DESPITE the global economic crisis, Steelfields Limited has recently secured two further orders for its successful SM 60 range of semi-mobile/compact plants. Both plants have been sold to the Saudi Binladin Group from Jeddah for its growing number of new readymix operations throughout the GCC.

Steelfields is the UK's leading manufacturer of concrete batching and concrete mixing plant for the production of high-quality wet mix, half wet mix, dry mix, slurry batch and mortar.
“The SM 60 plant has proven popular with many leading readymix producers with previous units sold to Cemex Group, Lafarge UK, Anglo American Group, Hanson (part of the Heidelberg Cement Group) as well as a host of independent commercial concrete producers in Europe, the Middle East, China, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia,” says Prentis Polhill, sales director for Steelfields.
In addition to standard concrete plant production, Steelfields also offers customers the facility of customising plants to meet their exact requirements. One recent case was a Major 2000 concrete plant installed and commissioned as part of a major site project close to Pudding Mill Lane Station in London. The new dual ‘wet’ leg plant features two 4.5 cu m twin-shaft paddle mixers, six aggregate storage bins, four ground loading hoppers and seven cement storage silos.
“All bins and silos can be continuously monitored for material content by means of ultra-sonic level probes and strain gauges. Daily output has already exceeded 1,700 cu m in a single seven-hour shift. Upon completion of a prestigious five-year stadium and sporting complex project, the whole plant is scheduled to be relocated to a permanent location in London,” he explains.
Since the hugely successful Major 60 concrete plant first came off the drawing board as a design concept of Steelfields’ original founder and current chairman, Harold G Polhill, and put into production in the late 1960s, it has been subject to constant development. The latest evolution versions can be specified with two ‘dry’ leg loading points — ‘wet/dry’ batching and a wide range of mixers including a 12 cu yd tilting drum mixer. It is reported that more than 1,000 Major 60s have been commissioned to date.
The range of concrete plant now includes the containerised Major 2000, modular Major 3000, the mobile Major 60, semi-mobile SM 60, together with the larger Major 90 and ‘custom-built’ specials.
In addition, Steelfields offers an extensive range of concrete mixers, control systems, ‘wet’ concrete processing systems and the ‘Air-Blast’ system for temperature-controlled concrete in high ambient conditions.
Introduced at the Big 5 PMV show in 2007, the Air-Blast system has had a good response from the region and represents a cost-effective alternative to reduce concrete temperatures while operating the plant in the high ambient temperatures of the Gulf region, says the company.
Based on a standard 12 m ISO container, the Air-Blast concrete cooling system draws high temperature air and cools it down before ‘injecting’ the cold/dry air into the aggregate storage bins via specially developed nozzles. The standard Air-Blast system can be used with existing plant ice systems to reduce the need for large-capacity ice storage enclosures and to maintain tolerant water:cement ratios.
Steelfields’ range of concrete mixers includes ‘SF’ turbo pan mixers, ‘SFP’ counter-flow mixers, ‘PMS’ single-shaft ribbon mixers, and the ‘PM’ twin-shaft paddle mixers as well as larger tilting/horizontal drum mixers. The entire range of mixers starts with pan capacities of 250 litres up to the largest 12 cu yd drum.
In addition to supplying plant equipment to produce concrete to a high specification and consistency, Steelfields can also provide customers a choice of solutions to enable them to handle the fresh waste concrete generated by washing concrete mixers, and occasional returned loads together with the resulting grey water slurry. Steelfields has successfully installed both screw and trough-type recycling units with agitated water tanks to recover the coarse materials and allow the return of the grey water back into the mix.
The company can also supply deep cone thickeners and horizontal clarifier systems with optional filter presses to further process the grey water and ensure that the customer’s concrete factory can meet the ever-increasing requirements of local environmental regulations, says Polhill.
Steelfields was established as a family company in 1956 and has grown to become the UK’s leading manufacturer and exporter of concrete batching plant with over 1,800 successful installations operating in more than 55 countries. Given its extensive experience in the design and manufacture of concrete plant, the company has gained a reputation for its expertise and versatility, offering advice and working with its customers to solve problems and deliver value.
Steelfields operate from its purpose-built 65,000 sq ft factory on a 2.6-hectare site in southeast England, and has achieved significant exports to the Middle East since the early 1970s. Today, Steelfields concrete plants are used by many of the leading readymix producers in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Steelfields will be participating in a number of industry trade shows in the region this year, including Project Near East in Jordan, Project Lebanon in Lebanon, and SaudiBuild in Saudi Arabia.