Brief History:

Britannia was established in 1983 as a collaborative venture between a north London Foundry and architect Tony Cohen. At the time there were a number of foundries capable of supplying architectural castings and a number of specialist metalwork sub-contractors capable of fixing them but there were very few companies that would undertake to carry out the total contract from initial design, through developing pattern-work, casting and fixing on site as a ‘one stop shop’. Hence Britannia was set up to offer this service to the Building Industry.

Within the last few years Britannia has taken over the assets and goodwill of one of its few real competitors which makes the company the Country’s only specialist traditional architectural metalworker that offers a complete service from design consultancy to final installation that also has its own specialist green sand foundry. The company also possesses possibly the largest collection of original Georgian and Victorian cast iron patterns in the Country, an ideal and valuable resource for projects requiring replica castings.

Important Past Contracts:

Britannia has been involved in the supply and restoration of metalwork on some of the most prestigious building projects in the Country as well as overseas. Among the list of high profile projects are:

• The restoration of the Temple Bar Gates
• The Grand Hotel, Brighton
• The Royal Pavilion, Brighton
• The Temple Bar Gates
• The Foreign Commonwealth Office The Commonwealth Secretariat
• The Houses of Parliament
• Schloss Reinhartshausen, Nr Wiesbaden, Germany Hotel
• Elephant, Weimar, Germany
• Somerset House Royal Geographical Society
• The Leas Bandstand Folkestone
• Shoreditch Church
• Sheffield Heart of the City Project

Library of Georgian & Victorian Patterns

One of Britannia’s greatest strengths is that over the last twenty five years, the Company has built up possibly one of the largest library of traditional Georgian & Victorian patterns in the Country. This collection of hundreds of different architectural moulds is an invaluable resource when making replica castings for restoration work.

The Britannia Foundry:

The Britannia Foundry is located in Hoddesdon approx. 20 miles north of London. Although the foundry is clean, modern and efficient, it is one of the very few foundries in the Country that still casts using the traditional green sand process. Apart from the flexibility that green sand gives when casting historic replica castings it also has the added benefit that the moulding sand can be re-used time and again rather than going into toxic land fill making the foundry green in more ways than one.

Exports:

Britannia exports regularly within the European Community particularly, Ireland and Germany, and has even had orders from as far away as Japan. The Company has a separate Euro account to ease foreign exchange transactions. Information Technology: Britannia’s attractive modern offices are equipped with up to date computer and internet systems to enable architects and designers to send the Company drawings in CAD format for working on.