International Google Expert Teams Up With Purplex

Purplex, the marketing agency for the glass & glazing industry, recently teamed up with a global expert in Google analytics to help the agency strengthen its online marketing results for clients.

Based in Brussels, Remco Van Der Beek advises and trains some of the world’s leading organisations on Google analytics.

Andrew Scott, Managing Director of Purplex, arranged for Remco to travel from Brussels to London to spend a day with the Purplex digital team to gain deeper insights on the latest Google updates and analytics.

Andrew commented: “We are obsessed with delivering better online results through SEO and PPC than anyone else in the marketing industry, so convincing a renowned global expert to travel to the UK to work exclusively with us was a great achievement.”

Purplex has an office in Trafalgar Square, central London, but Andrew arranged for 12 of the Purplex digital marketing team to travel from its Bristol HQ to work directly with Remco.

“It is vital that businesses continue to invest in training and development to stay ahead of the curve. A couple of days out of the office for 12 staff is a big commitment, but it is already paying dividends with a much deeper understanding of Google methodologies, which can only benefit our customers”

For more information call Purplex on 01934 808132 or visit www.purplexmarketing.com

The latest findings from Insight Data reveal the number of double glazing showrooms have increased from 3,460 to 3,764 in the last two years, with an average of 12 new show centres opening every month across the UK – and the trend is set to continue.  Insight Data’s Managing Director, Andrew Scott commented: “In the 90s every high street had a string of double glazing showrooms, but we saw a decline from the early 2000s as margins tightened and installers cut costs. The financial crisis of 2008 coupled with consumers moving from high-street to online accelerated the decline, but this trend is now reversing. A shift in consumer behaviour and an evolving market are key factors. While high-street visitor numbers have dwindled, new destinations that combine shopping, leisure and entertainment are booming. Out of town shopping, large garden centres with plenty to see and do, and leisure parks are all attracting consumers and proving lucrative to savvy retailers. It’s about creating a consumer experience, a destination, not just a shopping trip.”

Another major factor is product development. If installers are all selling the same white plastic window there is very little difference. But the industry has seen an upsurge in product innovation with aluminium back in vogue, timber gaining more popularity and a raft of new window and door products on the market.  While consumers will do their research online, most will want to see products before buying, especially if they are new or include innovative features. Show centres at busy destinations, such as large garden centres, give installers the best of both worlds – excellent foot-fall and the opportunity to demonstrate exciting new products.

“Consumers are more selective than ever and having a quality, well designed showroom with great products will attract more visitors and help to convert more sales. It gives consumers a sense of confidence and helps installers sell at premium prices.”

Insight Data conducts regular research in the construction, building and home improvement industries, and provides business information for marketing purposes.

For more information contact Insight on 01934 808293

The post Insight Data reveals showrooms are back in vogue as double glazing showrooms increase appeared first on Windows Active Magazine.

The Glazerite UK Group Ltd has further increased their offering after recently teaming up with acclaimed flood defence manufacturer Flood Angel. Customers now have access to a range of high-specification flood doors, which include residential, French & composite, along with the opportunity to become part of an exclusive retail partner network authorised to market the products throughout the UK.

The composite door, the first of its kind in the UK, is based on a Palladio monocoque slab, Halo frame, patented seals and Maco hardware with a key feature being that it is fully compliant with PAS 1188 –1:2014, as are the other doors in the range. The certification guarantees that the door is able withstand water levels up to 600mm deep, all made possible thanks to a group of unique components including highly specialised locking mechanisms and gaskets.

Jason Thompson, Director of The Glazerite UK Group says more and more homeowners are concerned about the risk of flooding: “They recognise the need to protect their homes but they also want the reassurance of a high-specification defence system, and nowhere more so than the doors.

“Flood Angel has a reputation second to none for all kinds of flood mitigation systems, including its range of Flood Defender doors. Now, we are inviting installer partners to become part of a network of exclusive dealerships to market the door all around the UK and tap into this lucrative market.”

Flood Angel CEO Frank Kelly added: “Any flood door is only as good as the quality of fitting, every applicant to the retail network must undergo intensive training by the manufacturer to ensure installation standards are as high as the specification demands.

Frank continued: “Our doors, like all Flood Angel products, are made to the highest specification to tackle the serious challenges caused by flooding. Working with such a respected company as Glazerite, as well as a network of fully trained and monitored installation companies, we can be sure those standards are matched all the way from the factory to the finished product in every customer’s home.”

Flood Angel has its own BSI approved testing facility – the first ever private facility of its kind in the UK – at its Droitwich HQ, including a replica house in a flood tank complete with wave machine, where all its products are developed and thoroughly tested.

The Glazerite UK Group is VEKA’s largest trade fabricator in the UK and a long-standing Network VEKA member. It offers a fully nationwide service based on manufacturing units in Northants, Peterborough and Greater Manchester as well as its South West distribution hub in Bristol serving South Wales and The West of England.

www.glazeritewindows.co.uk

Picture above: (Top left) The Goliath team; (right) Shane Howells; (bottom left) Thistle. (MG Windows was unable to attend).

Glazerite installers have beaten all previous records, taking a fantastic five out of seven national trophies – including overall winner – at the annual Network VEKA Awards on Saturday.

Top of them all, scooping its 15^th national Network VEKA Award as Member of the Year, as well as the £1.5million-plus category, was Aberdeen-based Thistle Windows and Conservatories, followed by NV founder member Goliath Homeworld of Cannock in the £1m-1.5m category, Shane Howells of Ledbury in the £750k-£1m and MG Window Systems of Northampton in £500k-£750k.

Glazerite UK Group Ltd also saw another 15 of its installer partners listed as finalists in the national categories, including six in the two, smaller turnover, categories where it did not have a winner, and over half (12 out of 23) of the total new entries and re-entries into the organisation’s elite 100% Club.

This year’s Network VEKA Awards had been reconfigured to replace the UK regional trophies with seven national awards, in six categories based on turnover plus a Member of The Year, as well as trophies for best new member in the North and South respectively as before. The ceremony was held at the Chesford Grange Hotel, Warwick, where the trophies were presented by Network VEKA brand ambassador, snooker legend Steve Davis.

“Our installer partners have excelled themselves yet again,” said Jason Thompson, Director of the Glazerite UK Group Ltd, after the presentation.

“Network Veka is second to none in this industry for the standards it sets and the quality that its members consistently deliver, and these awards are among the most coveted in the industry. The trophies are a credit to every one of the winners but we are also very proud of our absolute commitment to helping them and all of our installer partners to grow with the best possible support that any trade fabricator could offer.”

He added: “It is well worth noting that these winners, just as in previous years, are those businesses that have fully embraced the Network Veka package and made the best use of everything it offers – something that we at Glazerite have always encouraged our member installers to do. This year, the change in the awards to a national base means all the members are competing against their peers on a level playing field rather than region by region.

“Also this year, all Network VEKA members passed £1billion accumulated sales and still maintained their 97% average customer satisfaction rate; that is a truly market-leading performance.”

The Glazerite UK Group is VEKA’s largest trade fabricator in the UK and a long-standing Network VEKA member. It offers a fully nationwide service based on manufacturing units in Northants, Peterborough and Greater Manchester as well as its South West distribution hub in Bristol serving South Wales and The West of England.

The Glazerite UK Group will be at the FIT Show, stand E15.

www.glazeritewindows.co.uk

Apeer’s West of Ireland Sales Rep, Damian Rogers, completed a tough 24 hour endurance event recently, all in the name of charity. The event, called ‘The Race’ supports the Gorta Self Help Africa Challenge, and collectively raised an impressive £65k for the worthwhile cause.

The unsupported endurance event covers 250km of rugged landscape across North West Donegal, and has been described as Ireland’s toughest endurance challenge as well as being listed as one of the top ten endurance challenges worldwide. The Irish event is made up of a number of stages including 64km of road and trial running, 15km of kayaking, 166km of cycling and 5km of mountain running.

“It’s the ultimate test of endurance.” Damian explains. “Having run the race in 2016 and pulling out due to injury, I was determined to get back on the horse and complete the event this year. With training from anything between 8-20 hours each week in the winter months leading up to the event, and a 2am prep start on the day itself, it’s certainly not for the faint-hearted, especially when you add the unpredictable March weather!”

All proceeds from the event go to The Race’s charity partner, Gorta Self Help Africa. The vibrant and worthwhile organisation works with rural communities in South Africa, supporting them to grow more food, diversify their farm production, develop new off-farm enterprises and sell their surpluses.

Having completed The Race in an impressive 20 hours and 37 minutes, Damian hasn’t been put off doing the race again: “I may look to do it again in 2019, but for now, am taking a well-earned rest to spend time with my support team at home!”

Find out more about The Race by visiting www.therace.ie or visit www.selfhelpafrica.org for more information or to support the Self Help Africa charity.

Hot on the heels of the Halo FlushSash system, The VEKA UK Group has unveiled the VEKA FlushSash, meaning VEKA fabricators can now benefit from this versatile and stylish system.

Perfectly suited to a host of applications, the VEKA FlushSash is particularly well positioned to meet the growing demand for energy-efficient systems in the heritage sector. The clean, ‘uncluttered’ lines of the FlushSash are reminiscent of traditional Georgian timber windows, but these flush aesthetics also make the system ideal for contemporary commercial projects as an alternative to aluminium.

The VEKA UK Group’s Sales Director Neil Evans explains: “As ever, VEKA has designed this new system with customers in mind. The VEKA FlushSash is able to utilise existing outerframes, hardware and ancillaries, and will really extend sales opportunities for our fabricators and installers.

“For the authentic look of timber windows, there are currently 30 colour and woodgrain options in The VEKA UK Group’s ‘Variations’ collection.

“Transoms, sashes and mullions can be joined mechanically and VEKA’s FlushSash can achieve an ‘A’ rating with ease. It can also be offered in either 28mm double glazed units or 36mm triple glazed units, depending on the requirements of the environment.

“One of the major, practical benefits of the FlushSash is that it maximises the efficiency and flexibility of the VEKA Fully Sculptured system, allowing fabricators to extend their product range with minimal stockholding of additional sections.

“We’re very pleased with this system as it meets two distinct market demands – both heritage and contemporary commercial – as well as being highly secure, attractive and energy efficient.

“The design team have ensured that the VEKA FlushSash is easy to manufacture and simple to install… just as you would expect from any product bearing our industry-leading name!”

Find out more by visiting vekauk.com/products/veka-flushsash/ or calling 01282 716611

Brian Berry

The next government must ensure the construction sector has enough skilled workers post-Brexit or its housing and infrastructure manifesto pledges will be redundant, says the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).

The FMB has called on all major political parties to recognise the importance of migrant labour to the construction sector as part of its ‘Programme for Government’.

Brian Berry, chief executive of the FMB, said: “The UK construction sector’s demand for skilled migrant workers from the EU and beyond cannot be overstated. In London alone, there are more than 157,000 non-UK construction workers constituting almost half of the industry’s workforce in the capital. Pre-Brexit, 60% of small construction firms are already having trouble hiring bricklayers and that’s before the UK abandons the free movement of people. If the next government implements an inflexible immigration system that hinders the ability of talented foreign construction workers from making their way to the UK, any manifesto pledges relating to the delivery of housing and infrastructure will be rendered meaningless.”

Berry continued: “In the longer term, the most sustainable solution to the chronic skills deficit is for employers to recruit and train more home-grown talent. Undoubtedly, the best way of achieving this is to focus on increasing the quality, duration and thoroughness of construction apprenticeships. Giving technical and academic education ‘parity of esteem’, as the Chancellor stated in the last budget, must be picked up and driven forward by the next government and it’s vital that the progress we’ve made on increasing the quality of apprenticeships does not go to waste.”

Berry concluded: “Through a flexible immigration policy and more high quality apprenticeships, the next government will allow construction to act as a bulwark against any Brexit uncertainty. For every £1 invested in construction, 92p stays within the UK and £2.84 is generated in the wider economy. As the economy adapts to the reality of operating outside of the EU, it’s more important than ever that the government works closely with strategic industries that offer high levels of productivity and a good return on investment. That means backing construction and supporting the sector will only become more important as the country looks to make a success of Brexit. We urge all of the main political parties to include positive policies on immigration, skills and apprenticeships in their forthcoming manifestoes.”

The post Immigration and skills key to success of next government, says FMB appeared first on Glass & Glazing Products Magazine (GGP).

UK construction companies reported a solid start to the second quarter of 2017, helped by faster rises in civil engineering and residential building activity. April data also pointed to the strongest upturn in incoming new work so far this year, which survey respondents linked to the resilient economic backdrop and a sustained improvement in client demand. Greater workloads underpinned a further increase in employment numbers and the most marked rise in input buying since November 2016.

Meanwhile, robust demand for construction materials and upward pressure on costs from sterling depreciation resulted in another steep increase in input prices during April.

At 53.1, up from 52.2 in March, the seasonally adjusted Markit/CIPS UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) pointed to a solid rise in overall construction output. The latest reading was well below the post-crisis peak seen in January 2014 (64.6), but still signalled the sharpest rate of expansion so far this year.

Civil engineering was the best performing sub-category of construction activity in April, with the rate of expansion the fastest since March 2016. Growth of residential building also accelerated, reaching a four-month high. Commercial building work increased only slightly and at a weaker pace than in March.

Tim Moore, Senior Economist at IHS Markit and author of the Markit/CIPS Construction PMI said: “April’s survey reveals a positive start to the second quarter of 2017, with a robust upturn in civil engineering activity helping to boost the construction industry. There were also more encouraging signs from the house building sector, as growth recovered to its strongest so far this year. However, the performance of the commercial building sector remained subdued in the context of the past four years.

“UK construction companies noted that the resilient economic backdrop helped to drive up client spending in April. Greater workloads led to the fastest pace of job creation since May 2016 and a continued squeeze on sub-contractor availability.

“Supply chain pressures also intensified, as highlighted by the largest lengthening of delivery times for almost two years. A sharp rate of input cost inflation persisted in April, reflecting an ongoing pass through of higher commodity prices, imported goods and energy costs. However, the recent recovery in sterling may have started to help limit some cost pressures in April, as the overall rate of input price inflation moderated to a six-month low.”

The post Construction growth picks up in April appeared first on Glass & Glazing Products Magazine (GGP).

Stockport-based window, door and conservatory manufacturer Alex Trade Frames recently partnered with the charity Open Arms International to support its latest build project in Africa.

Open Arms International, which is based is Eldoret, Kenya, provide family homes for children who have been orphaned or abandoned.

The charity also works within its local community and slums to provide education, healthcare and mentorship to those who need it most.

Open Arms International is currently fundraising for its ongoing build project, the construction of a Medical Resource Building on the site of the Open Arms Village, which sits on 52 rural acres outside of Eldoret.

The building will provide essential healthcare for the children in the charity’s care and for the local community.

The project has been supported by local businesses and Alex Trade Frames have manufactured Kommerling PVCu windows for the project.

Associate Director Lauren Tutton comments: “It’s not often that you see a manufacturer from the UK supplying projects in Africa, so this is a major coup for us and a feel-good story for the industry. We’re proud to have supported the project and played a part in helping to improve living standards in this part of the world.”

For more information please call 0161 4822 300 or visit www.alexanderwindows.co.uk

Mila is launching a fire rated version of its SupaStyle stainless steel letterbox making it an ideal choice for customers fabricating and installing fire doors. The new letterbox has a high performance intumescent liner around the sleeve which reacts to heat and expands to seal the opening in the event of a fire. It has been successfully fire tested at Exova Warringtonfire Ltd to FD30 rating when fitted in the door core and to FD60 rating when fitted in the timber top rail. The test was carried out to the methodology given in BS476 part 22 (1987).

From the outside, it looks exactly the same as a standard SupaStyle letterbox and has all the smart design features which customers already love, such as a patented concealed flap operating mechanism, an anti-leak weather channel in the frame, and full 180° internal and external opening. There are two size options in the fire rated version, with telescopic sleeves allowing it to be adjusted from 20/40mm or 40/80mm to fit into any thickness of fire door. Both these sizes are available in three finishes – polished stainless, polished PVD gold stainless and brushed stainless. These suite perfectly with the rest of Mila’s Supa stainless steel door furniture ranges, and come complete with the same reassuring 25 and 10 year no quibble guarantees on finishes and mechanical performance.

With some manufacturers of fire doors reporting sales up by as much as 25% in 2016, Mila says it is responding to real demand in the market from customers who want a proven and durable stainless steel letterbox solution which they can fit and forget.

The post Mila launches a fire rated version of its SupaStyle stainless steel letterbox appeared first on Windows Active Magazine.