Engineering
Our engineering capability and experience enables us to both design and manufacture a wide range of products from small signage components through to larger cladding systems and structures. Over the years A.J Wells has built up a whole host of in-house skills and equipment and our experience enables us to both prototype and manufacture full production runs.
Signage
From shop, road and wayfinding signage across the country, to helping navigate the London Underground, our team has engineered a range of signage solutions for some truly iconic projects.
London Overground Supergraphics
A.J Wells worked closely with Transport for London on the external Super Graphic illuminated signage for new and refurbished train stations as part of the London Overground scheme. The letters and roundels were engineered, and hand assembled in-house at A.J Wells using low energy LED technology.
Irish Coastal Causeway Interpretation Panels
A.J Wells worked with the clients’ architects and designers engineering and installing a complete bespoke signage scheme along the Causeway Coastal route from Benone to Carrickfergus in Northern Ireland.
The project included screen printed vitreous enamel interpretation and gateway signs as well as oak posts with etched stainless-steel discs set into the wood. There were 17 different locations along the coast and 26 different styles of sign with 86 signs required in total.
PlayStation 5 Signage
A.J Wells were commissioned by Transport for London to engineer four giant illuminated Underground signs in the shape of the PlayStation console buttons to mark the release of the PS5. The concept involved using the Triangle, Circle, X and Square pole-mounted signs to temporarily replace the standard Roundels that mark the four street exits at London’s Oxford Circus Station.
Basildon
A.J Wells was tasked with the manufacture of eight enormous, 1600mm high, vitreous enamel letters that formed the front face of this incredible sign installation. The letters were quite an engineering achievement due to their large scale. Each letter was initially laser cut from two full-size sheets of steel that were then seamlessly, edge to edge, hand-welded to form one incredibly large sign face.
Cladding
We have undertaken a range of cladding projects, many of which presenting unique engineering challenges due to shape, scale and location. We offer a variety of wall surface finishes and our Wellsclad framing and fix solutions: Variable Frame Fix, Frame Fix, Direct Wall Fix and Curved Cladding.
London School of Economics
A.J Wells manufactured three hundred square meters of coloured vitreous enamel cladding covering a lift shaft in the new student’s centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science on its Aldwych campus.
Vitreous enamel was specified for the external cladding of the lift shaft because of its durability, low maintenance and unique, vibrant surface finish.
Skanios
The Skainos Project is an urban regeneration development in inner East Belfast providing shared space for community initiatives.
Working with Belfast based artist, Jonny McEwen, A.J Wells engineered a cladding solution that required 250 external vitreous enamel panels that intermittently clad the outside of the Skainos building.
Victoria Coach Station
London Victoria Coach Station is the largest, most significant coach station in London.
A.J Wells fabricated and enameled the steel cladding and column casings back in 1991 and they still look as good today as they did when they were first installed.
This project is an excellent example of the durability and longevity of vitreous enamel. The current condition of the enameled cladding is testament to how hard-wearing vitreous enamel is.
The cladding requires very little maintenance making for an extremely cost-effective finish.
Bespoke One-off Projects
A.J Wells benefits from an experienced in-house design team, skilled craftsmen and technicians. Together they have engineered solutions for a wide range of unique and challenging projects spanning 50 years of business. This depth of experience and technological capacity allows A.J Wells to take on a wide range of bespoke projects.
Chelsea flower show
In 2004 A.J Wells was approached by Diarmuid Gavin Designs to help create an epic garden at the Chelsea Flower Show. The project brief raised some significant engineering challenges requiring over 5,000 individually coloured enameled balls to create a habitable pod within the garden.
Due to the spherical nature of the balls, bespoke spraying and firing jigs were built to enable each ball to be seamlessly enameled.
Once finished the balls were painstakingly attached to a fabricated steel framework that formed the Pod. The finished Pod featuring a voice-activated opening was placed in a garden of ferns and Japanese aralia.
Tom Dixon
We’ve been fortunate to work with Tom Dixon over the years as he is a keen supporter of British manufacturing and heritage materials. In 2017 we secured a tender to produce and install bespoke splashbacks for 40 apartments at the Upper Riverside Complex on the Greenwich Peninsula.
There were two colour palettes finalised for the project, one using a white and indigo graffito finish and the other using the dark green enamel fade seen here on the show home. The green enamel gloss sits perfectly against the patinaed copper extractor hood.
For the templating we used laser measures and traditional metal rules to get the most accurate measurements. There was only 1mm tolerance across a 5 metre span on some kitchens so we had to be precise, right down to the location of the plug sockets. Which, we are proud to say our team got spot on every time.
Hide restaurant
Hide is a new restaurant from Michelin-starred chef Ollie Dabbous and Hedonism Wines sprawling over three floors where a spectacular wooden staircase connects each area. Under the direction of These White Walls Studio we were tasked to manufacture the buff crackle glaze panelling featured in the rest rooms – vitreous enamel trimmed in aged brass and polished walnut resulted in a subtle but stunning finish. Colour matching for the client was a vital part of the specification process and using V L A Z E gave them a waterproof surface that was able to be matched to the existing palate.
Westminster Mural
A mural celebrating the partnership between Westminster station and the Royal Navy Frigate HMS Westminster was unveiled at Westminster station on April 27th 2006. The photographic design, measuring 3m by 1.5m, is situated in the central ticket hall of Westminster station.
As official sign makers for the London Underground we were asked to create the mural in vitreous enamel. The artwork was printed using a CMYK 4 colour screen printing process. Due to the size of the piece the printing process was extremely challenging. It is one of the largest hand printed enamel artworks ever produced.
If you have a project that you would like to discuss then please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the team.
To see and learn more about our artistic collaborations please check out our portfolio here.