Steel staircases and platforms are a logical extension of utilitarian industrial design. They are lightweight, long lasting and easily assembled (and disassembled) in situ. They also allow free passage of light and ventilation, drain quickly after rain, thaw quickly after snow, resist weather damage and are easy to maintain. As with other kinds of construction in steel, they give designers good scope to integrate them with their environment and make them pleasing to the eye.

Those qualities haven’t gone unnoticed by residential designers – both exterior and interior. Steel constructions are often perfect for the light airy spaces sought by modern designers and also offer unique space-saving solutions for many difficult conversion projects. Industrial-themed décor is very much in vogue and so too are the Art Deco iron-work features that were so popular in Paris, New York and other major centres of culture early last century. Residential steelwork designers have a rich seam of ideas to draw upon.

Steel staircases come in a wide variety of forms. Interior staircases often adopt a stylish metal frame into which other colourful materials can be inserted – for example, hardwood or marble steps, ceramics or other metals. Spiral staircases are popular and unusual curves are far easier to implement in steel than in most other materials. Furthermore, steel sections or entire staircases can be fabricated in workshops where specialised machinery is ready to hand, then transported to site for rapid assembly and fixing.

The possibilities are so numerous that it is well worth involving your fabricator early in the design stage. A seamless continuity from design through fabrication to final installation eliminates potential holdups. Here at Walker Engineering, we have state of the art design technology and decades of experience working alongside architects and site engineers.