This page is updated regularly with news from Dales.

January 2012

5-a-side Football Team

Dales Fabrications Ltd have re-formed their championship winning 5-a-side football team, hoping to be successful once again. With original players Anthony Fowkes, Darren Barker and Tom Strickland, who have over 30 years combined service at Dales, new players have been added, namely, Sam Duxbury, Gurpreet Dhinsa, Ryan Sharp and Reese Orton. By the end of their first season they finished with a respectable mid table position. With a bit of luck on their side they may have pushed for a top 3 finish! Looking to the next season; there is hope that this will be achieved.

November 2011

Dales’ Recruitment Webpage

Dales Fabrications regularly receive enquiries from experienced individuals from a wide range of employment sectors including production, transport, design, project-management, administration, financial and sales backgrounds; this level of interest in Dales’ has resulted in the addition of a ‘Recruitment’ page to the Dales’ website at www.dales-eaves.co.uk/recruitment.html.

Beginning in November 2011, Dales’ will now post all vacancies on their Recruitment webpage and will welcome applications either by email or post. Similarly, speculative CV’s are always welcome from individuals who feel that they have the core skills and attributes to contribute towards the work of Dales Fabrications.

Dales are particularly pleased to be able to launch their Recruitment webpage with an immediate vacancy in Project Management, a role which demands excellent organisational, technical and interpersonal skills combined with a good working knowledge of MS Office and AutoCAD LT, ideally gained in a construction based environment; please see our new Recruitment page for further details.

October 2011

Dales Aluminium Rainwater Diverter

(Registered Design 4021277)

As the popularity of rainwater harvesting has increased, so has the pressure on Dales to develop a rainwater diverter to suit our rainwater pipe systems.

We are delighted to launch our range of high-capacity diverters, capable of diverting up to 100% of rainwater when required, to compliment our rainwater pipe range.

The diverter can be installed as part of a new system, or retro-fitted to existing systems and can be easily connected to most water butts.

Diverters are available to suit 70, 76, 80, 100 and 150mm diameter pipe as well as 76 and 100mm square pipe, can be supplied in most RAL colours, and are supplied complete with installation instructions.

As innovative leaders within our sector we have, over the years, seen many of our concepts and designs copied by our competitors and, as such, the design of the diverter has been registered (Reg No 4021277), in accordance with our latest company policy. For details of the registration please see http://www.ipo.gov.uk/d-find-number?csbdesign=4021277

> Download Certificate of Registration of Design

August 2011

Advanced (Technical) Apprentice:

Dales Fabrications are pleased to announce their intention to recruit an Advanced (Technical) Apprentice at the beginning of the next academic year, mid-September 2011. At this stage it is hoped to recruit one Advanced Apprentice who will rotate through the disciplines of Estimating, Production Processing and Project Management, whilst simultaneously working towards both NVQ Level III and BTEC National qualifications over a 2 to 3 year period.

The management of the academic training programme will be undertaken by ‘Training 2000’ of Derby, who are well known to Dales Fabrications as first-class providers of training for all of their recent craft (factory-based) Intermediate Apprentices.

Karl Prosser, Company Secretary of Dales Fabrications is quoted as saying:

"The Company has always recognised the value of the apprentices in the production environment; however, our office based technical positions have never been historically filled by apprentices. The recent changes in university tuition fees has clearly lead to many talented and well-qualified candidates rightly-questioning whether they wish to incur the debt of graduate-study, as opposed to entering the job market earlier in their working-life.

Effectively the ‘earn whilst you learn’ approach has to be considered a viable alternative to the traditional graduate route of study, and we have been impressed by both the calibre and by the maturity of attitude of the applicants to date. We have every confidence in ‘Training-2000’ to equip our apprentices with the essential technical knowledge on which to base their careers, whilst we feel that we can offer them every opportunity to take on real responsibility at an early stage of their working lives.”

Applicants for any future apprenticeships with the Company are encouraged to send either a CV marked for the attention of the ‘Company Secretary’ or to approach ‘Training-2000’ of Derby directly www.ts2000.co.uk.

July 2011

Update on www.nordalgutters.co.uk:

Dales Fabrications is pleased to announce that their Nordal range of gutters, imported directly and exclusively by Dales from Norway, are now being successfully sold to the general public following launch of the direct-sales website, www.nordalgutters.co.uk, in April 2011.

Karl Prosser, Company Secretary at Dales Fabrications, is quoted as saying that:

"We maintain that Nordal remains the number one choice of guttering system for the vast majority of domestic applications, whether it be a single property, a sizeable new development or an entire local authority portfolio, especially where there is a hybrid requirement for low cost, environmental sustainability and long-lasting durability. We are particularly pleased to report that our experience with TNT couriers has resulted in delivery times to the general public which comfortably exceed our estimates, and this will result in us exploring a far wider range of products which are suitable for direct-sales in the future."

June 2011

ISO9001:2008 (Quality Management) certification

Dales Fabrications underwent their annual quality audit on 7th June 2011 and are please to confirm that following the audit, the auditor, Kevin Gull of Moody International Ltd, concluded that Dales Fabrication be recommended for continuance of their ISO9001:2008 (Quality Management) certification.

Within the body of the final audit report it was stated that the organization (Dales Fabrications Ltd) continues to be active in the Design, Manufacture & Supply of rain water systems and is consistently looking at ways in which to improve the service they are giving, not only to existing clients but also to prospective new clients.

The Directors and Staff of Dales Fabrications would like to take this opportunity to thank Moody International, and inparticular their auditor, Kevin Gull, for the professional, thorough and supportive manner in which the audit was again conducted for 2011, and for the valued assistance that they continue to provide in our pursuit of continual improvement.

April 2011

Nordal Website

Dales Fabrications Ltd are pleased to announce that it is now possible to purchase Nordal Aluminium Guttering online via their newly launched website at:

www.nordalgutters.co.uk

Dales Fabrications are the sole UK distributor of Nordal Guttering and are proud to be continuing their long-standing relationship with the manufacturer, Grovik-Verk of Norway.

March 2011

Sponsorship

Dales Fabrications Ltd are pleased to announce their sponsorship of the Under 11’s Riverside Rapids Football team.





Pictured above: Riverside Rapids Football Team shirt featuring the Dales logo.

December 2010

Erewash MP Jessica Lee visits Dales Fabrications

An Ilkeston manufacturer whose products boost the appearance of buildings played host to Erewash MP Jessica Lee who wanted to learn more about local industry.

Miss Lee paid a fact-finding visit to Dales Fabrications on Crompton Road Industrial Estate which has been marking its 30th anniversary as a private limited company.

Dales Fabrications makes bespoke aluminium products to enhance the appearance of buildings such as hospitals, schools, office buildings, apartment blocks, and fire and police stations across the country.

Chartered engineer Frank Dales founded the company in 1977 to meet the need for precision, purpose-made steel gutters for building projects, and saw the scope to expand into aluminium eaves systems.

Dales Fabrications became a private limited company three years later. Mr Dales retired in 2000, but in 2008 he returned as chief executive.

Since then he has made a number of changes, particularly with technical advances in manufacturing and using IT-based equipment. These have improved the product range which now includes rainwater systems(gutters and pipes), fascias and soffits, and solar shading, a growing component in modern buildings.

Recent buildings where the company has supplied products to include Littlewick Medical Centre, Ilkeston; Kingsway Hospital, Derby; Chellaston Junior School, Derby; Scargill Primary School, West Hallam; Cotgrave Caldebury Lane School, Cotgrave, Nottinghamshire; and Netherfield Primary School, Netherfield, Nottingham.

It also supplied products to the Irene Kennedy Centre at Wirrall Ark, Merseyside, which won a Green Apple Environmental Best Practice Award for its architects, Denovo Design of Liverpool, who picked up their trophy at the House of Commons yesterday (Mon, Nov 15).

The company prides itself on its green credentials, recycling redundant aluminium.

It has 31 employees, including a new apprentice, and takes local school children on work experience and to demonstrate engineering as a profession. It supports the local community by sponsoring shirts for Long Eaton Riverside Rapids under 10s football team.

Dales Fabrication is an associate of regeneration agency Erewash Partnership and Miss Lee’s visit stemmed from a recent event when company secretary Karl Prosser asked her about initiatives to back the construction industry.

“We invited the new MP to come along and see how a small Ilkeston firm is contributing to the local manufacturing economy,” he said.

“Ilkeston has a long tradition of manufacturing metal products and we are delighted to be continuing this in these difficult times.”

Miss Lee said she had a brilliant afternoon looking around the company, when she learned a lot about the technical side of how it works.

“I have been really impressed by the family business with members of staff who have been working for the company for more than 30 years,” she said.

“I feel very passionate about supporting the local manufacturing industry."

“Dales is an ideal example of a successful small business in Ilkeston.”




Pictured from left to right: Peter Bennett, Jessica Lee MP, Frank Dales, Pat Logan, Mick Howard, Carole Dales.

November 2010

The Irene Kennedy Centre at the Wirral Ark.

Dales Fabrications Ltd was a joint contributor to The Irene Kennedy Centre at the Wirral Ark, which is among the major winners in the Green Apple Environmental Best Practice Awards, one of the few accredited feeder schemes into the European Business Awards for the Environment.

The scheme has a number of environmental features, including its ‘green’ roof, which has attracted considerable positive attention and which has inspired the Client to run with the environmental baton and to secure from the Cheshire Beekeepers Association, two bee hives to be located up on the roof, as soon as the bee colonies can be moved from their present location! The trophy will be presented at the House of Commons on Monday 15 November 2010.







(We accredit the flowering roof images to Ann O’Marah CEO at the Wirral Ark and the green roof to Simon Case at Denovo Design.)

October 2010

Dales Fabrications join the ‘One’ Show.

Dales Fabrications were specified to design, manufacture and supply their sustainable Aluminium Fascia & Soffit products on the ‘Suffolk One’ project in Ipswich, which opened its doors to students on the 1st September 2010.




The £52m building is a flagship project on behalf of the South West Ipswich & South Suffolk partnership and was formerly known as the SWISS project. The contemporary design consists of a glass facade over the three storeys which reflect the Soffit planks and there is also an overhanging fin detail with aluminium fascia and soffit. As such both the fascia and soffit detail were a core feature of the building. Attention to the design detail and quality of installation were paramount in achieving the high tech finish required for the project.

‘Dales’ 35 years bespoke manufacturing experience was a major factor in their specification by Bond Bryan Architects and Dales products were installed by the Ipswich based contractors, Plasufix, who are a member of the Dales UK network of preferred Installers. Plasufix worked with Briggs Amasco and the main contractors, ISG Jackson, to make sure both the demanding budget and programme targets were met.

Pictures courtesy of Bond Bryan:








More details can be seen on the Bond Bryan website www.bondbryan.com