Wardray Premise

The company was founded in 1909 by John Wardley (grandfather of the current Chairman) as a small joinery business. Until the 1930’s work consisted of installing high quality joinery products to embassies, theatres, hotels and stately homes throughout the West End of London.

This decade saw the use of x-rays becoming more commonplace. Wardray’s first shielded installation was at The Prince of Wales Hospital, London in 1938. The outbreak of the 2nd World War in 1939 curtailed manufacturing as the majority of our work was commissioned by the government for the war effort.

Post war activities saw an expansion of x-ray shielding and the first of many contracts for Philips Medical. We completed our first major installation to provide radiotherapy shielding at Glasgow Royal Infirmary in 1952. Other notable contracts in the 50’s included a radiotherapy installation in Doha, Qatar which proved to be the beginning of many overseas projects.

Throughout the sixties, a steady growth of both medical and industrial shielding contracts allowed the company to expand throughout the UK and overseas. These included a radiotherapy department at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and shielding work for Rolls Royce and British Aerospace. Wardray shielded the first CT scanner introduced into the UK for EMI. Industrial installations included a four room industrial x-ray facility for Bristol Aerojet and the Atomic Research Establishment, Harwell.

Wardray was now regarded as the leading design, manufacture and installation company within the shielding industry. Our ability to produce quality shielding products was recognised worldwide and the business continued to develop. Notable contracts included Glasgow Royal Infirmary, The London Hospital and the Research laboratory at the British Museum, Singapore General Hospital and Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Oman. The introduction of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) allowed us to expand our shielding capabilities. To date Wardray has installed in excess of 250 RF cages worldwide.

Wardray is now firmly established as the UK’s leading manufacturer of shielding products for medical and industrial installations, delivering quality without compromise across all business activities. Unlike our competitors, we have invested in UK manufacturing, developing, designing and installing products to meet customer needs at home and abroad. Over the past 12 years Wardray has been involved with many major hospital projects including Beatson Oncology Centre, Glasgow, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle and the New Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow. NDT contracts have been completed for British Petroleum and GE Energy and Rolls Royce.

In 2009 the prestigious Harley Street Clinic became the first UK health facility to offer the revolutionary CyberKnife® Cancer treatment machine. Wardray provided the shielding calculations, design and installation for this project which was delivered on time and on budget.

Wardray’s strength has evolved from decades of experience within the shielding industry. We are determined to remain a British manufacturer of quality products that don’t come back for customers who do!