Flights of Fancy
- Hannah Tapping
- Jul 3
- 4 min read
Words by Hannah Tapping
Established in 1985, Spiral UK has evolved into one of Britain’s foremost specialists in bespoke staircase design and manufacture.
An impressive staircase, whether spiral or straight, can help to create a breathtaking first impression in any space, domestic or commercial. Based in the South West of England, with a dedicated production facility in Cornwall and a technical office in Cambridgeshire, Spiral UK operates on a national scale, delivering projects across the country and beyond for residential, commercial and public sector clients. Its approach is defined by a synthesis of engineering precision, architectural fluency and design-led thinking. Every staircase is custom-made, developed in close collaboration with architects, interior designers, contractors and private clients. The company offers a comprehensive, in-house service, from conceptual design and structural detailing to fabrication and on-site installation. This end-to-end model ensures both creative control and technical continuity throughout the process, providing a streamlined process from start to finish.
The company’s portfolio demonstrates a striking versatility. Projects range from sculptural helical staircases in flagship commercial developments to floating, cantilevered stairs in refined private residences.
Seadrift, Devon, is a contemporary coastal home. The installation of a helical staircase here balances structural fluidity with minimal intervention. The staircase’s open oak treads appear to float within a slender steel structure, while curved glass balustrades allow uninterrupted light flow, echoing the transparency and openness of the home’s design. The stair forms a continuous sculptural line, its rhythm complementing the natural textures of the surrounding materials and the panoramic views beyond.
Park Gwyn, Cornwall is a place where bold architectural language meets countryside serenity. A bespoke staircase sits as the central sculptural element in the home’s open interior. Composed of a powder-coated steel spine with gently twisting lines, the stair supports solid oak treads and a bespoke curved handrail, all designed to enhance the continuity between floors. The structure is both a spatial connector and a subtle piece of engineering theatre, carefully designed to work with the building’s exposed material palette and strong natural light.
For Le Petit Fort, Jersey is a luxury residence integrated into a former fortress, Spiral UK designed a staircase that reflected the duality of old-world solidity and contemporary elegance. A curved steel structure wrapped with handcrafted oak treads offers a sense of permanence while remaining visually light. The stair’s materiality references the rugged stone of the original fort, while its detailing – such as the concealed supports and flush finishes – speaks to a distinctly modern craftsmanship. It’s a dramatic insertion that feels at once respectful and confident.
Within a high-end riverside apartment in One Tower Bridge, London, Spiral UK delivered a precision-engineered cantilever staircase that appears to hover weightlessly. Anchored directly into the wall with no visible support structure, the steel frame is clad in timber and complemented by ultra-clear glass balustrades. This clean, linear composition creates a sculptural dialogue with the apartment’s interior architecture – light-filled, geometric and high-spec. It’s an object of functional beauty that transforms vertical movement into a design experience. Spiral UK’s work is characterised by clean lines, material sensitivity, and an acute understanding of how a staircase can function as both circulation and centrepiece acting as an integral element within the architectural narrative of a space.
At 450 South Oak Way in a bespoke helical staircase, comprising a mild steel core wrapped in stone-clad treads and capped by polished stainlesssteel handrails, unfurls over an impressive 4.2m. The juxtaposition of robust industrial materials – radiused glass balustrades and fabricformed channel stringers – with the natural stone treads creates a dialogue between solidity and lightness. This staircase doesn’t just connect floors, it choreographs the first impression of the entire office, where the functional is elevated to an artful axis of movement and style.
Materials are selected for both their aesthetic and structural potential. The company works confidently with steel, stainless steel, hardwoods, concrete, glass, and stone, with bespoke finishes that include powder coating, polishing, lacquering, and custom sprays. As open plan living spaces have become more and more popular, Spiral UK have been faced with the design dilemma of how to introduce a staircase without encroaching on the space? The solution is a bespoke spiral stair, tucked into a corner providing all the function of a straight stair without taking up too much of the room. A staircase in point was installed into a holiday let in Carbis Bay. Light white-faced concrete was used as it’s suitably heavy in structure but light in form, with open risers and glass balustrade. This fitted will with the subtle seaside theme and became an interior feature in itself, all without distracting from that view.
Certified to ISO 9001 and affiliated with Constructionline, Spiral UK balances craftsmanship with regulatory rigour. Yet their true distinction lies in their ability to elevate an architectural necessity into a statement of design. Every project is a chapter in a broader architectural story, clarifying circulation and amplifying spatial intent. A trusted industry leader with an impressive portfolio of work, Spiral UK turns a staircase into a manifesto: engineered, expressive and unobtrusively indispensable.
