Society of Garden Designers Visits The Metal Centre™

Following 2010’s Chelsea Flower Show and Gardening Scotland Show, the Scottish Society of Garden Designers requested a tour of The Metal Centre in Leith in Edinburgh to get to grips with steel fabrication and engineering for landscaping.

The purpose of the tour was to go behind the scenes to see how steel can be used in the garden as demonstrated last year by Gold and Silver Award winning garden designs from WaterGems and the Scottish Agricultural College, both of whom used The Metal Centre for structural steel and steel components.

Tracy McQue arranged the visit for the Society of Garden Designers, “Steel is not new in garden design but its prominent presence at the Chelsea Flower Show and Gardening Scotland last year has certainly brought it to the forefront of contemporary garden design.”

“Moving into summer 2011, we wanted to give our members first-hand experience working with steel so asked The Metal Centre if they could show us their factory, the types of metal available, the tools used and finishing of steel products.”

Coatings expert Paul McCafferty the Sales Director for Highland Galvanisers (Scotland’s leading galvanising and powder coating specialists) was in attendance to talk specifically through finishing processes and the benefits of treating steel.

Paul added, “Due to the nature of landscaping, designers concepts are exposed to the elements.  Steel installations are required to be treated for durability and protection for both the environment and steel itself.  By galvanising the steel you are giving a protective coating that will last over 70 years and with the vast range of colour coatings available – simply anything is possible with our ‘ColourGalv’ finishes.”

To find out more about Society of Garden Designers please visit http://www.sgd.org.uk/ or if you are interested in steel finishing including colour coatings, please visit http://www.higalv.co.uk or call Paul McCafferty on 01236 731 444.