Author: Siobhan Martin

Keystone Group is pleased to announce that its largest-ever Charity Football Tournament has raised substantial funds for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity.

Employees from each brand within the Group participated in the event held at St George’s Park in Burton-Upon-Trent on Saturday 21st September.

The generous donations, collected from employees, customers, friends and families, reached over £10,000. The funds will provide vital support for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity which operates and funds three air ambulances covering six Midlands counties including Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands.

Congratulations to the team from Smartroof Ltd who won the tournament and a big thank you to everyone who made the event a success.

IG Masonry Support proudly announces its sponsorship of the Residential (multiple dwellings) award category for the 2024 Sheffield Design Awards.

The Awards celebrate architectural excellence and innovation across Sheffield and South Yorkshire.

The Residential (multiple dwellings) Award recognises outstanding design in developments containing more than one dwelling. Projects are evaluated based on their aesthetic merits, consideration of place and space, and commitment to sustainability. This category highlights the crucial role architecture plays in creating harmonious living spaces for communities.

IG Masonry Support continues to champion sustainable practices and architectural creativity as part of its commitment to supporting quality design. Company representatives will be attending the Awards on the 14th of November to celebrate the talented architects and designers who have been shortlisted and chosen as winners of the Awards up for grabs.

For more information on the Awards, visit the Sheffield Design Awards website.

We are delighted to announce that our Welded Masonry Support (WMS) system has become a certified Passive House component and marked us as the first masonry support manufacturer to receive Passive House certification for a masonry support system. 

The globally recognised standard for the construction of low-energy buildings, Passive House homes offer ‘thermal bridge free’ construction and are characterised by high levels of comfort with very low energy consumption. To be certified by the Passive House Institute, products must be tested according to uniform criteria and proven to be of excellent quality regarding energy efficiency.

Following the testing and certification process, our WMS system achieved an impressive Class phA. This advanced component status is just one level below the highest possible standard. Compromising fixed brackets welded to a stainless steel angle support shelf, our WMS systems are designed and manufactured to engineers’ specifications on a project basis and the material content of the system is optimised to ensure the most economical solution is designed. Each system is supplied with fixings and Thermal A1 Fire-rated Shims to prevent any thermal transfer to the building.

Andy Neal, Managing Director of IG Masonry Support said: ‘We are thrilled our Welded Masonry Support has been awarded Passive House certification. Third-party certification for structural products has never been more important within the construction industry and Passive House certification is widely recognised as one of the most rigorous design and construction standards.”

The Passive House Institute evaluated the Welded Masonry Support system and it represented the successful construction of a certified passive house component that works with regard to the tested parameters. This third-party certification provides confidence and reassurance for architects and specifiers when using this system that it meets the Passive House standard.

Find out more about our Welded Masonry Support systems and other certifications that it holds.

Keystone Group officially opens new Cookstown HQ as it brings 400 leading figures from UK and Ireland’s construction sector to Northern Ireland for 35th-anniversary gala hosted by Patrick Kielty

The Keystone Group, one of the UK and Ireland’s leading manufacturers of construction products, has on the 9th of May, officially opened its new headquarters in Cookstown, Co. Tyrone, ahead of welcoming 400 guests to Northern Ireland for a 35th-anniversary gala event in Titanic Belfast this evening, hosted by popular broadcaster, Patrick Kielty.

With an annual turnover of over £300m, the Keystone Group has evolved from a solo steel lintel manufacturing operation started by former building control officer, Sean Coyle, in 1989, into a leading and innovative manufacturer of construction products.

The Group’s newly expanded headquarters at Ballyreagh Industrial Estate in Cookstown, Co. Tyrone, has been designed with staff wellbeing as a key focus. It also offers purpose-built space designed to encourage greater collaboration and innovation. The opening also marks another significant milestone for the Keystone Group with the recent appointment of its 2,000^th member of staff.

Attendees at the official opening included many of the 400 leading figures from the UK and Ireland’s construction and manufacturing sectors who have been brought to Northern Ireland today by the Keystone Group. They were given a behind-the-scenes look at Keystone’s innovative factory premises in Cookstown, where cutting-edge technology and sustainable practices have propelled the company to the forefront of the construction manufacturing sector. Later this evening, they will enjoy a celebratory 35^th anniversary gala event in Titanic Belfast, hosted by popular broadcaster, Patrick Kielty.

Speaking at the official opening of the new headquarters, Sean Coyle, founder of the Keystone Group, said:

“Thirty-five years on from its beginning, the Keystone Group now operates from 27 locations across the UK, Ireland, Poland, and the Netherlands. We have chosen to make this investment in our Cookstown headquarters, however, as a signal of our continuing commitment to the people of Mid-Ulster and to ensuring economic growth and prosperity for the region and Northern Ireland as a whole.

We are also delighted today to be bringing 400 of the UK and Ireland’s leading construction industry figures to Belfast and Cookstown to celebrate our 35^th anniversary with us. As well as being an occasion to thank our customers and partners, it will be a tremendous opportunity to network, share insights, and foster further growth and collaborations.

From 1989 to today our focus has always been on providing customers with innovative products to meet their needs, along with unrivalled customer service, and we will continue to emphasise those aspects of our business in the decades ahead. We may be a bigger company now, but we are still a family business and we’d like to keep it like that.”

The Keystone Group also showcased its newest acquisition, Showersave Ltd as part of the official opening. Part of the Group’s continued drive to deliver innovation and sustainability in the construction and manufacturing sectors, the innovative waste water heat recovery system was recently awarded “Best Services Product” at The Housebuilder Products Awards.

Speaking about the Group’s commitment to innovation, Owen Coyle, Divisional Chief Executive, said:

“To date, we have over 110 patents across the Keystone Group, and our commitment to innovation means we will continue to deliver the products our customers need before they know they need them. Whether it’s thatched roofs in the Netherlands, homes in Tyrone, or the skylines of New York, we’re confident Keystone Group products will continue to be used to enhance the performance and aesthetics of buildings around the world across the next four decades and beyond.”

Thanking Keystone’s staff and customers, Sean Og Coyle, Chief Commercial Officer for Keystone Group, added:

“Our journey to becoming an international company with 2,000 staff, and over 1,500,000 sq ft of manufacturing and warehouse space, is down to the hard work and dedication of our team as well as the support of our partners and customers. As we officially open our new headquarters, we remain committed to investing in the future workforce through our Keyskills initiative which enables our Further Education Colleges to offer apprenticeships, traineeships, and welding programmes, and to support our staff so they continue to enjoy their work at Keystone and are equipped to reach their full potential.”

Further information on the Keystone Group is available online at keystonegroup.co.uk