IRON,
BY HAND.

Almost certainly, yes — and the word "almost" only applies if the originals were already altered. Matching period ironwork means starting with wrought iron bar stock, not mild steel, and using fire welding at the collar rather than MIG. The carbon content, the grain direction, the slight surface texture that comes from hammer-working hot metal — these are not details a grinder can fake. I keep reference sections of original Victorian stock and can pull a cross-section comparison before quoting. Listed building consent is something I've navigated many times; I can supply the technical methodology statement your conservation officer will ask for.

A pair of driveway gates — four metres wide, with drawn scrollwork and a central panel — takes eight to ten weeks from signed drawings to installation. That breaks down as: two weeks on detailed drawings and your approval, one week sourcing and cutting bar stock, five to six weeks at the forge for the frame, infill, scrolls, and surface treatment, then a final week for priming, painting, and hardware fitting. Rush work is occasionally possible but it costs more and I won't pretend otherwise. The honest answer is that hand-drawn scrolls cannot be hurried — each one is pulled off the bick of the anvil individually, and a gate with forty scrolls has forty separate heats. What you get at the end is something that will still be standing when your grandchildren inherit the house.

Both, and I'd rather do the installation myself. Fabricating without installing is like writing a sentence and letting someone else choose the full stop — the setting-out, the fixing method, the way the base plates bed into stone or brick, all of it affects how the piece reads in the space. I work with a small crew for larger runs: a second pair of hands for lifting and a groundworker for any concrete bases. For interior work — balustrades, fireplace furniture, wall-mounted sculpture — I work alone and take as long as the wall requires. I carry full public liability insurance, and for listed buildings I can work alongside your conservation architect from day one.

Bespoke ironwork is priced by the job, not the kilogram. A simple fireplace screen in mild steel starts around £680. A pair of hand-scrolled garden gates in wrought iron runs £3,200–£5,400 depending on complexity. A full run of period balustrade for a Victorian stair hall — the kind of project where every newel cap is hand-forged and every tread bracket is individually set out — sits between £8,000 and £18,000. I quote in full before any work begins, and the price doesn't move unless you change the specification. There are no material surcharges, no hidden finishing costs. What the quote says is what the invoice says.