Welsh steel to be used in Antarctic

A South Wales company's contract to supply steel for a shaft 20m below the snows of the Antarctic is the latest in a relationship with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) spanning more than 40 years.

Newport-based Braithwaite Engineers will be sending panels and ancillary steel equipment to the Halley V research station, which stands on an ice shelf on the mainland of Antarctica, and is the UK's most isolated station.

"The unique environment in which BAS operate means that building design is often innovative and the construction needs to be robust enough to stand the rigours of the Antarctic weather," said Joe Herowych Braithwaite business development director.

The company first worked for BAS in the early 1960s when it designed a special fuel tank for it.

Braithwaite Engineers was founded in West Bromwich over 100 years ago and acquired by the Rowecord Group in 1988.

Along with supplying a range of sectional steel tanks for bulk liquid storage, it also provides hot press moulded GRP water tanks, profile welded tanks, structural steel towers and a full turnkey service including chlorination and disinfection, to schools, hospitals, offices, food suppliers, the pharmaceutical industry, MoD and Home Office projects. 

Last year the company recorded turnover of £6.5m.