“I LOVE the heat of the fire and being able to manipulate metal - it’s so satisfying.”
Greg Broxup discovered his aptitude for welding after having a go at a company owned by his brother-in-law Luke Prentice.
“He said I had a knack for it, and I immediately fell in love with it,” says Greg, “I have always enjoyed working with my hands and something about welding just caught me. I was young, and the fact I could use fire and heat with skill and create something amazing just gripped me.”
After many years working as a welder-fabricator for companies across Bradford, he decided to go it alone.
Greg set up GH Fabrications in September 2022. “The time was right for me to start up myself and use my years of training and experience to focus on building something that represents me,” he says. “GH stands for me and my son Harley who’s 13.”
Based on Hammerton Street, Bradford, the firm creates a wide range of products including balustrades, Juliet balconies, canopies, bollards, security gates, railings and wall tops.
Greg is a dab hand at decorative work and has created stunning artwork for special events, such as a stag whose horns shot out fireworks.
He works with stainless steel, mild steel - a ferrous metal made from iron and carbon - and aluminum, using various welding techniques: MIG (using metal inert gas), TIG (using tungsten inert gas), and MMA (manual metal arc, also known as stick welding).
“I also produce resin gates - they are proving quite popular. I can basically do any design customers require, carved into wood, adding any colour resin to match it. We surround the wood with powder-coated mild steel.”
He adds: “I have years of experience in each of the services I offer.”
Greg, who also has two step-daughters, grew up in Queensbury and learned his trade as a student at Bradford College, going on to develop his skills while working for a number of companies in the area.
Since setting up on his own he has been busy with work across the district and, where possible, further afield.
“I advertise using social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Nextdoor and Snapchat,” Greg says. “I have had so much support from the community including other business owners, and really have found my place.
My biggest obstacle is the larger firms who have the staff and the money to be able to provide instant results for consumers. However, that is also our aim - to build up and become larger. I'm working until my idols become my rivals.”
“I love the independence and drive that having my own business gives me. Currently I have no full-time staff, however the plan is to be able to take in enough work in the coming year to be able to create job opportunities for people in Bradford.
“Harley has an interest and I teach him in the hope that he will continue my legacy, but if he decides to take a different path in his career I will support him.”
He adds: “I take pride in every job and love the fact that when I grow old my work will still be used by people every day.”
*GH Fabrications, 39 Hammerton St, Bradford BD3 9QN. For more information visit ghfabrications.co.uk
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