Bridon Ropes, also known as Bridon International Ltd is a manufacturing company in

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

that makes

wire rope Steel wire rope (right hand lang lay) Wire rope is composed of as few as two solid, metal wires twisted into a helix that forms a composite ''rope'', in a pattern known as ''laid rope''. Larger diameter wire rope consists of multiple strands of ...

. It is now part of the

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

-based

Bekaert N.V. Bekaert S.A. ( Euronext Brussels: BEKB) is a global company with headquarters in Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries ...

company. The name Bridon originates from the concatenation or contraction of the words British and Doncaster; it is not a family name.

History

The company can trace its history in Doncaster back to 1789. It was formed in 1924 as British Ropes Limited. British Ropes Ltd was headquartered at 32

Cavendish Square Cavendish Square is a public square, public garden square in Marylebone in the West End of London. It has a double-helix underground commercial car park. Its northern road forms ends of four streets: of Wigmore Street that runs to Portman Square ...

. British Ropes was state-owned. From the 1960s to 1980s, British Ropes headquarters was at Warmsworth Hall at

Warmsworth Warmsworth is a village and civil parish of Doncaster in the City of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. Its population was estimated at 3,908 in 2019. The village lies along the A1(M) Doncaster Bypass and the A630. The River Don is close ...

, off the A630 near the B6376 junction. In 1974 it became known as Bridon; Bridon was the name of one of their brands of wire rope. In 1976 the company was turning over £243 million. In 1978 the company was registered on the Stock Exchange. Bridon and British Steel jointly owned the large

Templeborough Templeborough (historically Templebrough) is a suburb of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The suburb falls within the Brinsworth and Catcliffe ward of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council. The area takes its name from the remains of the ...

Rolling Mills; this is now the

Magna Science Adventure Centre Magna Science Adventure Centre is an educational visitor attraction in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. Location The site used to be home to the Steel, Peech and Tozer steelworks (also known as Steelos). In 50 AD it was the site of ...

; 40% of Templeborough's production went to Bridon. In 1991 its workforce was 5,400 which dropped to 4,000 at the end of 1993, and produced in 20 countries with 76 service centres; it was the world's biggest supplier of wire rope. In April 1993 it won a

Queen's Award for Technological Achievement Queens is a borough of New York City. Queens or Queen's may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Queens (group), a Polish musical group * "Queens" (song), a 2018 song by Saara Aalto * ''Queens'' (novel), by Stephen Pickles, 1984 * "Queens", ...

for its Brifen fencing.

Prince Andrew, Duke of York Prince Andrew, Duke of York (Andrew Albert Christian Edward; born 19 February 1960) is a member of the British royal family. He is the third child and second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and a younger bro ...

visited the site on 20 October 2011.

Ownership

In 1997 it was bought by FKI, who were bought by

Melrose Industries Melrose Industries plc is a British aerospace manufacturing company based in Birmingham, England. It is the parent company of GKN Aerospace. The company's shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange as a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Me ...

in 2008. In 2014 it was bought by the

Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board () is an independent organization responsible for administering defined benefit pension plan, defined-benefit pensions for school teachers of the provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of ...

for £365 million. In December 2015 it merged with the Belgium wire rope company NV Bekaert SA.

Structure

It is headquartered in the south-west of Doncaster. It makes wire rope at four sites in the UK, and in Germany and the USA.

Products

It makes wire rope for bridges, cranes, elevators and mine shafts. It claims to be the only company in the world that makes wire rope from hot rolled steel. A brand of its wire rope is called Dyform; Dyform was introduced in the late 1960s as a seven-wire tendon for prestressed concrete construction. Their wire rope has been made widespread for

prestressed concrete Prestressed concrete is a form of concrete used in construction. It is substantially prestressed (Compression (physics), compressed) during production, in a manner that strengthens it against tensile forces which will exist when in service. Post-t ...

bridges; the BRIDON brand is found on many prestressed concrete bridges around the world.

References

External links