AJN joins ‘Steel for Life’
Suffolk-based AJN Steelstock Ltd is delighted to announce that it is a Gold Level sponsor of Steel for Life, a steel industry body devoted to promoting the benefits of steel over concrete as a construction material.
The UK is seen as the world leader in steel design and construction with our use of steel in multi-storey buildings well above EU averages. Steel for Life is committed to maintaining the UK’s pre-eminent position as a leading consumer of steel in the construction industry and works with architects, engineers, specifiers and contractors to promote the key benefits and advantages of using steel.
The total demand for structural steelwork in the UK is around one million tonnes in a typical year, with demand for associated steel products creating an additional one million tonnes.
Commenting, AJN Steelstock’s Finance Director, Courtney Bell said: “The use of structural steel in the construction industry far outstrips any other competing material, including concrete. If that position is to be maintained, and we are to continue to lead the world in the use of steel in our construction, it is essential for us to be working with and supporting the aims of Steel for Life.”
In 2014 the market share for the use of steel in single storey buildings was 86 per cent and 68 per cent for multi-storey commercial buildings. Across the EU the use of steel in single storey buildings was 53 per cent and for multi storey buildings, 25 per cent.
AJN Steelstock is a family owned business which was started in 1974 by John Boyden and was located in Bury St Edmunds. Today the business is owned by John’s sons Alan and Neil from their head office based in Kentford just outside Newmarket in Suffolk.
The company has seen demand for its steel increase month on month, year on year for the last fifteen years. In the last financial year (2015-2016), AJN Steelstock, sold close to 96,000 tonnes of steel with a turnover for the same period of £56 million – up £5 million on the previous year. This trend is expected to continue in to the 2016/17 financial year.
In 2015, AJN Steelstock made a multi-million pound purchase and investment in a 17 acre site in Henstridge, Somerset, to increase its capacity and serve as a bridgehead for expansion into the South Coast, South West, M4 corridor, Wales and the West Midlands.
