Storage Cages

A storage cage is a welded or bolted steel enclosure — usually mesh-sided, usually lockable — that turns an open corner of a warehouse into a secured, inspectable space. It is one of the cheapest ways to stop stock walking, and one of the few storage products where the specification decisions are genuinely consequential: get the mesh aperture wrong and the cage is decorative, get the delivery method wrong and it sits on a lorry you cannot unload.

KC Supply stocks 24 cage lines from GPC Industries and Troax, from a £1,288.14 mobile distribution cage to a £4,964.28 walk-in lock-up security cage. This page explains what the different types actually do, what the real prices are, and — just as usefully — which cages we do not sell and where to go instead.

Storage cage, security cage, mesh cage, wire cage, stillage cage — the naming is a mess

Six common terms describe substantially the same product. A storage cage, a security cage, a mesh cage, a wire cage, a metal storage cage and a warehouse cage are, in almost every catalogue in the UK, the same thing: a steel-framed, mesh-panelled enclosure with a lockable door. So are warehouse cages, secure cages and safety cages when the seller means a static store. Manufacturers use different words because different buyers search for different words, not because the products differ. If you are comparing quotes across suppliers, compare the mesh specification, the frame, the lock and the load rating — not the product name.

Four things that are commonly called cages and are genuinely different products, because buying the wrong one is an expensive mistake:

• A roll cage or stock cage is a wheeled distribution container for moving goods around a site or onto a vehicle, not a static secure store. If that is what you need, go to roll containers and stock cages.
• A forklift safety cage — often called a man cage — is a personnel platform for lifting a person on a forklift. It is a lifting accessory governed by its own rules, not a storage product. We stock them, and they are covered further down this page, but the legal position is set out properly in our guide to forklift man cages and the UK rules on lifting people.
• A gas cylinder cage is a ventilated store built for compressed gas, with a flammable sign and cylinder retention. It has its own page: gas cylinder storage cages.
• A COSHH cabinet is a sheet-steel cupboard with a liquid-tight sump. A mesh cage is the wrong product for liquid chemicals because it retains nothing. See COSHH cabinets.

Metal storage cages: prices across the range

Cage pricing tracks weight of steel, mesh grade and whether the unit is welded or knock-down. These are current KC Supply prices, all UK-manufactured by GPC Industries unless stated:

Cage	Model	Size / key spec	Price
Distribution cage with doors	DCDP696	1655 × 900 × 600, plywood shelves, mobile	£1,288.14
Hazardous distribution cage with doors	HDDS696	1655 × 900 × 600, steel shelves, mobile	£1,293.30
HD craning cage with loading ramp	SK501Z	50 × 50 mm mesh, CE marked and plated	£1,323.05
Grenadier® knock-down cage, red	SCK14Z	1625H × 1600W × 825D	£1,515.84
Wire mesh storage compartment, wall-mounted	WML01Z	Single-sided, hanging rail + 2 shelves	£1,583.64
Grenadier® galvanised security cage, static	SCS02Z	1400 × 700 × 880, 500 kg max load	£1,734.42
Economy fork lift safety cage	FLC08Z	Personnel cage, 1000 kg unit capacity	£1,913.46
HD craning cage, opening front + folding roof	SK502Z	50 × 50 mm mesh, sheet steel base	£2,069.34
Grenadier® security cage with lift-up lid	GBC12Z	1260W, gas-strut lid, 2 fork pockets	£2,108.28
Cylinder pallet cage	GCP03Z	1200 × 1050 × 995, non-slip steel floor	£2,256.42
Grenadier® security cage with roof & base	GLC40Z	Fully enclosed	£2,286.00
Wire mesh storage, mobile unit	WML04Z	Mobile compartment unit	£2,477.64
Standard fork lift safety cage	FLC01Z	Personnel cage, static	£2,600.04
HD fork lift safety cage	FLC02Z	Personnel cage, heavy duty	£2,781.48
Wire mesh storage, double-sided	WML02Z	Double-sided compartment unit	£3,031.14
Grenadier® lock-up security cage	GLC12Z	1605W, 50 × 50 mm panels, galvanised roof	£3,089.64
Grenadier® lift cage, mesh front/rear	LSC01M	1000 kg capacity, stacks 4 high	£3,187.38
Grenadier® HD galvanised security cage	GSC1212	1200 × 1200 × 1800, 500 kg, knock-down	£3,470.76
Wire mesh storage, double-sided with doors	WML05Z	Lockable compartments both sides	£4,543.56
Grenadier® lock-up security cage	GLC18Z	3485W walk-in	£4,964.28

Prices are correct at the time of writing and include VAT but exclude delivery. Gas cylinder cages sit in a separate range from £1,266.13 and are priced on the gas cylinder storage page. The Troax modular cage is quoted per configuration rather than as a fixed price — see below.

Mesh specification: why 25 × 25 mm and 50 × 50 mm are not interchangeable

This is the single specification that most often gets ignored and most often causes regret. Our cages use two weld mesh apertures and they answer two different questions.

50 × 50 mm mesh is a barrier against people and pallets. It is used on the Grenadier® lock-up security cages, the HD craning cages and the outer carcass of the wire mesh storage compartments. It is strong, it is cheaper per square metre, and you can get a hand through it. That is fine if the cage protects bulky stock — reels of cable, cased goods, plant — where nothing can be lifted out through a 50 mm square.

25 × 25 mm mesh is a barrier against hands and small items. It is used on the all-welded Grenadier® galvanised security cages, the knock-down gas cylinder cages and — importantly — the shelves inside the wire mesh storage compartments. If the cage protects small, high-value, pocketable stock — hand tools, copper fittings, cartridges, PPE, IT equipment — 50 mm mesh will not do the job and no lock will compensate.

The honest test: hold up the item you are protecting. If it will pass through a 50 mm square, or if a hand can reach it and pull it through, you need the finer mesh. Retrofitting is not practical, so decide before you order.

Welded or knock-down? The question is really about your door

Every cage on this page is supplied either fully welded or knock-down (KD), and the difference matters far more for logistics than for strength.

A welded cage — the Grenadier® security cages with lift-up lid, the craning cages, the lift cages — arrives as one rigid unit. It is stronger at the joints, there is nothing to loosen over time, and it is ready the moment it is on the floor. The catch is stated plainly on the product data for almost every welded cage we sell: a forklift will be needed to unload these units. If the cage is going into a unit without a forklift, or through a standard doorway, or up to a mezzanine, a welded cage may simply be undeliverable.

A knock-down cage — the Grenadier® HD galvanised security cage GSC1212, the strong knock-down cages SCK14Z/SCK15Z, the knock-down gas cylinder cages — arrives as flat panels that bolt together. GPC's own description of the KD range is that the units are supplied knock down for easy access into your premises, which is exactly the problem it solves. Robust 25 × 25 mm mesh panels bolt together into a rigid frame, and the design is expandable with additional panels later. You give up a little joint stiffness and you spend an hour or two assembling. In a tight building, that is a trade worth making every time.

One practical detail on the knock-down cages: the SCK range has holes pre-drilled in the base rails so the cage can be bolted to the floor. A cage that can be lifted or tipped is not secure, and a floor fixing is the cheapest security upgrade available.

Warehouse security cages: the Grenadier® range

The Grenadier® galvanised security cages are the workhorse of this range, and their specification is worth reading properly. They are all-welded from steel angle infilled with 25 × 25 mm weld mesh. Units are load tested and CE certified. Every unit has a padlock facility, with the padlock supplied by you. Cranage eyes are fitted for lifting — and GPC's advice, which we repeat because it gets ignored, is to use a spreader when lifting on the eyes rather than pulling the corners inward on a straight sling. A hazardous chemical sign is available as a factory-fitted option. Maximum load is 500 kg.

Grenadier® security cage sizes

• SCS02Z — 1400 × 700 × 880 mm (W × D × H), static, yellow — £1,734.42
• SCS03Z — 700 × 700 × 1680 mm, static, yellow — £1,824.66
• SCS04Z — 1400 × 700 × 1680 mm, static, yellow — £2,783.76
• SCS05Z — 2070 × 700 × 1680 mm, static, yellow — £3,363.18
• SCS02S — 1400 × 700 × 995 mm, mobile — £1,837.98
• SCS03S — 700 × 700 × 1795 mm, mobile — £1,928.16

Note what happens to the height when you specify mobile. The mobile units run on 4 × 100 mm nylon castors, two of them braked and swivelling, and the castors add 115 mm to the overall height. On a 1680 mm cage that takes you to 1795 mm. If the cage has to pass under a door head, a sprinkler drop or a racking beam, measure with the castors included.

Above this range sit the walk-in units. The Grenadier® lock-up security cages (GLC12Z 1605 mm wide, GLC15Z 2545 mm, GLC18Z 3485 mm) are built from 50 × 50 mm mesh panels with a galvanised roof, need some assembly, and use a hasp and staple locking facility. These are room-sized enclosures for securing an area rather than a pallet. The Grenadier® HD galvanised security cage GSC1212 is the heaviest single unit we list — 1200 × 1200 × 1800 mm external, 1390 × 1150 × 1150 mm internal, 500 kg capacity, knock-down, with a published lead time of 15–20 days.

For a genuinely modular approach, the Troax industrial storage cage is built from Cage Start Kits, Cage Extension Kits and Mini Cage Kits on a 1200 × 1200 mm standard module, available in grey RAL 7037 or hot-dip galvanised, and expandable in depth by adding extension kits. It is quoted per configuration rather than sold as a fixed unit, so it suits a cage that has to fit a specific footprint or grow later.

Cage lockers, shelf cages and storage cages with shelves

Two of the most common requests we get do not have an obvious product name, so they are worth spelling out. People search for cage lockers, for a shelf cage, and for a storage cage with shelves — and in each case what they usually want is the GPC wire mesh storage compartment.

It is a fully welded tubular steel unit with a 50 × 50 mm square mesh outer carcass and 25 × 25 mm mesh shelves, fitted with a hanging rail and two storage shelves per compartment. That combination is deliberate: the coarse outer mesh gives rigidity cheaply, and the fine shelf mesh stops small items falling through or being fished out. Units are produced with both floor and wall fixing points, though the fixings themselves are not supplied. Contents can be inspected visually without unlocking, which is the practical advantage of a cage locker over a steel locker — a supervisor can see whether kit has been returned without opening anything.

• WML01Z — wall-mounted, single-sided — £1,583.64
• WML03Z — wall-mounted, single-sided, with doors — £2,147.58
• WML04Z — mobile unit — £2,477.64
• WML02Z — double-sided unit — £3,031.14
• WML05Z — double-sided with doors — £4,543.56

These are the right answer for issuing PPE, tools or personal kit in a workshop where you want visibility as well as security. If you want enclosed personal storage instead, that is a locker rather than a cage — see workplace lockers — and if the requirement is bulk shelving rather than secure shelving, go to racking and shelving.

Stillage cages, cage pallets and distribution cages

A stillage cage or cage pallet is a cage designed to be moved full, usually by forklift, and usually to be stacked. The distinguishing features are fork pockets or a pallet base, and a structure that will take the weight of another unit on top.

The Grenadier® security cage with lift-up lid is the closest thing we sell to a classic stillage. It is fully welded, incorporates two fork lift pockets, and has a hinged lid assisted by gas struts. The detail that makes it worth its price is the interlock: when the lid is shut, the front doors will not open, so the unit is completely secure and enclosed with a single padlock rather than three. GBC12Z is 1260 mm wide at £2,108.28; GBC18Z is 1860 mm wide at £2,671.44.

The cylinder pallet cage GCP03Z (1200 × 1050 × 995 mm, £2,256.42) is a welded unit with supporting sides and central sections, a non-slip steel floor to make loading and unloading safer, and a retaining chain and strap. Within the same family, models GCP01Z and GCP02Z can be moved by pallet truck provided the truck has a width across the forks of 680 mm — GCP03Z is forklift-only. If you are moving cages with a manual pallet truck rather than a forklift, that fork-width figure is the one to check first.

The mobile distribution cages are a different animal again: cages on castors with adjustable shelves, for moving picked stock rather than storing it. Both ranges run on two fixed and two swivel castors with two adjustable shelves, in steel, mesh or plywood.

• Distribution cages with doors — DCDP696 1655 × 900 × 600 plywood £1,288.14 · DCDS996 1955 × 900 × 600 steel £1,301.94 · DCDP996 £1,353.66
• Hazardous distribution cages with doors — HDDS696 1655 × 900 × 600 steel £1,293.30 · HDDP696 plywood £1,343.34 · HDDS996 1955 × 900 × 600 steel £1,358.82 · HDDP996 £1,408.86

One caveat we would rather state than paper over. The published shelf rating on the hazardous distribution range is 1000 kg UDL per shelf; the published rating on the standard distribution range is 100 kg UDL per shelf. On two visually comparable units that is a factor-of-ten difference, and we think one of those published figures is likely to be a typographical error rather than a real specification gap. If your application depends on the per-shelf load, we will confirm the figure against the manufacturer's drawing before we take the order rather than quote you a number we are not certain of. For picking rather than storage, picking trolleys and platform trucks and trolleys are usually the better-value route.

Forklift safety cages

A forklift safety cage — the term most people search for is forklift cage, and many say man cage — is a personnel platform that fits over forklift forks so someone can be raised to work at height. We stock three grades:

• Economy fork lift cage FLC08Z — £1,913.46
• Standard fork lift safety cage FLC01Z — £2,600.04 · mobile version FLC11Y — £2,688.24
• HD fork lift safety cage FLC02Z — £2,781.48 · FLC03Z £2,972.04 · FLC04Z £3,082.26 · mobile FLC12Y £2,995.14 · FLC13Y £3,144.36

We will be direct about this one: a forklift safety cage is the right product far less often than it is bought. Lifting a person on a forklift is a last resort under UK practice, not a routine access method, and the rules around when it is acceptable, what the truck must have fitted and who may operate it are genuinely restrictive. Before specifying a cage, read our guide to forklift man cages and the UK rules on lifting people — and then check whether the job is better done from mobile access steps or a work platform, which for most warehouse tasks is cheaper, faster and far less constrained.

Lift cages and craning cages

Where a forklift safety cage lifts a person, a lift cage or craning cage lifts goods — by crane, hoist or gantry rather than by fork.

The Grenadier® lift cages are fully welded from mild steel with forged lifting eyes, a 1000 kg load capacity, separate padlocks for the roof and gates, and fork guides on every unit so they can also be handled by truck. They stack up to four high, which is the point of them — a stack of four is a secure, craneable four-tier store in one footprint. LSC01M has a mesh rear frame and mesh front gates at £3,187.38; LSC01S is sheet steel all round at £3,284.52, which is the choice when you want the contents out of sight as well as secured.

The heavy duty craning cages are built from 50 × 50 mm mesh sides on a sheet steel base, are CE marked and plated, come with craning eyes, and will accommodate euro pallets — useful if the cage is a transfer container between a racked pallet and a crane lift. SK501Z (£1,323.05) has a sheet mesh side that doubles as a loading ramp; SK502Z (£2,069.34) has an opening front and a folding security roof. On euro pallet dimensions and how they govern cage sizing, see our guide to UK pallet sizes.

Outdoor storage cages: galvanised or painted?

Most of this range is available painted or hot-dip galvanised, and the price gap is real — the galvanised gas cylinder carrier GCC12G is £3,285.30 against £2,380.02 for the painted GCC02Z, and the galvanised lock-up cages carry a similar premium. The decision is straightforward once you frame it correctly.

A powder-coated cage kept indoors, dry and undamaged, will outlast most businesses' need for it. Powder coat fails where it is chipped — and cages get chipped, because they get struck by forks and dropped loads. Once the coating is broken, corrosion starts under the surrounding paint and spreads out of sight. Hot-dip galvanising is applied to every surface including the inside of tubes and the weld seams, and it protects sacrificially, so a scratch does not become a corrosion site. For anything left outside, in a yard, in a wash-down area or in a coastal location, specify galvanised and do not agonise over the premium. For a dry internal store, painted is the sensible economy. Our guide to galvanised vs powder-coated steel works through the trade-off in more detail.

If the requirement is really a small outdoor building rather than a cage, an outdoor shelter or a steel industrial cupboard may be a better answer than a mesh enclosure, which keeps people out but not weather.

How to choose a metal storage cage

Five questions, in the order that actually matters:

1. What is going in it, and can a hand pull it through 50 mm? This determines the mesh and it is the decision you cannot undo.
2. How does it get into the building? If there is no forklift on site, or the route involves a standard doorway or a lift, specify knock-down. Almost every welded cage we sell carries a manufacturer's note that a forklift is needed to unload it.
3. Does it need to move? Mobile adds castors, adds 115 mm of height on the Grenadier® range, and makes the cage useful for picking rather than storage. Static plus a floor fixing is more secure.
4. What is the load? The Grenadier® security cages are rated at 500 kg; the lift cages at 1000 kg. Stacking, craning or racking a cage brings the rating into play immediately — see racking inspection and HSG76 if cages are going into a racked location.
5. Who is checking it? A cage with a padlock nobody audits is a storage bin. Decide who holds the key and how issues are recorded before you decide the specification.

Lead times, delivery and what we do not sell

Cages are manufactured to order rather than held in bulk stock. The one published figure in this range is the 15–20 day lead time on the Grenadier® HD galvanised security cage GSC1212; the rest we confirm at the point of quotation rather than estimate here. Padlocks are not supplied with any cage on this page — the units have hasp-and-staple or padlock facilities and you fit your own, which is the correct arrangement because the lock should match your key control, not ours. Floor and wall fixings for the wire mesh compartments are likewise not supplied.

What we do not stock: domestic or garden storage cages, bike cages, small consumer lockable cages under about £200, second-hand cages, and cage hire. If you are looking for a low-cost cage for a garage or a garden, this is the wrong range and a general retailer will serve you better. If you need secure storage for liquid chemicals, a mesh cage is the wrong product entirely and you want a COSHH cabinet or a bunded spill pallet. For batteries on charge, see lithium battery storage, and for drums, drum storage.

Everything on this page is made in the UK by GPC Industries unless noted otherwise. For a walk through cage types before you specify, our storage cages buying guide covers the same ground from the buyer's side, and the wider hazardous storage and safety barrier ranges cover the adjacent problems. If you are unsure which cage fits, send us the dimensions of the space and a description of what is going in it — that is usually enough for us to narrow it to two options.

For heavy-duty, UK-built options including lock-up, lift-lid and gas cylinder cages, see our Grenadier security cages.