Here at Building & Construction Review, we are delighted to welcome back Stuart Canvas Group with our Commitment To Excellence Award.
Stuart Canvas Group is an award winning, UK cover manufacturer that specialises in the design and manufacture of protective covers, equipment and retractable tunnels for the sport, defence, haulage and industrial sectors.
As an ISO accredited business, the company offers a full turnkey solution for manufactured products. This includes a full design service, with materials and component selection reliably sourced thorough a wide range of suppliers to the bespoke manufacture to the delivery and full installation services all done in house with accredited personnel. We will ensure the cover solution will provide a first-class performance against the inclement weather or climatic conditions.
Stuart Canvas Group is a long established and experienced bespoke-cover manufacturer. Based in Warrington, the company was founded in 1971, whilst its sister company Mudfords was founded back in 1832. The Group has a production centre in Sheffield and a distribution centre near Crewe. The company has approximately 100,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing & warehousing facilities across four sites.
Stuart Canvas Group has an emerging global presence and leads the way in the development and manufacture of a range of designs and products across multiple industries, with the capabilities to work with clients around the world. We regularly ship to all continents a range of our sports and industrial products. Here in the UK, its portfolio is enriched with some well-known businesses from the All-England Lawn Tennis Club, Lords, Eton College, Manchester United, Siemens, Ministry of Defence & Justice. The enviable customer portfolio in sports ranges from the pinnacle of venues in Summer and Winter sport.
Stuart Canvas Group is a family-owned business, with a wealth of knowledge and expertise that ensures the delivery of time-critical programmes year-on-year, including sports events, construction plants and defence projects. More recently, investment in new machinery and staffing has allowed the company to accommodate larger-run contracts, more diverse sizes and volumes and a new and larger product range.
One of the leading products is retractable tunnels, which offers unique storage advantages across many sectors.
Spotlight on Retractable Tunnels
Stuart Canvas Group has been a leading producer of bespoke robust, weather-proofed retractable tunnels for the industrial and sports sectors for over three decades. These tunnels are perfect for retractable workshops, covering manufacturing lines, aggregate bay covers, loading and unloading bay covers, inward/outward goods areas, blackout testing areas, quarantine areas, spray paint booths and most famously for football players’ tunnels:
- Tunnels are tailor-made to customers’ requirements and applications (large, small, fixed or retractable)
- Tunnels can be robustly secured using specialised tracking solutions.
- Tunnels are designed for interior and exterior use (blackout testing, quarantine areas etc)
- Tunnels Covers are produced in 650gsm to 900gsm FR PVC using a Keder system.
- Welded high frequency for a waterproof seal.
- Tunnels are produced in box section galvanised steel.
- Space-saving: Easily assembled, dismantled, expanded and retracted.
- Design, supply & installation service available for all retractable tunnels, with a specialist R&D team for bespoke covering issues/requirements.
- Relocation and dismantling services available
- Tunnels offer cost-effective storage solutions.
With in-built weather protection, retractable tunnels are designed to protect people and cargo from all the elements: connecting buildings, creating controlled environments, handy heavy plant storage and general additional storage. On construction sites, they act as covered walkways protecting workers, preventing workplace hazards with safe entry and exit points. As modular structures, operators can add or subtract sections to meet differing site requirements.
In sport, retractable player tunnels offer multi-purpose benefits:
- Protect the players from flying objects as they enter/exit the pitch.
- Bespoke customisation: signwriting to promote sponsorship or teams.
- Builds excitement and momentum as players emerge from the tunnel.
- Can be motorised to speed deployment up.
Aggregate Bay Tunnels
Our aggregate bay retractable covers provide an innovative waterproof covering solution to protect all types of bulk products being stored outside.
At Stuart Canvas Group, we specialise in crafting aggregate bay retractable covers that can function independently, catering to both single and multiple bays. Our aggregate bay retractable covers feature a wall-mounted tracking system, enabling seamless retraction & traction for the hassle-free loading and unloading of products. Choose between a manual or electric retracting system for each bay, providing swift and efficient closure within minutes. The framework of our retractable covers boasts a box section of galvanised steel, ensuring a robust and durable system.
Further spotlight on reducing raw material waste: Sustainability best practice
Reducing raw material waste is a main driver of UK-led sustainability targets, including limiting landfill waste. Reducing damaged raw aggregate material during storage is a key to reducing overall wastage.
Stuart Canvas Group has designed and manufactured innovative retractable covering solutions for aggregate bays. Each tunnel can be operated individually allowing each tunnel to be positioned according to the level of raw material being stored. This design also allows for the tunnels to be partially retracted to allow for the loading and off-loading of raw material. The custom-made gutter units mentioned previously, ingeniously allow for excess water to be directed away from each bay.
Many of the systems are in use at some of the UK’s largest concrete, asphalt and brickwork manufacturing plants, including Explore Manufacturing, Heidelberg Materials UK, and Persimmon Homes, which include the all-new motorised system, pioneered by Stuart Canvas. This allows the covers to be retracted over the top of each bay quickly and efficiently with a single push of a button and/or remote controlled. This system creates a watertight seal to protect the materials stored underneath the tunnel. Comprehensive research studies have further found that water ingress and moisture content has been vastly reduced by up to 30% compared to traditional covering systems.
Looking ahead to 2025
“Stuart Canvas Group operates across three sites in the UK and has the capacity to deliver large or short run products on time. Our main focus for the future, is continuing to improve our efficiencies to reduce lead times and ensure products or programmes are delivered ahead of schedule.”
“We are dedicated to providing high-quality goods that are manufactured efficiently in an excellent working environment. We are focused on continuous improvement, so we take our clients’ feedback seriously. We’re committed to communicating with our clients from first contact, through designing, manufacturing and installation and beyond.” explains Craig Groves, Key Accounts Director.
For more information and to view the entire product range, please see the website below:
www.stuartcanvas.co.uk