Design company taps Metal Supermarkets to make dreams a reality

If your company wanted to build a 9-meter tall chocolate fountain in the middle of a shopping mall, who would you call? What if you wanted to sail an ice cream truck down the River Thames? You’ll likely need an architect, a designer and a sound construction crew. As luck would have it, a London-based model-making and experiential marketing company, Hothouse IWG, can make these and any other concepts come to life with their skilled professionals, who are not fazed by a challenge. When the Hothouse team tackles a new project, one of the first suppliers they turn to for materials and advice is Metal Supermarkets Park Royal.

Hothouse brings concepts to life for television, film and promotional purposes; and their promise to customers is they can propose anything, and Hothouse will deliver. Jenny Rands, Hothouse prop maker, explains their relationship with Metal Supermarkets, “We do a lot of framework – a lot of the props have a steel framework inside for structural means – so they are one of the first suppliers we go to get our core materials. After the design phase, we will figure out what sort of metals we need and how much. … A lot of our projects have quick turnarounds, and they help us out with tight deadlines by delivering the materials as quickly as they can. It’s very good in our industry to have a contact like that.”

Being that many of their projects need a general structure inside them, Hothouse orders a lot of box steel, flat plate, rod and tube steel. Tread plate is also a necessity for a lot of their jobs. Rands adds, “They can also do several different aluminium finishes, like brushed aluminium, which is helpful to us. And they usually have it in stock and ready for us.”

Since most projects are original creations, the designers and prop makers often need assistance sourcing the appropriate metal for the project. Luckily, expert advice is only a phone call away. Rands talks about the ability to get trustworthy advice from the Metal Supermarkets employees, “Sometimes the guys at Metal Supermarkets will give us a hand in deciding what metal we need or what will work. We also go to them if we want to know how strong something is because different metals are able to withstand different loads.”

Next time you have a project that requires a model replica of Big Ben or Buckingham Palace, give Hothouse a call, and they will make it happen. And if you need any quantity of metals – mild steel, bright drawn, alloy steel, aluminium, brass, copper, stainless or engineering steel – call your local Metal Supermarkets.