Natina Partners with the Steel Utility Pole Coalition (SUPC)
Keeping Your Construction Crew Productive During the Holidays
December 11, 2023
Natina Transforms Zoo Habitat from Glaring to ‘Bearly’ Noticeable
June 25, 2024
Photo by SUPC
Natina is excited to announce its partnership with the Steel Utility Pole Coalition (SUPC)! This alliance will strengthen our industry presence and further expand our ability to work with amazing customers that want to make their steel structures more aesthetically pleasing.
About the SUPC
The SUPC brings together industry groups, manufacturers and end-users in a united effort to advocate for the use of steel poles.
With a focus on engineered strength and consistency, the SUPC champions the advantages that steel poles offer over traditional wood alternatives.
Advantages of Steel Utility Poles
When considering utility poles, steel stands out for an abundance of reasons.*
- Durability: Steel’s inherent material properties ensure exceptional durability, offering long-lasting performance in various conditions.
- Engineered Consistency: Steel’s uniformity in strength, derived from precise engineering, guarantees reliability across all applications.
- Extended Service Life: Steel boasts a significantly longer lifespan compared to wood, often doubling it in many environments.
- Low Maintenance: Steel poles require minimal maintenance, eliminating the days of battling rot, insect damage or woodpecker interference.
- Fire Performance: Steel demonstrates superior resistance to wildfires, making it a preferred choice in fire-prone areas.
- Consistent Strength Over Time: As steel poles age, they maintain their original strength properties, shielded by the galvanized coating.
- Lower Life Cycle Costs: With reduced maintenance requirements — no aging-related shrinking or chemical treatments — steel offers cost savings over its lifespan.
- Specialized Applications: Steel excels in unique scenarios, such as deterring woodpeckers, and its lighter weight makes it ideal for hard-to-reach install locations.
- Customizable Strength: Unlike wood poles, where sizes are constrained by the existing forest resources that take decades to grow, steel offers unparalleled flexibility. Steel can be produced in any size or strength requirement, allowing for tailored solutions to meet specific project needs. This versatility eliminates the limitations imposed by natural growth cycles, providing a dynamic and efficient approach to meeting diverse construction demands.
*Source: SUPC
Photo by Natina
Benefits of the Natina-SUPC Partnership
This collaboration isn’t just a meeting of minds, it’s beneficial for both partners and their customers, who will benefit from the wealth of information provided by the SUPC.
- Knowledge Sharing: Over the past 15 years, the SUPC has supported colleges, training centers, electric utilities and various electric utility associations by offering free training to eligible organizations.The training is structured in two distinct formats: one tailored for students and instructors, and another crafted for electric utilities, apprentice programs and utility associations.
- Student Training: The SUPC sponsors on-site, hands-on training workshops for qualified schools. For example, a complete online training series titled “Essential Lineman Training: Working with Steel Utility Poles” offers 10 years’ worth of knowledge and experience.
- Journeymen and Apprentice Training: The SUPC assists electric utilities by providing educational information on the safe use of steel utility poles. Their training module, “Energized Distribution Systems — Safe Work Practices,” is designed for linemen who have worked on energized distribution systems and want to learn more about working with steel poles.
- Collaborative Research: The collaboration between Natina and SUPC also creates an opportunity for joint research initiatives. Together, we can combine our steel expertise to develop informative white papers filled with research and statistics that can help customers with their projects. By emphasizing the advantages of galvanized steel over wood or weathered steel, with the added benefit of Natina’s color technology, audiences can discover effective solutions for issues like mitigating the visual impact that bare steel may have on natural landscapes.
Photo by SUPC
Natina’s Impact on Steel Structures
Natina offers a unique color solution for enhancing the appearance of steel structures, such as monopoles and lattice towers.
Photo by Natina
Here are some reasons to consider Natina for steel projects.
- Visual Impact Mitigation
Natina’s natural-looking patina seamlessly blends in with the surroundings, making steel structures nearly undetectable from a distance. - Reduced Maintenance
Natina’s technology reduces the need for frequent maintenance visits. - Ready Color
Natina’s beautiful rustic brown finish is developed and ready to install on the jobsite. - Eco-Friendly Practices
Natina’s non-toxic, natural solution is an environmentally conscious alternative to acid stain, paint or powder coating.
Interested in learning more about Natina?
Meet Natina at Upcoming Conferences:
- IEEE/TandD Conference
- Dates: May 7–9
- Location: Anaheim, CA
- USMA Conference
- Dates:
May 19 (Kris, our resident golfer, will attend the Charity Golf Event for ALS)
May 21 (Ryan and Kris will attend the networking event) - Location: Scottsdale, AZ
- Dates:
We look forward to engaging with industry professionals and stakeholders at these conferences, while sharing insights and building lasting connections! We hope to see you there.
Natina
Related posts
Customer Success Stories
We used Natina Rock Solution to help visually mitigate some scarring on a small rock bench in the Yosemite National Park. I was very pleased with the results of the solution and found it to be appropriate and beneficial for this type of use.
Brad Lewis
Yosemite National Park
Natina is the perfect treatment for many landscape projects. When metalwork and concrete are a part of our exterior landscape designs, Natina offers an ideal way to create a natural look for introduced elements. Our office has specified Natina on metal, concrete, and even boulders to achieve the right color for natural landscapes. We’ve used Natina on items that need to function within the urban landscape as barriers and to direct pedestrian movement. The clients also like the low maintenance or need for sealers on the finished product. Natina reps are so helpful in ensuring that the details are addressed for the perfect end result!
Janet Waibel
Waibel & Associates
Thurston County used Natina’s Reactive Color Treatment on our most recent installation of guardrail along Waddell Creek Road and Gate Road. Natina’s final finish provided an aesthetic shade of brown to blend into the beautiful surrounding environment. This natural look was a must-have along Thurston County’s Bountiful Byway.
Brian Meier
Thurston County Public Works
For our project in the Shoshone National Forest, there is a significant color reaction between the Natina Concrete Solution and the shotcrete wall (along with soil-nailing). In just over 2 weeks, the color treatment progress was extremely successful in mitigating the brighter gray surface. In our opinion, it better blends into the slope than the adjacent monotone single color block retaining wall. Natina Solutions plus material costs and two USFS salary days was very cost-effective and saved us time and money.
Darin Martens
U.S. Forest Service
Natina has a wonderful brown hue spectrum for our concrete project’s desert palette. These solutions help to blend bland gray concrete, which is an eyesore, into our desert landscape for a more natural aesthetic. Being environmentally friendly is another reason Natina Solutions are chosen over other products that are calked full of chemicals, VOC’s, and other environmentally unfriendly ingredients. Natina is inexpensive compared to integral colored concrete, helps us get the perfect color we want every time, and we know it will save the project money.
Rob Loftis
MRWM Landscape Architects
I have worked with Natina for years on many guardrail projects throughout Colorado. My team and I have recommended their steel color because of its natural finish. Natina’s environmental stain is a wonderful color alternative to blend in with Colorado’s beautiful mountains. Natina is easy to work with and we have enjoyed our long relationship.
Cyndi Adams
Adarand Constructors
On our recent multi-modal improvement project in Northern Nevada, we wanted to ensure the metal features blended into the surrounding high desert landscape. Natina was an ideal color option to change the shiny metal pedestrian railings and guard rails into a natural, rustic brown. I recommend Natina Steel Solution for projects that need an aesthetic look and color for galvanized metals.
Barb Santner
Stantec
As a guardrail installer, we see miles and miles of guardrail and have worked with various kinds of companies. Gonzales Construction has worked with Natina on many transportation projects over the years. We recommend Natina Steel Solution to other clients over paint, weathering steel and powder coating. We have only had good experiences with them and top-notch customer service. We will continue to use Natina for all of our galvanized surface needs.
Jeremy Gonzales
Gonzales Construction Company, Inc.
Natina was exactly what we needed at the Phoenix Zoo. At our Visayan warty pig habitat, we were looking for a safe product for this species, plus one that would withstand the harsh climate in Arizona, as well as require little upkeep. Natina was approved by our zoo veterinarians for the enclosure and agreed upon by our operations team for the low maintenance factor. The brown finish blended in well for this exhibit and we are happy with the results.
Joe Wilkes
Phoenix Zoo, Arizona Center for Nature Conservation
We have been using Natina for almost 10 years. They have an extraordinary team supporting us with any questions, orders and logistics. The Natina Rock Solution is environmentally-safe and works great on naturalizing and blending the color into its surroundings. The earthy browns created with Natina help us and our clients' projects look beautiful. We look forward to continuing our exceptional relationship with Natina!
Launa Spendlove
Instant Jungle Landscape
We have used Natina Steel Solutions on several of our cell tower sites to help blend them into the surrounding terrain. We are very impressed with the rustic, natural color. Our clients really appreciate the impact Natina has on the project aesthetics. Natina is a great company to work with, has always met all construction deadlines and is very prompt in getting back to us.
Rusty Lewellen
High Desert Communications
