Monthly Poll: Patio and Multi-Slide Doors

Supaglaze Ltd, trading as Shepley, has undertaken a management-led acquisition with new investment partner CorpAcq Ltd, which purchased all shares on 24 March 2017.

CorpAcq specialises in buying successful companies, and has a philosophy of keeping their existing identity and culture. These things are important to the management team at Shepley.

Along with the investment, Ian Griffiths becomes managing director, with Tony Ball as Shepley’s sales director and Lindsey Roden as finance director. The outgoing MD Tim Walker and operations director, Tony Fry, remain on hand to offer support.

“Careful consideration went into choosing CorpAcq, who we believe is the ideal fit for Shepley,” says Ian Griffiths. “We wanted a partner with whom we could maintain our independence. CorpAcq is a local company based down the road in Altrincham and it invests in successful companies for long-term growth.”

Shepley is said to be the UK’s largest fabricator exclusively using Rehau frames. The investment sees it continue to strengthen its customer support and products.

“So it’s business as usual for Shepley,” added Ian. “We will continue to develop the successful business plan that has been in place for the past nine years to deliver high quality products and fast reliable service to customers.”

www.shepley.com

The post New investment for Shepley appeared first on Glass & Glazing Products Magazine (GGP).

Tim Kempster, managing director, Wrightstyle

UK advanced glazing system supplier, Wrightstyle, has called for ‘better education and enforcement’ with regard to fire-rated glazing systems in the wake of a fraud trial in Northern Ireland.

The Ulster court case saw a glass company fraudster jailed for supplying ordinary laminated glass, falsely claiming it was fire-resistant, to glass to dozens of victims across Ulster, the Republic of Ireland and the rest of Britain.

Among his unwitting clients were hospitals and primary schools all of whom, at ‘considerable cost’ according to Wrightstyle, ‘will have to make good his wrongdoing’.

Worryingly, the police officer in charge said that: “The potential loss of life in this case cannot be underestimated.”

Wrightstyle is a specialist in the development, testing and supply of fire-resistant glazing systems for internal and external applications. The company believes that many people involved in the specification, supply and installation of fire-rated glazing systems do not have the appropriate technical skills required.

Wrightstyle’s managing director, Tim Kempster, said: “My overwhelming feeling is one of sadness rather than outrage because many issues of fire safety are still badly understood by too many specifiers in the building industry.

“The Northern Ireland case was one of criminal fraud, but what about the less deliberate omissions in fire safety that could have the same catastrophic consequences in the event of a serious fire?

“It’s an interlinked series of issues where we’ve tried to raise awareness, because some of the technical aspects of fire-rated glazing systems are complex – and too many designers, contractors and building control officers either don’t fully understand them or don’t want to understand them,” he said.

As an example, the company cites a recent project where its customer ordered and installed a fire-rated fixed light and window and then complained that it was leaking.

The Wrightstyle site engineer found that it had been incorrectly installed and, worse, they had put an aluminium vent into the fixed light – which was not fire rated and therefore rendering the whole certification worthless.

“We regularly see other examples,” said Tim Kempster. “For example, some designers come to us specifying a fire-rated curtain wall but with a non-fire rated door. We obviously then educate them and would not produce nor quote for something non-compliant – but there are others out there who either don’t understand the implications or don’t care.

“The worst offenders, and there are a few, are glass and systems companies who will supply to anyone, but are seemingly unconcerned how the systems or materials are used or installed. They, supposedly, are in the fire-resistant glazing market. Isn’t that criminality?” he asked.

Wrightstyle says that all specifiers should only purchase fire-rated internal and external systems from a reputable company that has test documentation to prove that their systems will do what they claim, and deal only with suppliers that have dedicated technical departments able to guide customers through complex compliance issues.

The company also advises specifiers not to base purchasing decisions simply on cost, but to only buy advanced glazing systems from suppliers who can supply test certification for both the frame and the glass because, in a fire situation, the glass will only be as good as its frame, and vice versa.

“Too often, we have seen fire-rated glass put into a non-rated aluminium frame – completely useless,” said Tim Kempster.

“The Irish fraudster is now safely behind bars or, indeed, a fire-rated cell window, unless he supplied it. But wilful ignorance and laziness are just as dangerous.

“The answer must lie in better continuous professional training for specifiers and for better enforcement from, for example, building control officers – to ensure excellence of written records at every stage and that appropriate glazing systems have the correct certifications and are properly installed,” he said.

The post Wrightstyle warns of perils of ‘ignorance and laziness’ surrounding fire-rated glazing appeared first on Glass & Glazing Products Magazine (GGP).

In response to the growing demand for its new Ali FOLD aluminium doors, Senior Architectural Systems has pledged significant investment to boost the speed and capacity of its in-house manufacturing facility.

The new state of the art polyamide rolling machine from Müller Technologies will increase production of the polyamide bars that give the Ali FOLD doors their impressive thermal break.  The new machine is anticipated to enable Senior to double its existing capacity to increase efficiency and ensure the timely delivery of all customer orders.

James Keeling-Heane, sales director from Senior Architectural Systems comments: “The new Ali FOLD door range has really captured the attention of our trade customers who require high quality aluminium bi-fold and patio doors and rely on manufacturers being able to give them what they want, when they want it.

As we see more orders coming in, ensuring we can meet demand and that our factory floor is working as efficiently as possible is a key priority for us. The investment in new machinery will provide us with the extra capacity we need and will give our customers the consistently high standards of service they have come to expect from Senior.”

Competitively priced and easy to fabricate using existing tooling, the new Ali FOLD aluminium door range is available in a selection of styles including folding sliding, single swing and double swing options. With white, grey and dual colour options now in stock, the Ali FOLD doors offer exceptional design flexibility and are available in an almost unlimited range of colours and finishes both inside and out.

Featuring slim sightlines to create light and airy interiors, Senior’s new range of high performance aluminium doors can safely accommodate maximum leaf sizes of up to 1000mm by 2616mm and a weight of 100kg.

To find out more about Senior’s new Ali FOLD aluminium door range please visit www.seniorarchitectural.co.uk/askforali

Saint-Gobain Building Glass has further enhanced its popular collection of conservatory roof glass, with the introduction of Azura+, setting new benchmarks for the lowest g-value in the SGG BIOCLEAN low maintenance self-cleaning range.

More than a year’s development has gone into incorporating the best solar performing low maintenance self-cleaning coating onto the popular Sapphire Blue tinted substrate, offering an 83% heat reflection and 0.17 g-value, firmly placing the product at the top of Saint-Gobain’s roof glass range.

“The result is a glass that will keep indoors cooler on warm summer days but give the same heat retention in colder weather due to its 1.0 u-value,” said Jenni Bailey, Market Manager for
Saint-Gobain’s Conservatory Range.

“Temperature control within conservatories is a major issue for end-users who quite rightly want to use them all year round. The addition of Azura+ will have a major impact on the overall comfort of a conservatory, allowing end-users to utilise their new space whatever the season.”

The high performance solar control coating of Azura+ is also complimented by SGG BIOCLEAN, a revolutionary low-maintenance self-cleaning function that uses both rain and natural light from the sun to efficiently combat dirt and grime.

Saint-Gobain’s roof glass range already includes the bronze tinted Solara and the blue tinted Azura, both with BIOCLEAN coating and, to streamline the range ahead of the launch of Azura+, the company’s green tinted Aqua and virtually neutral Natura roof glass products have been rebranded to Aqua+ and Natura+ to reflect their parallel use of the solar control coating.

The launch of SGG BIOCLEAN Azura+ is backed by technical support, especially for processors who have not yet trialled it, and marketing support in the form of refreshed glass sample kits and brochures.

www.saint-gobain.com   www.saint-gobain-glass.com