Where we came from
The business was founded by S. A. Brailey as E. G. Brailey Steeplejacks and Painting Contractors. Through the 1960s and 1970s it grew into one of the country’s leading steeplejack companies, working for clients including the British Steel Corporation, the Central Electricity Generating Board and Monsanto. The work was industrial chimney reconstruction and church spires.
British heavy engineering declined through the late 1970s and 1980s, and with it the demand for chimney work. At the same time lightning protection was becoming a discipline in its own right. BS 6651 arrived in 1986 with a more practical approach to risk calculation, and the management took the view that the company’s access skills transferred directly. They retrained the workforce and invested in computer aided design.
That is the short version of why a lightning protection company is unusually comfortable on a spire.
