85 Years of Black Country Engineering: FloorStak Shows How Manufacturing Expertise Evolves

Eighty-five years of manufacturing in the Black Country provides a substantial engineering legacy, but for Regent Engineering the milestone is equally about where that expertise can lead next.

The Darlaston manufacturer celebrates its 85th anniversary during 2026, having evolved from its early focus on subcontract toolmaking, presswork and assembly into a diversified engineering business serving modern industrial markets.

Today, Regent operates across three principal areas: Pressings and Assemblies, Steel Fabrication and Brand Products.

FloorStak®, the company’s professional floor support and levelling system, provides perhaps the clearest example of how generations of manufacturing knowledge can be transformed into an engineered product with applications across multiple sectors.

Designed and manufactured in Britain, the modular system enables level platforms to be created over uneven surfaces, supporting applications ranging from temporary event infrastructure and spectator facilities to industrial, defence and aerospace environments.

Stuart Whitehouse, Managing Director of Regent Engineering, believes FloorStak represents a natural evolution of the skills developed within the company over eight and a half decades.

“FloorStak starts with something that has always been at the heart of Regent — solving a practical engineering problem,” he said.

“We have extensive experience in forming metal, fabrication, welding and assembly. Bringing those disciplines together to create our own engineered product is a great example of how traditional manufacturing expertise continues to evolve.”

The product also demonstrates the value that manufacturers can create by combining production capability with design knowledge and intellectual property.

Standard FloorStak components provide a modular platform capable of being configured for different projects, while Regent’s wider engineering resources enable bespoke parts to be developed for specialist applications.

That combination has already seen FloorStak technology used for major sporting facilities and temporary structures, with opportunities continuing to develop across industrial and strategically important markets.

For Whitehouse, the company’s location remains an important part of that story.

“The Black Country has generations of knowledge around making things, understanding materials and finding practical solutions,” he continued.

“Our 85th anniversary gives us an opportunity to celebrate that heritage while continuing to invest our experience into products and manufacturing capabilities that have a role in the industries of the future.”

That combination of heritage and product development provides a useful illustration of the continuing evolution of British manufacturing.

After 85 years, Regent’s expertise still begins on the factory floor.

Increasingly, however, the engineering produced there is helping customers build floors of their own.