News

Crown Quality Programme Gains NHSS 6 Certification

In August of last year as part of its programme of continuous improvement, Crown International embarked on gaining National Highways Sector Scheme Accreditation for the supply of CCTV Poles (Sector 6).  The Sector Schemes have been created as a bespoke solution to ensure that the design and build of products for highways schemes are managed through an approved and certified quality system.  By achieving certification,  Crown International will join a select group of companies who can...

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New Strategic Relationship for Cabinet Solutions

Crown International Ltd are pleased to announce that they have formed a new strategic relationship with Control Engineers. Based in Hampshire Control Engineers provide their customers with a range of design and build of control and automation systems including PLC's, HMI's, SCADA, HMI's and VSD's. Web enabled into MCC's and/or Process Panels. Control Engineers can offer expertise in on-shore and off-shore solutions With Crown International Ltds range of CEC Cabinets, the strategic relationship allows Crown International Ltd to offer...

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Shipment of First Adjustable PV Mounting Frame

Crown International have shipped the first of the Mark III Adjustable Solar Panel Mounting Frame to a Mole Valley customer. Crown International finalised the commercial agreement with Mole Valley Farmers earlier this year and is now proud to be shipping products to their customers. The Adjustable PV Mounting Frame has been designed to be adjusted every season to maximise the yield of each solar panel, helping to recoup investment costs quicker and maximise investment. It is believed that seasonally adjusted panels see...

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Viper Subsea

Crown International Ltd has completed another exhibition piece for Viper Subsea.  This is the second time that Viper Subsea has turned to Crown International for the expertise in fabrication of precision components. The work demonstrates Crown International Ltd capabilities in delivering one-off bespoke pieces to customer...

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VMC Pole Inspection

ERH has commissioned Crown International Ltd to provide an annual inspection service on the VMC Poles installed between J24 and J28 onto the M4 in Wales. The first inspections started last week and should be finished by the end of this week. The VMC was designed to require limited maintenance overhead and the cost of the work reflects this. The inspections will conform to LOLER standards and provide Traffic Wales with a report on each VMC...

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Aeolus Update: Lyme Park

The final pieces were shipped in August and the Aeolus Acoustic Wind Pavilion has been installed at Lyme Park. The creator of the piece, Luke Jerram was very pleased with the fabrication work done by Crown International Ltd. Over 300 polished stainless steel tubes had to be rolled and welded with no weld penetration visible from inside. Several other sheet metal fabrication companies had been approached to do the work but were unable to meet the requirements...

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Solar Panel Mounting Frames

Crown have finalised the commercial agreement with Mole Valley Farmers which will see the Crown International Ltd seasonally adjustable solar panel frames marketed through Mole Valley Farmers in the South West. This agreement follows on from several months of collaboration between both organisations which included supplying prototypes and a mark 2 version to Mole Valley Farmers’ test site in Somerset. The learning gained from this work has been used to develop an improved mark 3 version...

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Combined Equipment Cabinets (CEC Type Cabinet)

Combined Equipment Cabinets (CECs) have primarily been introduced for use on manage motorways. The single, multi-purpose cabinets have been developed to replace the existing multi-cabinet system currently in place by the highways agency (Cabinet type 609 & Cabinet type 600). Crown International  have been manufacturing road side and rail side cabinets for many years and have built up a high level of experience and quality in the manufacture of enclosures. Now looking to expand their cabinet portfolio they...

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Aeolus Tube Manufacture Update

Luke Jerram the creator of Aeolus Wind Pavilion visited the Crown International fabrication workshop to check on the progress of the project. Whilst he was here he created a short video showing parts of the process of manufacturing the 340 polished stainless steel tubes, see the video below. The Aeolus Wind Pavilion is going to be toured around the UK this Autumn it will appear in Liverpool Festival Gardens, Lyme Park (Cheshire) and the Eden Project. For more information...

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Aeolus Wind Pavilion Update

Earlier this year Crown International announced that they will be manufacturing the acoustic tube sections of the Aeolus Acoustic Pavilion. After a few months of planning and preparation the 165 polished stainless steel steel sheets arrived and fabrication of the 340 tubes is now under way. The Aeolus Wind Pavilion has been designed allow you to hear the silent shifting patterns of the wind whilst also tunnelling light from the surrounding landscape enabling you view the changing scenery. Luke Jerram gave the below interview a few months ago...

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UK Speed Enforcement – Update

Over the last 12 months there has been a degree of turmoil amongst UK Speed Enforcement Bodies due to changes in government funding. In some parts of the UK, the use of camera technology for enforcement was temporarily suspended although the technology was left operational. The statistics captured where this occurred, showed both a marked increase in the number of enforceable events – up by 88% - and regrettably an increase in deaths and serious injuries. Clearly,...

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Crown International’s New Solar Panel Frame For PV Farms

With photovoltaic (PV) farms accelerating in popularity the efficiency of the solar panels is becoming more important.  Crown International in partnership with Mole Valley Farmers have developed a low cost solar panel mounting frame that allows seasonal adjustment to help maximise the power output from the PV farm. This easy to use, low cost solution helps to limit initial investment whilst not limiting the efficiency by having the panels in a fixed position all year around. Crown International have completed the second prototype...

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Collaboration with Amey for new Gantry Pole

Crown have been asked by Amey to design manufacture and supply a new version of their Gantry Pole for the Pendolino project. The Gantry Pole design will consist of a bespoke body and mounting structure to enable the pole to take a multi head signal array and attach to a cantilevered railway gantry. The structure will be unique but it shows the versatility and utility of the original design that it can be modified to suit...

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Crown International Announce New CCTV Pole Range

Over the past year Crown International has been designing and developing a series of new products to add to the ever growing product portfolio, the latest addition is the new range of CCTV Poles. Crown have been looking at getting into the CCTV pole market for a while but have not had a set of products to offer the their clients. However the development of this new CCTV pole range gives Crown the opportunity to supply CCTV...

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Mounting Frame For Viper Subsea Exhibition

Viper Subsea have recently exhibited their hydraulic V-Lock product and used Crown Internationals steel manufacturing and fabrication services to produce the mounting solution.  This follows Crown Internationals desire to enter the renewable energies market and hope this will stimulate further work within this field. The mounting frame was fabricated in house by Crown Internationals experienced team of welders and fabricators under the supervision of the (more...)

Aeolus – Acoustic Wind Pavilion

Crown International are proud to announce that they will be a part of Luke Jerram's Acoustic Wind Pavilion project - Aeolus. Aeolus - Acoustic Wind Pavilion is a project by Luke Jerram into acoustics, wind, architecture and light. A viewer stands underneath the arch and can explore the surrounding landscape in a entirely new way. The structure will make audible the otherwise silent wind patterns by humming low frequencies, allowing the listener to hear every slight change in the wind. The tubes will also channel light down from...

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Crown International Marketing Video

Crown International recently commissioned the filming of a marketing video to help promote the company and the VMC Pole. The VMC Pole has been designed to hold traffic safety equipment above a carriageway. However the unique design of the VMC Pole means that it can be rotated to above the verge and then lowered down into the verge for safe ground level access to the mounted equipment. This feature protects...

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Crown International New Brochure

Crown International have just released the new brochure for the start of 2011. The new brochure now includes more information on the current range of motorway poles including both the VMC Pole and Slip Road Pole. As well as more information about the design and manufacturing services that are offered at Crown International. Also included in this latest brochure is the new Lowering CCTV Pole concept and the latest development...

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Metal Fabrication Services

Crown International core manufacturing skills are within metal fabrication, we have highly skilled sheet metal and general metal fabricators in our manufacturing team. We are based in Portishead in Bristol and have been getting a high level of local interest  in our fabrication services. Due to this high level of interest we have now added a new page to our web site detailing our fabrication skills and capabilities, view here for more information on our (more...)

VMC Pole Marketing Video

Crown International this week are recording a promotional marketing video on the VMC Pole, this video will show details of the design and how the product works. The video is also going to include information about Crown International and the design services that they offer. Portishead based Hanover Pictures are shooting the video today, keep checking the news section of the website to see the...

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2010 Review of the Year – A story of Outstanding Success

The year just gone has proven to be an eventful one in the history of Crown International. It began with us working on delivering the VMC Pole to the Welsh Government M4 VSL Scheme and one the heaviest snowfalls for some years and it ended with even worse conditions for most of December and having extended our contacts into new markets and with new partners. Our...

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Traffic Wales Commence Training on New Crown VMC and Slip Road Motorway Poles

Crown International have started the training program for Traffic Wales staff on the new VMC and Slip Road Poles that have recently been installed on the M4 motorway. The first batch of trainees have been introduced to the the new products, they have been shown in detail how to operate and maintain the two types of motorway pole. The VMC Pole and the (more...)

Crown International signs NDA on Electric Vehicle Infrastructure with ChargePoint

Crown International have signed a non-disclosure agreement with supplier of electric vehicle charging technologies, ChargePoint, as part of their ongoing collaboration to deliver a quality and affordable electric vehicle infrastructure in the UK. UK Government is suggesting setting a target for 1.7m electric vehicles to be on the road by 2020. The need for a robust and affordable recharging infrastructure is part of that target. With the second round of bidding underway for Plugged in Places...

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APCO – Future for Speed Enforcement

ACPO have released the first output from their discussions with the Government about decisions taken earlier this year which affect the ability of Local Authorities to fund the existing operations of the various speed camera partnerships. It is expected that the emphasis will change from a strategy firmly weighted towards penalty points and fixed penalty notices to a policy which encourages more use of speed awareness courses to help modify behaviour. The change is expected to...

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Transport Spending Review – Reaction

Last Wednesday the Government formally announced its spending plans over the next 5 years. As widely reported some £80bn will come out of public spending by 2015, made up partly in real cash reductions in spend and no allowance for inflation increases. For transport, some £800m will come out in cash terms over the period with the majority of savings being found in the resource – maintenance and operation – budget. The capital spend element remains...

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Highway Industry Product Of The Year Award

Crown International's VMC Pole wins its third major award, winning the Highway Industry Product Of The Year at the 2010 Highways Magazine Excellence Awards. The award ceremony was held at the Millennium Hotel in London Mayfair on the 20th October 2010. The Highways Magazine Excellence Awards highlight and celebrate the achievements of products, services, companies and authorities that display innovation and excellence within the highways industry over the past year. This was the 7th annual award ceremony and...

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Crown International to Present at CIHT Seminar

Following on from the successful completion of the VMC Project on the M4, Crown International has been invited to present a technical paper on the design, build and implementation of the VMC Pole at University of Glamorgan on November 18th. The title of the presentation will be “From Snake Oil to Reality” and it will chart the story of the VMC Pole through custom design, manufacture and installation. It will demonstrate how using in house skills...

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Highways Magazine Excellence Award

Crown International's VMC Pole has been short listed for a third industry award. Highways Magazine as part of their Excellence Awards has short listed The VMC Pole for the Highways Industry Product of the Year. Award winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on 20th October 2010, at the Millennium Hotel London Mayfair. The VMC Pole is a new and innovate pole that hangs over a carriageway supporting various equipment such as variable message signs,...

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27 VMC Poles Installed on the M4

Crown International are proud to announce that 27 VMC Poles have been successfully installed on the M4 in Wales between junction 24 and 28, it is the first install of our revolutionary new product, we would like to thank everybody who was involved in making this a successful project for us. The VMC Pole is a unique product designed and manufactured by Crown International that allows safe, secure and easy access to equipment mounted above the carriageway, it rotates away from...

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CIHT Innovation Award

The 5th Annual CIHT (The Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation) Awards ceremony took place at Lord’s Cricket Ground, London on the 16th of June 2010. Crown International's VMC Pole won the Innovation category, which is its second industry award. The CIHT Awards celebrate and reward remarkable achievements in the highways and transportation industry, it is big opportunity to appreciate the  hard work of those working in the sector. The host for the evening was Jonathan Agnew, from Test Match Special. More information on the...

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InterTraffic 2010 Innovation Award

We are thrilled to announce that Crown International's VMC Pole has won the Innovation Award in the Infrastructure category at the 2010 Inter Traffic Exhibition in Amsterdam. The VMC Pole is a brand new product from Crown International that allow equipment such as traffic signs to be hung over the motorway however it also allows the equipment to be rotated off over the carriageway and over the verge and then lowered down to ground level for easy access to maintain...

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InterTraffic 2010

InterTraffic is one of the most important International events for the traffic and transportation industry, it is a great opportunity to meet with the entire industry, this year it was held at the RIA in Amsterdam. Crown International took advantage of this huge stage to exhibit the new and revolutionary VMC Pole with great success. The VMC Pole is a innovative new pole that holds equipment such as traffic signs, ANPR cameras, CCTV cameras and speed...

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