Build Magazine 37 Manufacturing & Supply Lead Shield Engineering was established in 2003 by Richard Howard. Utilizing industry experienced staff of a local company that closed down due to retirement, Lead Shield quickly has, in the years since then, gained a proven reputation for supplying quality UK-manufactured products to a prestigious customer base that exists right across the world. Today, the company holds an accredited position as the Best Radiation Shielding Product Engineers in Europe, a home for specialists in the production and installation of most lead components, and all associated X-ray, gamma ray and nuclear shielding products. mong the myriad products manufactured by Lead Shield Engineering, designed to address the market for radiation protection equipment, are cryostat gamma shields, sodium iodide detector shields, x-ray room protection screens, radiation safes, mobile radiation shields, nuclear shielding, radio pharmaceutical products, and isotope pots. Meanwhile, for the less scientifically inclined side of its clientele, the company also manufactures marine ballast weights, elevator counterbalance weights, bespoke lead guttering and pipework for ‘listed’ heritage property. Being ISO 9001/2008 accredited, Lead Shield can also offer a design facility for those that are unsure of their exact need. Apart from a presence on the World Wide Web, Lead Shield have no sales force, owing to the fact that all of its business enquiries come from personal recommendations, which Richard Howard believes to always be the best form of advertising. Lead Shield, after all, are in the business of supplying an industry that has famously encouraged strong ties so the like-minded professionals can reach a similar level of understanding and respect for the intricacies of radiation, and the need to provide adequate protection against it, whether in a nuclear reactor or in an MRI scanning suite. This is evidenced by a number of prolific client testimonials, whose words attest to the immense suitability of Lead Shield’s products as fulfilling their design purpose with aplomb. Dr. Michael Bunce of AWE Aldermaston says, “Lead Shield Engineering Ltd designed and built a new twin detector shield for use with HPGe detectors. The design process was straight forward with expert guidance and advice. The build was quick and to budget. Working with Lead Shield Engineering Ltd was an excellent experience and I would be happy to recommend them.” Dr. Chamkaur Ghag, of University College London, echoes this sentiment, saying, “the Lead Shield Engineering team was highly successful, meeting our specifications easily such that we will use the same again. Our experience with the entire process Lead Shield Radiating Success A with Lead Shield has been and continues to be very positive, allowing leading research to be conducted in our material screening campaigns for rare-event search experiments.” Dr. Ghag’s words are especially relevant as Lead Shield are currently working with University College London and the Boulby Underground Laboratory to produce three new shields for the ‘Boulby Underground Germanium Suite’, known affectionately as BUGS; this is a project geared around the screening of materials to be used in world-leading experiments that seek the discovery of dark matter, which could alter modern views of science. “Following on from this award, I hope the publicity will help keep or increase our reputation for providing a service and product that customers can depend on,” Richard Howard says. On top of this prestigious project with UCL, Richard highlights his most successful project. Working with Rapiscan Systems to create the lead lining in their new state-of-the-art RTT 110 Aviation baggage screening is being heralded as a breakthrough in modern airport security, through its ability to generate superior-quality computed tomography (CT) images, to enhance and streamline the screening process at airports. The industry to which Lead Shield are providing such support is one that is driven almost entirely by scientific discovery, and as such, every day brings with it a different challenge for Richard and his teams to overcome. This, he is keen to emphasise, is what makes working in this industry so continually interesting. By listening to and understanding the customers’ needs, and then applying this knowledge to future enquiries, Lead Shield upholds its constant aim to provide a product that exactly matches its requirements. The process for this entails that robust and thorough review of the design function of the item in question, prior to the building phase even beginning. One of the primary ways in which Lead Shield gain their specific guide is through supplying drawings for the client to agree upon. “Our customers rarely have the same experimental requirements, so a standard ‘off the shelf’ product will seldom suffice,” Richard says. “We can modify or indeed design a solution to fit these individual needs. Lead Shield prides itself on reacting fast to enquiries and providing the service and product that our customers demand.” Lead Shield is a company staffed by devoted, highly knowledgeable engineers, who all share between them many years’ worth of experience within this highly specialist market. It takes a special kind of technical knowhow in order to manufacture items that can either keep in or keep out radioaction, or the immense stress of weighing down ballasts. Most of these manufacturing processes are kept in-house, thereby keeping the company’s real ingenuity close to its chest and out of sight of any potential competition, whilst ensuring complete control over the customer’s bespoke order, through the well-meaning establishment of effective customer relations. As all of Lead Shield’s products are manufactured to order, any client can be assured that their requirements will be met first time around, on time, and at hugely competitive rates. Company: Lead Shield Engineering Ltd Name: Richard Howard Email:
[email protected] Web Address: www.lead-shield.com Address: The Workshop c/o J Clubb, Church Hill, Dartford, Kent, DA2 7DZ Telephone: 0845 1809494 | 01322 270275