site.

2022

The start of the new decade brought unexpected challenges for Caunton Engineering. We successfully navigated through Brexit and the Covid19 Pandemic, and as a result have come through this a more agile and stronger business. This was achieved by embracing new technologies, investing in our IT systems, our commitment to engineering excellence, and the support of our employees and customers.

There was a significant lull in demand for a period as the market readjusted during the pandemic. Caunton benefited from online retail growing during this period, which resulted in a surge for logistics and distribution facilities. Caunton’s strength in this market resulted in a growing order book from summer 2020 onwards. Additionally, there continues to be a growing demand for renewable energy facilities to serve the ambitious “Net Zero by 2050” national objective, and we are pleased to have supplied steelwork for several of these projects. The company’s continued involvement with the development of the Steel Bricks™ system should benefit, in time, a more efficient national nuclear industry.

Infrastructure demands also continued in this period and Caunton supplied steelwork for sixteen buildings to assist in the building of HS2 rail network. The company was also successful in supplying steelwork for the leisure, data centre and car park markets.

Caunton’s social responsibility policy was maintained and, amongst other initiatives, we were pleased to support the Constructionarium project. This project allowed us to donate an erectable steel structure, known as the mini Gherkin, to allow students to assemble and come together to collaborate and learn some of the more practical aspects of construction.

In the summer of 2022 Caunton published the company’s Carbon Roadmap, which outlines our initiatives and corporate strategy to deliver Net Zero by 2050. Details of all these initiatives can be obtained from Caunton’s web site.

2019

The end of the year 2019 marked the 50th Anniversary of Caunton Engineering. It also marked the completion of a new Head Office building. The original Caunton Engineering building inherited from the Coal Board back in 1989, and ever since then housing Caunton's technical, administration and fabrication departments has seen enormous changes in its fabric over the period. In 2018 new state of the art Production Offices were introduced by means of a major refit within the original building. Then In 2019 the technical and administration departments vacated the building moving to a brand new Head Office building only a stone's throw away and which is named Caunton House. This has given the company the opportunity for the original building to house first the Secondary Steelwork Division and after further renovation provide extra fabrication capacity.

Caunton House

The company is therefore planning for practical growth. It is maintaining its position in thriving national sectors – nuclear decommissioning, rail care, green energy generation, and waste-to-energy power stations in particular. It still keeps very busy serving the retail and retail distribution sectors, where Caunton believes the company has an excellent reputation and second to none. The company has also been successful in supplying steelwork for the growing markets of leisure, data centres and car parks.

There has also been increased levels of, and greater focus on, corporate responsibility activity. Examples include sponsorship at universities , driving forward a local generation programme and preserving the history of the local area , and the company’s substantial support of the industry’s Constructionarium programme.

The company therefore enters the new decade confident of a successful and responsible future.

2016

The company is looking forward to a successful future. It is continuing its expansion into the thriving national sectors – nuclear decommissioning, rail care, green energy generation, and waste-to-energy power stations in particular. It still keeps very busy serving the education sector, and the retail and retail distribution sectors, where Caunton believes the company has an excellent reputation and second to none. The company’s Secondary Steelwork Division formed in 2013 is expanding fast and is offering a complementary service on many of the main Caunton projects. As reported elsewhere, the new fabrication facility opened in September 2014, called The Cut Shack, which expanded the fabrication capacity by a further 4000 square metres, resulted very quickly in a major increase in steelwork tonnage produced, and in efficiency too. The company has been working hard in parallel expanding its engineering capacity to match the new fabrication capability. The expansion in the company’s capacity had successfully anticipated the increased demand for steelwork nationally throughout the period.

The future is bright.

2015

The company has expanded turnover throughout the year. The turnover proved to be the largest in Caunton Engineering’s history. It has maintained its position in the thriving sectors – nuclear decommissioning, green energy generation, rail care and waste-to-energy power stations in particular. It has been kept particularly busy serving the retail sector, including the rapidly expanding on-line market, where Caunton believes the company has an excellent reputation and second to none. The new fabrication facility opened in September 2014, called The Cut Shack, which expanded the fabrication capacity by a further 4000 square metres, resulted very quickly in a major increase in steelwork tonnage produced throughout 2015, and in efficiency too. The expansion in the company’s capacity had successfully anticipated the increased demand for steelwork nationally throughout the period.

Throughout the year the company reinforced its transfer to the use of Tekla software, and was rewarded with two of only six awards made by Tekla annually for excellence. The company maintained development of its skills in responding to the demands of CE Marking Class Three requirements. The company also pushed ahead with its adoption of BIM well ahead of the government’s target for BIM Level 2 being compulsory by 2016.

The British steel making industry suffered major cut backs in capacity throughout the year but Caunton maintained and ensured safe and reliable supply.

2014

Throughout the year, the company consolidated its position in new and thriving sectors – nuclear decommissioning, rail care and waste-to-energy power stations in particular. It still kept very busy serving the education sector and the retail sector where Caunton believes the company has an excellent reputation and second to none. It continued to be committed to constantly updating its equipment for more efficient design, IT draughting and fabricating.

The company launched a new division for manufacturing “Secondary Steelwork”. With the company earning CE marking status for both primary and secondary steelwork, and this becoming a legal requirement in July 2014, the company prepared for a fast expanding future. Anticipating this , a new fabrication facility was opened in September 2014, called The Cut Shack, expanding the fabrication capacity by a further 4000 square metres.

The company extended its BIM credentials via Tekla software, as "lonely BIM" is fast disappearing, becoming the all -embracing "BIM Level 2" that the government is demanding by 2016. The company experimented with the use of 3D printing too.

3D Printed Connection - Exported directly from a Tekla 3D model (Morrisons supermarket, Bargoed)

The company won the largest order in its history – Friars Walk Shopping Centre, Newport, South Wales requiring over 6000 tonnes of steelwork - which was completed successfully. It also expanded its skills in the fabrication of tubular steelwork.

Anticipating the future, the Caunton technical team in partnership with the SCI, initiated the pioneering of a new steel concrete walling system that could radically alter the way nuclear power stations are built.

A busy and successful year of progress by the company.

2011

During the period the company began to establish itself firmly with "blue chip" contractors. For example the company was awarded Supply Chain Partner of the Year 2011 by Costain. Balfour Beatty presented the company with its 2011 Teamwork award. Several high profile projects were completed - Newbury Town Centre, the Museum of Liverpool and Leicester Tigers North Stand for example. The latter with steelwork designed by Caunton is second only to the Kop at Liverpool as the largest single storey stand in the country.

The company supplied steelwork for two London 2012 Olympics Stadia - the Water Polo and Shooting Gallery, and even the "sample" 500-seater stadium for Qatar’s successful World Cup bid. Other exports followed- including to Jamaica and Korea. Over the period the company had certainly and assuredly established itself as a national leader in the design and supply of structural steelwork.

Caunton’s first female apprentice was employed and proved such a success she was appointed to the fledgling Industry Apprentice Council, formed to advise government on apprenticeship matters. Meeting minsters and MPs at Westminster, no less.

2008

As a result of the £5m re-investment into a new facility and replacement machinery Caunton began to reap the rewards through not only securing many more prominent contracts but also being judged as the coveted Nottinghamshire Company of the Year 2008. The award was sponsored by Nottinghamshire County Council and KPMG and cited the recognition that turnover is at record level, training and employee benefits are of an exemplary high standard and that investment in engineering and manufacturing resources is progressive and substantial.

Further to this, on the same night, Caunton were awarded an eminent 2008 Structural Steel Design Award Certificate of Merit for Constructionarium Mini-Gherkin, Norfolk. The annual Structural Steel Design Awards sponsored by steelmaker Corus and steelwork industry trade association BCSA always elicit many marvellous feats of engineering in steelwork. The award to Caunton, Certificate of Merit, was however linked in the judge's dedication to what they referred to as "an outstanding training initiative" which makes it the first to our knowledge to be so delineated. This was followed by another Structural Steel Design Award Certificate of Merit in 2009 for work on the Unilever Headquarters Building in Leatherhead.

The Apprentice Academy was accredited in 2008 and has proved an industry leader in every respect. Various consulting engineers and architectural practices have attended training sessions there and many came out as competent welders too.

2005

During this period the Group purchased a further 32 acres of land. In addition Caunton have invested £5m in a new facility and replacement machinery. The new facility, known as Plane Building was opened by the Rt Hon Geoff Hoon (see News related article) and is a 37,000 sq.ft development dedicated almost exclusively to paint application. Utilising the very latest in technologies and equipment paint treatments can be painted and loaded within 90 minutes all year round. In addition to this Caunton designed the building to ensure it incorporated many sustainable features thereby keeping the company's carbon footprint as low as possible. The development includes a state of the art surface water treatment system, along with energy saving features like solar thermal panels to heat water and roof lights to maximise natural daylight. The latest 'grey water' equipment has also been installed.

Plane Building - Paint Facility

There is no doubt that our general awareness of the environment and especially carbon emissions has increased over the last few years and Caunton have remained at the forefront of this. Indeed the business had been doing a great deal of ground work from 2004 to 2007 which culminated in Caunton being awarded the BCSA Silver Award for Sustainability as well as gaining ISO 14001, the internationally accepted specification for an environmental management system (EMS). Also in 2007 Caunton finalised their Carbon Footprint in readiness for carbon credit trading which certain developments require.

In addition to continual development of our business processes and re-investment in the hardware and infrastructure of our business we have designed developed and opened our own Academy in order to meet the demands of our business in terms of trained personnel. Our Academy is focused on school leavers and training of key engineering skills alongside a day release college programme. Such has been the success of the scheme that for two consecutive years Caunton has reached the final of the regional apprenticeship of year scheme and more recently was featured on BBC1's Politics Show.

The Academy is among many training and development schemes that Caunton undertakes which have resulted in the company being recognised by external bodies for its development and management of its employees. In 2006 Caunton were invited as a finalist in Contract Journal's Best Place to Work in Construction competition and in 2007 Caunton was runner up in the KPMG assessed Nottingham Evening Post Company of the Year Award.

As well as our staff remaining of the utmost importance to us so too do our clients and over the past four years we have continued to develop strategic relationships with key customers which have been formally recognised in certain instances such as Taylor Woodrow's SAP initiative. In other instances our long term relationships with customers have also been rewarded –for example Simons Construction have awarded Caunton not only with Supplier of Year award but also a special award of recognition for a 10 year partnership.

2004

The early years of the new century have seen continuous improvement and development throughout the business. Caunton have completed a successful merger with a sister company, Tiger Buildings Limited, and consolidated the main operations into a fully revamped office space.

The company's on-site capabilities have grown to the point where we are capable of erecting over 70% of all we sell. In the interests of safety and efficiency, we have established an in-house safety-netting operation. Again working towards these twin objectives, the company has played a major role in the development of two major site-oriented innovations – Quicon, the slotted beam-connector, and the Dawson Quick Release beam-lifting safety shackle. For more details of the latter there are details in the News Section of this website. Indeed such is the importance of Health and Safety in the company's development plans that all staff who work on or visit site now comply with the MCG requirement for CSCS cards, and this well in advance of the prescribed cut off date.

Within the manufacturing unit, the installation of a CNC tube profiling machine extends our ability to satisfy clients' ever increasing demands and ambitions. Team development within the plant and the introduction of multi-skilling has enhanced the capability of Caunton's speedline style production - with year-on-year productivity gains.

The company's reputation within the automotive industry has been maintained with the recent addition to our client base of Japanese car giant, Honda, based in Swindon. Caunton has benefited from steelwork's increased success in the residential market. Our internal technical capabilities have enabled us to capture a significant share of this market, while retaining our grip on the retail market and the distribution sector with numerous projects for well-known high street names such as Sainsbury, Asda, IKEA and NEXT. Indeed this technical capability enables the company to meet the rigorous demands needed for the tendering and scheme development of PFI and PPP projects.

The development of the use of I.T. across all areas of the business continues to reap rewards, as ever more efficient ways of processing the workload are found. The detailed use of process mapping provides Caunton with a much leaner operation – an absolute must for a UK-based manufacturing business.

2001

2001 saw us take up another first for the industry with the launch of our intranet / extranet knowledge portal. Once again we are at the cutting edge of harnessing the very latest in technology in order to give our customers a better service. We have created a system that enables our staff, partners, customers and suppliers to access every piece of information held within the company.

Access can be through a myriad of devices such as mobile phones, PDA's or laptops. Location is no longer a constraint with the latest devices able to access our portal via internet cafes and other WIFI hot spots can also be used to stay in touch.

1998

The change in Caunton's impact on the industry is clear to see. Growth since 1992 has been a consistent upward path. The company was by now undertaking large nationally noted projects like the new Land Rover plant at Solihull and the Thames Court award winning building in the City of London, both well in excess of 2000 tonnes of steel. Shopping centres were completed in Liverpool, Barrow and Mansfield. Tiger Buildings was also launched to undertake smaller contracts to service the many partnerships we had formed with clients and contractors. Tiger's annual sales now exceed £5m.

1990

The company moved to Moorgreen in January 1990 and completed an investment program of £3.6 million. The German company Peddinghaus designed the layout for the CAD / CAM facility which was driven by the BOCAD drafting system. The operation took two years to become fully operational and 'switch on' was Easter 1992. Just in time for the deepest recession the industry has ever suffered. Fortunately our investment made us super efficient and recession or not our sales rocketed and our overheads fell. Productivity increased well beyond expectations and with increased standardisation driven by a fully integrated CAD/CAM design/detail/manufacturing facility we gained market share and increased profitability.

The company was now a National fabricator working from Aberdeen, Oil Rig work, to Lands End, where we built the last Tin Mine in the UK. In 1992 all our production moved to a Just in Time basis supported by the then British Steel (now Corus). At the same time one of the original founders, Tom Broadberry retired and the Bingham family purchased all the shares in the business. Also in 1992 Simon Bingham joined the company, later becoming Group M.D., in 1996 and MD of Caunton Engineering in 2000.

1982

Rapid expansion took place over the coming years until the company was operating on four different sites on the same estate. During the three day week and the miner's strike the company purchased a large generator and continued working full shifts right through. Clearly a major re-think was required and the directors made several trips abroad to find the most economical steel fabrication methods. Fabrication plants were visited in Germany, Australia, and the USA to study methods of operation. Clearly we needed to fully automate the plant and move to computer generated drawings.

The first move was to install a German drafting suite and then search for a suitable new home where we could install CAD / CAM manufacture. This marked the introduction of 3-D Geometric Modelling by a steelwork contractor in the UK. The year: 1985/6. The search for a new location took four years until we finally purchased the National Workshops of British Coal at the end of 1989.

1973

The company moved from the village of Caunton to a site in Kirkby-in-Ashfield. The move coincided with the company's first major industrial building, a new printing works for the Nottingham Evening Post. The company started its extensive training initiative with both shop floor and technical apprenticeships. The company was elected members of the British Constructional Steelwork Association encouraged by East Midlands based fabricators who recognised a rapidly expanding competitor.

In 1978 Caunton purchased the first CSC steel frame computer design package along with the first Olivetti computer imported to the UK. This marked the start of our long tradition and love affair with computing power. Every subsequent investment has always been based on the benefits IT can bring the business and so our customers. Even at this early stage we were carrying out all operations, design, detail, fabrication and erection 'In House' and we have continued so to do ever since.

1970

There had been a blacksmith's shop in the village of Caunton, near Newark, for centuries before the business was taken over, from blacksmith Reg Hardwick, by Tom Broadberry and David Bingham and the company renamed Caunton Engineering Ltd in 1969. The company opened for business on 1st February 1970 and the first year's sales totalled £25k.

The company won it's first building order in March 1970 and continued operations from the village until April 1973 when it relocated to a new purpose built fabrication plant at Kirkby in Ashfield, Nottingham.

Our History by Year

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2022

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2019

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2011

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