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Welcome to First Step Designs, the UK's leading designers and manufacturers of bespoke floating staircases. We’re based just an hour from Derby, and we've built a reputation for delivering the most technically advanced and visually striking floating stairs in the country, helping homeowners and architects achieve interior spaces that inspire.
Over recent years, our work has been recognised at national awards, including the 2024 Build It Award for Best UK Staircase, along with features on Grand Designs, and we continue to work on increasingly high-profile projects across the UK.
If you're looking for a floating staircase that needs to make an impact, choose First Step Designs for inspired design and precision engineering without equal.
Floating stairs—also called cantilevered stairs—represent the highest levels of design and fabrication ambition. While the floating effect is visually stunning, achieving a clean and perfectly balanced final product is easier said than done, and even the slightest miscalculation or engineering error can lead to stairs that look and feel lopsided and unbalanced.
At First Step Designs, we design and manufacture floating staircases to millimetre tolerances. We rely on advanced CAD modelling, 5-axis CNC milling, and extensive quality control to only ever deliver floating staircases of the highest quality—perfectly proportioned, balanced, and detailed.
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Your new or renovated stairs are no more than a quick call, email or message away.
You can also use our Inspiration Gallery to save images of our work that you like. Then, simply send them along with any other photos, plans, or details through our contact form so we can discuss your project.
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After understanding what you’re trying to achieve, we’ll send a detailed and itemised same-day quote. Our pricing is honest and transparent, allowing you to quickly determine if we are the right fit for your project.
At your request, we’ll gladly quote for multiple configurations of your ideal stairs.
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After visiting your home to take the measurements we need, we draft and present fully accurate 3D renditions of what your staircase will look like in your home.
Once the details, timelines, and installation dates are locked in, we begin fabricating your dream staircase.
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That’s right: sit back knowing that our expert team of craftsmen is hard at work bringing your staircase to life, fabricating your dream stairs to our exacting standards.
Depending on the complexity of the design, this typically takes anywhere from 3 to 5 days.
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Our expert and experienced team of Staffordshire-based installers will install your new or renovated stairs in 2 to 4 days.
They have a wealth of experience in joinery and engineering, a seriously professional attitude towards work, and operate as unintrusively as possible.
Any style of staircase, when designed with passion and built with care, can transform a home, but none more so than a floating staircase. By removing the visible support structures and opening the sightlines between treads, they create a sense of lightness and openness that other staircases, even other open styles, simply can't match.
Floating stairs offer:
Project timelines vary significantly based on the scope of the project, design complexity, material choices, and installation difficulties; however, we complete most of our projects in approximately 4 to 6 months from first contact. While this might feel like a long timeline given the availability of more immediate solutions, we craft unique staircases comparable to functional art—and we don’t rush art.
When our clients approach us with a clear vision and/or design plans, we can expedite the progress and have it completed in roughly 4 to 6 weeks, depending on the design.
Yes, but very little and very infrequently. We rely on high-quality steel and superior finishing techniques, resulting in ultra-durable metal staircases that are all but indestructible. With the exception of keeping them clean and free of dust, the only remaining maintenance is to ensure that the surface finish remains scratch and damage-free. In the event that a scratch or abrasion reaches down into the raw steel, it’s important to respray or refinish the affected area to avoid oxidation.
Luckily, this is a fairly straightforward task with both instructional videos and the materials required readily available. Alternatively, reach out to First Step Designs for a zero-obligation renovation quote.
Yes, it can. First Step Designs specialises in designing bespoke and deeply personalised staircases, ensuring that each and every element—from the substructure to the finishing, detailing, and accessories—is tailored to suit your home, vision, and style.
We work closely with our clients over the span of several weeks, guiding them through the staircase design process and iterating through staircase styles, designs, and details to find the best possible fit.
By the time the design is finished and sent off to fabrication, we will have gone through design options for the overall staircase style and shape, treads, balustrades, handrails, optional accessories such as decorative inserts or recessed lighting, as well as surface finish options.
Whether referring to full metal staircases or one that relies on a metal substructure, these types of staircases hold several advantages over commonly used alternatives, such as full timber builds. This includes:
