Edinburgh-based handrail firm Kite Group gets to grips with 'transformative' new offering

Edinburgh-based handrail specialist Kite Group has unveiled a new system, saying it marks the first major innovation in 90 years in the sector that protects millions of workers across the UK.

The company says its metal handrails are used in the likes of oil rigs, petrochemical plants, railways, gas and electricity facilities, water works and on the roofs of commercial and industrial buildings including factories, supermarkets and offices.

Major projects in Scotland it has worked on have included the Forth Bridge, Edinburgh Trams and Edinburgh Airport, and it now has more than 500 clients across the UK, it adds.

The firm says its 'breakthrough' new product ModiFix uses laser-cutting technology, reducing the amount of steel required by up to 20 per cent. Picture: contributed.

Managers of the firm, which turns over more than £3 million and has 11 staff, say they have now harnessed the latest laser-cutting technology for its new ModiFix offering to transform how its tubular steel systems are produced and how the components fit together securely.

It said that until now, parts had to be joined together with multiple clamps or welding, but the new process eliminates this, allowing them to be assembled and fitted more quickly and efficiently, and reducing the amount of steel required, lowering costs by up to 20 per cent.

MD Anthony Wells said: “Delivering the first major innovation in a product since the 1930s is something we are proud of. The innovation we have brought to this is genuinely transformative and brings multiple benefits for health and safety, for the environment – and also in terms of reduced costs.

"While this might not mean much to the man in the street, it is of huge interest to local authorities, facilities managers, engineers and contractors or subcontractors across huge numbers of sites.”

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