Andrea 13 Mar 2010
	Signs of Spring

All the signs suggest that Spring is on the way. The birds are busy, the snowdrops are out and the lambs are scampering in the fields. We have been fitting a pair of automatic Cherwell gates to a farm on the outskirts of Stratford upon Avon this week. Each time I made a call to our fitters there, I could hear pitiful bleating in the background. According to the farmer, this was the sound of lambs who had been taken away from their mother because she had had triplets and couldn’t cope. They were only quiet when the farmer’s wife came out to bottle-feed them. I thought mothers everywhere would sympathise !

As gatemakers Spring is a very welcome time and we would like to celebrate. Our new offer includes a 20% reduction on our Estate gates and a free finish of zinc priming and powdercoating. Now is the perfect time to replace your gates before the summer rush !

	Andrea 20 Dec 2009
	Memorable Jobs 2009

As we close for Christmas, it is normal for us to take a deep breath and look back at some of the more memorable jobs of 2009. One of our biggest jobs of the year was to install several sets of gates for a new school in Birmingham. This went smoothly until the builders came to remove their large temporary site offices through the newly created, and now much narrower, gateway! In May, after a lengthy planning application process to Westminster City Council, we fitted an elegant set of bespoke steel gates to a mews there. In the same month we designed, manufactured and fitted huge steel gates for a car park in Ruislip, complete with traffic lights. We shipped a set of steel gates and matching railings to Jersey in June, managing to work to a template for curving the railings, and to achieve an exact fit, without visiting the site. We were very pleased to fit bespoke railings at the magnificent new Gurdwara Sahib Sikh Temple in Leamington Spa in October. Finally, in December there was the usual festive race to complete work in time for Christmas. This included fitting an existing pair of timber gates within a custom made steel frame to make it into one large, automatic sliding gate, all on a perilously slippy slope in Napton.

Of course our business is not just about gates, but the people who make them and buy them and they are extremely important to us. We hope that the jobs described give you some idea of how varied our work is and how flexible we can be. We look forward to the new challenges that 2010 will bring.

We wish all our customers a very Happy Christmas!

	Andrea 26 Oct 2009
	Half Price Automation Offer

Don't get distracted by thoughts of Christmas just yet and delay ordering your gate until the New Year.
There are 3 good reasons to order right now:

  1. Our brilliant offer on top quality BFT gate automation. (see offers)
  2. You'll beat the VAT rise in the New Year.
  3. You'll have smart new gates ready to greet your Christmas visitors !

	Glyn 1 Jun 2009
	Introducing the Bidford - Spa Gates’ answer to the credit crunch

The Bidford is our new lower cost timber gate option. It is still an attractive, robust, steel-framed timber gate but we have simplified the construction and used Scandinavian Redwood Pine to keep the cost down. It is well-suited to automation and can be made as a swing or sliding gate. For the exact specification please see the comparison at timber gates .

	Glyn 5 Feb 2009
	The New Milano

Following a recent visit to the home of gate automation, Italy, I was struck by the numerous low sliding gates. Every house seemed to have one. They do offer a very low maintenance, cost-effective and space-efficient security solution for both domestic and commercial situations. With that in mind, we are adding the new Milano to our gate range.

	Andrea 16 Jan 2009
	Some Gates of our own

Just as a professional gardener may have a neglected lawn, we are currently guilty of owning a very tired set of gates. In fact, these gates are more exhausted, than tired. To be fair to us we did inherit them from the previous owners of our house, but for the last 18 months they have stood constantly open and look as though they are trying to lose themselves in the hedge to hide their embarrassment. There has just never been a time when it feels right to improve our own entrance, no matter how much we would like to. Anyway, the gate business is a seasonal one and January is a relatively calm month for us. I am hoping in the next couple of weeks there may be a window in which we can finally fit a pair of Spa gates to our own house. Now that will be an improvement.

	Andrea 4 Jan 2009
	New Year

It may put us in the minority, but as we prepare to go back to work tomorrow we are feeling very positive about 2009. We have some good jobs ready to get underway in January and there are more in the pipeline. We also have a hardworking and committed team here to tackle those jobs and now we have had a fairly relaxing break (we do have three children!) we are starting the new year with renewed enthusiasm.

There is usually quite a bit of dialogue between us and our customers before an order is placed, firstly with me and then with Glyn, often on site. We expect this and welcome the opportunity to make sure that everyone is confident and happy before they order. This is the part of my job that I most enjoy and I am looking forward to speaking to many more customers in 2009.

	Glyn 10 Dec 2008
	3-way wireless intercom

We very often install video or audio intercom systems between an automated gate and the residence – usually cabled (with the power cables that are generally run to the gate openers). On this occasion we were asked to install a 3 way intercom operating wirelessly (no cables). Turned out to be quite straightforward to install and set up!

	Andrea 1 Dec 2008
	Reduced VAT

When the Chancellor decided to reduce VAT, we certainly wanted to reflect the reduction in our prices as soon as we could, so we were faced with getting the Price Calculators on our website updated in just a few days. In the office we also use the website calculators to automatically produce most of our Customer Quotations for residential gates, automation, railings and access control.

Together with our web developer, we decided to change the format so that VAT costs are now shown separately. This does mean that when the VAT changes again we will not have so much trouble to change the prices and calculators next time. By the way, if you are wondering how the calculators work, the prices of all gates and automation are based on standard manufacturing and fitting times, whilst delivery distances are based on the site postcode.

	Andrea 1 Dec 2008
	Planning permission for gates

Increasingly we have found that clients need to obtain planning permission for significant entrance gate projects. Normally we would expect the client to organize this for themselves – especially if they are engaging a builder to build substantial brick pillars etc. Recently we agreed to manage the process of obtaining the planning permission for a client project. Glyn duly produced the plans for the entrance gates and railings, completed the necessary paperwork and we submitted them to Westminster council. It fell to me to make the necessary telephone calls to chase up the planners – and now permission has been granted. Now we look forward to completing the project !

	Glyn 27 Nov 2008
	Security

I did feel sorry for the client who asked me to visit them to quote for new gates after they had been burgled and had their car stolen. Security is a strong reason to have automated gates – not just to make a residence more attractive.

	Glyn 10 Nov 2008
	Use of tube to lighten tall railings

Wrought iron gates are often a heavy 2 man lift. Wrought iron railing panels are less so, unless they are taller of course. When we were asked to make several panels nearly 2 metres tall I thought we should consider tube for the vertical bars which are not part of the frame. We were quite pleased with the results – 25Kg per panel lighter (but still a 2 man lift) and no more difficult to weld or galvanize, and certainly no less effective as railings.