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Welcome to First Step Designs, the UK’s leading bespoke floating staircase specialists. We design, manufacture, and install high-end floating stairs across the UK, working closely with homeowners, architects, and interior designers to craft unique cantilevered stairs that elevate bespoke homes.
Floating staircases require advanced structural engineering, millimetre-perfect fabrication, and an understanding of how materials, architecture, and style come together. As winners of the 2024 Build It Award for Best UK Staircase and having been featured on Grand Designs, we’re confident that First Step Designs can help you achieve something extraordinary.
From Longlevens and Innsworth in the north to Quedgeley and Kingsway in the south, reach out to our design team to discover why Gloucester prefers First Step Designs for inspired staircase design.
Floating stairs, also called cantilevered stairs, are best known for their striking signature look: appearing to defy gravity as they hang unsupported in mid-air. To achieve this look, engineers securely set each tread into a custom-built steel structure concealed within a supporting wall—a process that has little room for design miscalculation and zero margin for error in fabrication.
At First Step Designs, our design and fabrication teams rely on detailed CAD modelling, ultra-precise 5-axis CNC machining, cutting-edge surface detailing, and rigorous in-house testing to deliver the highest quality floating stairs: safe, durable, and visually flawless.
From the welds you’ll never see to the details you won’t be able to stop admiring, choose First Step Designs when it absolutely has to be millimetre-perfect.
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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.
There are many beautiful staircase styles, but none turn heads and demand attention the way cantilevered staircases do. By removing the visible support structure, they not only create instant intrigue and drama but also open up sightlines and introduce lightness and openness into hallways, living spaces, and extensions.
Floating stairs offer:
The final cost of a floating staircase depends on the materials, configuration, and structural demands of the project. Recent floating staircase projects in Gloucester have typically fallen between £23,000 and £30,000 (+VAT).
Reach out to our design team to discuss your project and receive a more detailed, personalised quote.
Cantilevered stairs are surprisingly low maintenance, requiring nothing more than routine dusting, cleaning, and mopping up spills as they occur to keep the stairs in perfect working order.
In the event of accidental damage, our restoration team can repair or refinish timber, metal, glass, or other components to restore the staircase to its original condition.
Floating stairs are required by law to meet the same UK building regulations for design, safety, and rigidity as other staircase styles. They are not more or less safe than any other style. At First Step Designs, we rely on state-of-the-art design and fabrication techniques to craft floating staircases, handrails, and balustrades ready to stand up to decades of regular, heavy use.
A floating staircase is a type of staircase engineered so that the individual treads are cantilevered (affixed only on one side) into a custom-designed steel structure that is concealed within a supporting wall. With all the supporting elements concealed from view, the treads appear to hover. This creates a clean and contemporary architectural feature that feels light, open, and refined.
Floating stairs are seen as the height of staircase ambition, representing both a significant financial commitment and serious design challenges, increasing their value and status.
