Lawton Tubes

We are a fourth-generation, family-owned business located at Coventry in the heart of the United Kingdom and the focal point of West Midlands industry. This expertise allows us to offer more than just a product, by providing our customers with an unrivalled level of service and understanding.

Our History

Albert Lawton

AH Lawton co-founded the Lawton Tubes, and the business commenced trading as a partnership in 1918. At first, the Lawton Tube specialised in making copper and brass tubes for the motor trade; the railway and the shipbuilding industries. Later down the line in 1920, the Lawton Tubes business became a limited company.

In addition to this, another major change took place in 1937, when the company relocated from the centre of Coventry to a new factory on the city’s outskirts. Up until today, that same factory has remained the headquarters of Lawton Tubes.

As soon as the relocation and the installation of new machinery were complete, Lawton Tube came under government control. For the next eight years, the armed forces required nearly all of our tube production. At the time, production was at 100 tonnes a month.

Following the cessation of government control, our company set about re-establishing our customer base. In the years that followed the company doubled the size of the factory and invested heavily in new copper tube drawing machinery, enabling for us to start tube production for the construction industry in addition to our already established markets.

The Early Days

During the 1980s and 1990s, we continued to consolidate and expand our customer base, whilst continuing to manufacture copper tubes for specialised applications. During these years it became apparent we needed to diversify our core activities, consequently becoming a pioneer within the UK in manufacturing and selling medical gas tube.

These changes were accelerated in the late 1990s by the ascension of fourth-generation Lawton family to manage the company. In 2001, we acquired ‘Dorset Tube’ in Poole, thus expanding our capacity and product range to include copper and cupro nickel tubes for the electrical, automotive and solar heating industries. Since then we have added more standard plumbing tube and coil to its product range as well as moving to supply refrigeration and air conditioning tube.

Flash forward to today, our company turnover is now in excess of £150 million. In addition to this, we have established ourselves as a supplier of quality associated products. We will continue to search for appropriate high-quality products to add to our portfolio, assisting the continuing growth of our clients alongside our own business. We pride ourselves on the quality of our products and service and the level of expertise we have within the business. 

Our success is reflected in the UK press regularly, appearing in The Sunday Times via the leading research company, 

Family Values

We are a fourth-generation family-owned business with global reach. Our continued growth and success have not diluted our values though; we operate our entire business like a family, looking after our team and customers. The four family values that we place above all others are:

• Honesty
• Trust
• Commitment
• Integrity

Our exceptionally high team retention rate and stable market share are a result of these values. We are better; better service, better stock, better people.

We are proud to support our direct customers, distributors and their clients wherever we can. Our team are here to help.

PRODUCTS

ACR

We are the UK’s leading supplier of Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Copper Tubes (ACR). Our products are widely available ex-stock through National and Independent merchants.

• Straight Lengths
• Copper Coil Pipes
• Copper Pipe Fittings & Accessories
• K65 – Tube System for High Pressure Applications
• Maxi Pro

We offer an extensive range of copper tubes made to EN12735-1 from 3/16″ to 4,1/8″ which are further complimented by a complete stock holding of traditional brazing fittings as well as our latest addition, the Conex >B< MaxiPro copper press system.

For high pressure CO₂ refrigeration systems, Lawton Tube K65, a range of copper/iron alloy (CuFe2P) tubes and fittings with a maximum working pressure of 120 bar (1740psi).

Our ACR copper tubes have been used in major projects such as the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Harrods of London and The Shard.

Brochure ACR versionV

Engineering

Lawton Engineering combines the unique skills and facilities of our two manufacturing plants in Dorset and Coventry, into a unique offering within the industrial copper tube market.

Thanks to our production capabilities and our collective skill set, there is a lot we can offer you in the Lawton Tubes service package:

• The Lawton team specialises in the manufacture of precision copper and copper-nickel tubes
• Lawton is capable of producing straight copper tube, with cut lengths ranging from 6mm to 10m.
• The length of our copper coils ranges from 5m to 50m.
• We have the capabilities and skillset to manufacture copper tubes to the tempers (hardness) you require. The surface hardness we supply range from anywhere between soft to skin hard. We design our copper tubes to withstand every sophisticated engineering and bending operations.
• Products can be produced:
  • Under our ISO 9001 Quality Certificate
  • Eddy current tested
  • Deburred by hand and/or machine
  • Hand inspected at various stages of production
  • Fast turn around on manufacture
  • Despatched and delivered on our dedicated fleet of vehicles
  •  
• Profile Copper Tubes
• Level Wound Copper Coil Tubing
• Straight Length Copper Tubes
• Pancake Copper Coils

Sharing over 150 years of experience across two manufacturing sites in the UK, we have managed to forge many long-lasting relationships across a diverse customer base.

Here at Lawton, our strength lies in our fervent commitment to understanding the product, quality and service requirements of our customers. Moreover, our established expertise and highly-versatile production facilities, enables us to produce the highest quality of copper tubes efficiently.

When it comes to quick lead times and bespoke product dimensions, the Lawton Tubes sales team is always ready to provide a customer-focused solution.

Furthermore, partnering with Lawton, you will never need to worry about holding large amounts of stock. We can help you with that. One helpful feature of the Lawton Tubes service package is that we have the facilities to store away many stocks capably. It should be noted, this means that there is less reliance on you to store the heavy stocks all by yourself.  

As our customer, you will have the ability to schedule an order, and you can rest assured that we will quickly and swiftly deliver it to your doorstep.

We are also in the business of manufacturing copper tubes. Our expert team is more than ready to produce and tailor copper tubes that meet your product specifications, no matter how demanding they may be.

Plumbing

Lawton Tubes supply plumbing and heating products to both national and independent merchants. Our range, quality and service are industry leading.

• Straight Lengths
• Coils
• Fittings & Accessories

Lawton copper tube is the professional choice. Our comprehensive EN 1057 range offers:

• Full Kitemark from 6mm-219mm
• CE Marking
• A 25 year warranty, which extends to 30 years with heat-free systems
• Excellent corrosion resistance
• Antimicrobial properties
• Infinite recyclability

Medical

We’re proud to provide full pipeline solutions for large medical installations. Our medical gas grade copper tube systems are of unrivaled quality, produced to BS EN 13348 standards and conforms to the latest NHS specification HTM02.

• Medical Grade Degreased Copper Tube
• Fittings & Accessories

Lawton Tubes are the medical gas copper pipeline specialists. It should be noted that copper tubes are perfect for carrying oxygen and other medical gases, from plant rooms to patient beds.  The surface of copper itself is antimicrobial and can effectively kill the most toxic bacteria, fungi and viruses.  

Here at Lawton, we have been producing and distributing copper tubes since the 1980s; in addition to this, we also supply accessories such as copper fittings, ID gas tapes and pipe supports.

Quality will never be a problem; you can always rely on us to offer you the complete pipeline solution. All of our products strictly adhere to the ISO 9001 quality standards and are backed up by our 25-year warranty. Our 12-108mm tube is kitemarked, giving the confidence that our products are third party inspected and manufactured in accordance with British Standards (BSI)