A WIRRAL manufacturer has celebrated 100 years as a limited company.

Heap & Partners, a valve company, was first registered at Companies House on March 19 1924.

A century later Heap & Partners is one of the UK’s leading manufacturers and distributors of fluid control equipment. 

Specialising in equipment for oil and gas, sub-sea, pharmaceutical and nuclear markets, Heap & Partners has supplied equipment to over 85 different countries. 

The Wirral-based manufacturer was founded by William Heap in 1866 as a partnership, but the firm was not registered as a limited company until the 1920s.

Heap spent his lifetime working around the world as Chief Bridge Builder to Thomas Brassey, the pioneering Victorian civil engineer.

Wirral Globe: Heap & Partners, pictured in the 1960sHeap & Partners, pictured in the 1960s (Image: Heap & Partners)

Brassey's firm was responsible for building one-third of the railways in Britain. Alongside Brassey, Heap oversaw the construction of major railway bridges such as Victoria Bridge in Montreal. Victoria Bridge was the longest bridge in the world at the time of its opening in 1860.

Following this historic tenure, he set up Heap & Partners in Merseyside as an engineering supply company to the world.

In June 1859 he married Eliza Mackenzie Burn Stuart Crichton at St Paul's Church, Seacombe. They remained in Seacombe, moving in 1870 to Liscard.

Wirral Globe: Work being undertaken at Heap & Partners in the 1960s.Work being undertaken at Heap & Partners in the 1960s. (Image: Heap & Partners)

Heap was a member of the Wallasey Local board and sat on a number of committees including the Gas and Water Committee. In 1889 he was elected Chairman of the Wallasey Local Board and in 1886 was appointed a magistrate.

He died on March 10 1912. 

Today, Heap & Partners currently operates from four offices around the United Kingdom in Birkenhead, London, Teesside, and Derry.

The firm’s Export Department has been shipping goods all over the world for more than 150 years.

The firm’s staff are skilled in ensuring all packing and documentation comply fully with each country’s specific requirements.

Wirral Globe: Inside Heap & Partners in the 1960s. Inside Heap & Partners in the 1960s. (Image: Heap & Partners)

David Millar, managing director of Heap & Partners, said: “It is a tremendously proud moment for each member of the Heap & Partners team to mark the centenary of our incorporation.

“I like to think we are as passionate today about what we do as our forefathers were a century ago.

“We now look ahead to the next 100 years where we hope to grow further, instilling the same values we have always had.”