Wrekin had it covered – lifting the lid on 2022 success
Leading specialist civil engineering product provider Wrekin Products has revealed that it produced enough of its premium iron covers last year to be as tall as Mount Everest – seven times over.
Looking back on 2022, Lichfield-based Wrekin’s statistics showed it fulfilled more than 20,000 customer quotes and sold more than half a million gully grates, manhole covers, and access covers. Moreover, having grown its geosynthetics division last year, it sold enough geogrids to cover 1.8 million square metres, or roughly nine tenths the size of the principality of Monaco.
David Fisher, who joined Wrekin last year as its commercial and technical manager for the geosynthetics division, said: “It was a first-rate year for geosynthetics in 2022. While the construction industry has been facing challenges with supply and demand, wherever projects have been making progress it’s likely that geosynthetics had a hand in improving ground conditions for access and long-term use.
“Our range of products are used for a wide array of purposes, fit for all kinds of projects, on all kinds of ground. We understand that when construction is underway, time means money, and something like deceptive ground conditions can bring a project to a grinding halt if the right solution isn’t available fast enough. Our geosynthetics are designed with purpose to eliminate this worry.
“At Wrekin, our ethos is to make every day better. Where this can be seen clearly is the environmental outcome of our products being used over the far less sustainable alternatives. On average, our geosynthetics can provide equivalent load bearing capabilities to sub-bases twice as thick, providing aggregate savings of up to 50 per cent.”
Wrekin estimates its geosynthetics prevented almost 900 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions being produced, equivalent to saving almost 500,000 miles of lorry travel. Over the same period, it would have taken 5,400 trees to absorb the same amount of CO2.
Speaking on the ductile iron offering, product manager Gosia Kwapisz said: “It was an exciting year for our roads, drainage, and sewage access personnel as we had the privilege of working on a range of projects in many ways – helping to solve lots of different issues. Our team has worked hard, lead in innovation, and surpassed expectations to provide state-of-the-art products at the forefront of the industry.
“However, while we have been developing new drainage solutions, we’ve not compromised the assurance we give our clients that all our products are premium quality and will last for years to come.”
Wrekin’s Unite range, designed for heavy use and installed more than 100,000 times across some of London’s busiest roads has not reported a single failure in the 20 years since first distribution.
Discussing Wrekin’s thoughts for the upcoming year, David also said: “With a tough economic outlook facing the construction sector, we can also help to reduce costs of critical infrastructure projects. Our robust supply chain, which has been tested and proven over the past couple of years, should make all confident that we are on hand to help.”
Wrekin Products is a leading UK designer, manufacturer and supplier of specialist products such as ductile iron manhole covers and gully grates for the civil engineering industry.
The company also designs, manufactures and supplies a full range of steel access covers from pressed steel for domestic use, fabricated products for commercial and industrial use, through to highly specialised bespoke access systems for utilities.
Geosynthetic products play an integral role in many building, civil and marine engineering projects. Recognising this, Wrekin has established technical expertise and a full range of geosynthetic solutions for ground stabilisation, reinforcement, erosion control, drainage, environmental.
