West Special Fasteners has won a King’s Award for Enterprise in the Innovation category, recognising the Derbyshire manufacturer’s work on advanced alloy fasteners for demanding industrial environments.
The Dronfield-based company makes high-integrity fasteners and precision components for offshore energy, subsea, nuclear, defence, LNG, construction, and other applications where corrosion, heat, pressure, or chemical exposure can compromise conventional materials.
Employing 68 people and producing around 850,000 nuts and bolts each year, the company supplies components used in structures and systems ranging from the Triton Submarine in the Mariana Trench to Singapore’s Helix Bridge and the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth.
The award recognises West Special Fasteners’ development of forging and heat-treatment processes for advanced corrosion-resistant alloy metals, including super duplex and high nickel materials. Hot forging is already widely used in steel fastener production, but applying the process reliably to more difficult exotic alloys requires tighter control over temperature, deformation, tooling, and subsequent treatment.
By adapting the process for these materials, the company says it can improve production efficiency and reduce waste by up to 40%. The technique is also designed to improve the structural integrity of parts destined for corrosive environments, where fastener failure can create serious operational and safety risks.
“We’ve had to keep innovating over the years in order to stay afloat in what is a constantly evolving market. To get this award for innovation from the King is a real honour and one we are all very proud of,” said James Hawkins, co-owner of West Special Fasteners.
Hawkins said the award reflected a long sequence of incremental improvements since 2009, including tooling development, faster process methods, and new forging techniques as customers moved into more demanding metals.
The King’s Awards for Enterprise recognise outstanding achievement in innovation, international trade, sustainability, and promoting opportunity. West Special Fasteners is one of 186 UK businesses recognised in 2026.
Company co-owner and managing director Sonja Skelton said: “I’m very passionate about this company and about UK manufacturing. For this company to get the recognition of a King’s Award, which I think is the best recognition you can get, it’s just outstanding. I’m so excited for the employees. Every single person who works here has made a contribution to the success and hopefully we can keep it going for many years to come.”
West Special Fasteners’ in-house capability includes hot forging, CNC machining, thread rolling, drilling, milling, and marking from its Dronfield facility, supporting bespoke fasteners in stainless steels, nickel alloys, titanium, duplex, and super duplex materials.
