VEKA UK-SPONSORED DOG TEAM ROUNDS UP VEGAS VISITORS

Picture above:  Dan Culley (2nd from right) with dog Tactic, and team mates (L-R): Ross with ‘Nimbus’, Ashley with ‘Oz’, Gaz, Sarah, and Kate with ‘Luna’.

The VEKA UK Group is well known for offering support to a diverse range of causes, from local schools and sports clubs, to its annual chosen charities.The Burnley-based PVC-U systems supplier was barking up the right tree when it sponsored Production Planner Yvonne Gray’s Flyball team ‘WOW Wonderdogs’. The team has gone from strength to strength over recent years with the company’s backing, and recently held a successful seminar with global guest stars.

Flyball is a fast-paced sport that sees dogs race over a number of hurdles, to reach a spring-loaded box which releases a tennis ball that must be brought back to the start. Teams of four dogs race against each other in a relay format and the first team to have all dogs cross the finish line, without error, wins the heat. Yvonne’s son Dan and his wife established the team in 2009 and were proud to recently host a well-attended seminar for followers of the sport.

Dan explains: “The VEKA UK Group has been kind enough to sponsor us for a number of years and this allows us to buy new equipment and develop systems to support the club and the training of its dogs. It enables us to keep on top of the best and most current training methods.

“We recently organised a seminar where we invited the Flyball World Record holders over from Las Vegas – Touch N Go Flyball Team. These are the best in the ‘business’ and offered some great training tips that lots of teams are sure to benefit from.

“The weekend after the seminar we also broke the UK and European record, making us the number one fastest team ever in the history of European racing! It was actually our own record, but we have now taken even more time off it since December, getting it down to 15.49 seconds and then smashing that record once again at 15.16 seconds.

“This was something that made us all very proud, but was all the more special as it was an achievement I had promised my stepfather Shane we would achieve, before he sadly passed away last July. Shane was a key part of the team as well as being The VEKA UK Group’s Supply Chain Director, and I know he would be pleased to see the company continuing to support our efforts.

“We strive to give back wherever possible and we work with VEKA to help support the company’s annual chosen charities with raffles etc at our events.”

Head of Marketing Simon James commented: “As an industry-leading company, The VEKA UK Group has the capacity to support a diverse range of teams, clubs, charities and individuals and we love to hear about their many successes. We’d like to congratulate Dan and his team and look forward to seeing what records they’ll break next!”

www.vekauk.com

PVC-U specialist and The Glazerite UK Group Ltd customer, EnviroGlaze SW Ltd is celebrating its third anniversary after opening its doors in 2014 with just one employee.

Director Nick Barnes took the plunge and set up EnviroGlaze with a wealth of industry experience behind him, and hasn’t looked back since. “Since the company was founded we have achieved significant growth, going from a turnover of £175k in year one to £670k in year two, and we continue to grow as we head in to our third year.

“Originally offering just windows and doors, we have extended our product offering to meet customer demand, and choose to buy from Glazerite as they offer a comprehensive range of VEKA products, which we believe to be the best on the market. Being able to buy everything from one trade supplier has been great, and the relationship that we have with them is second to none.”

Enviroglaze now supply the Guardian warm roof which has really taken off in the South West and we are anticipating further growth this year.

The Plymouth-based company, which now employs six people and has Steve Deaton spearheading sales, has also taken full advantage of the marketing support on offer from the leading trade manufacturer and as Steve says, the support has been invaluable: “Glazerite has helped us with getting flyers printed and showroom support and the whole process is really easy.”

Glazerite’s Group Marketing Manager, Michelle Wright adds: “The marketing support that we offer our installers is core in what we do, and through partners such as Network VEKA, we are able to offer a marketing support package that is simply not offered anywhere else. We are always thrilled to see a new company, like EnviroGlaze, see such significant growth and it is a great example of how we can work together to develop a strong and sustainable business.”

For more information about EnviroGlaze SW Ltd visit www.enviroglazesw.co.uk or call 01752 500610. To get in touch with The Glazerite UK Group Limited visit www.glazeritewindows.co.uk or call 01933 443222.

Bison Frames, home of the Genesis product range, has just launched a dedicated Genesis website designed to highlight the benefits of their Genesis collection. The new website www.genesiscollection.co.uk offers a mixture of stunning images and compelling text to show installers and homeowners the quality and technical innovation of their Genesis product collection.

Mark Tetley, Director of Bison Frames said, “Our Genesis Vertical Sliding window really is a game-changer in terms of sash window design. And with more Genesis products being introduced into the collection we needed a high-end dedicated website that portrayed the product’s elegance and USPs to capture the attention of the customer.”

Since the product was introduced to the industry, the Genesis VS has really packed a punch in sash window design. It continues to be accepted throughout heritage buildings where previously timber would have been the only option and has gained a strong foothold in residential and new build markets too. This is due to the authentic looks and the use of traditional timber jointing methods on the frame and sash rather than the usual 45 degree PVC-u weld.

Bison Frames is known within the industry as the home of the Genesis product range. The new dedicated Genesis website is designed to help fabricators and installers grow their businesses by spreading the Genesis difference to a wider audience. Bison’s customers appreciate the quality and value of the Genesis products and they now have the opportunity to pass that message through the website to the consumer.

www.genesiscollection.co.uk

Image Above: Leon Friend, Director at Hueck UK

A series of proposed infrastructure projects surrounding the Northern Powerhouse initiative could open fresh opportunities for manufacturers of building products in the UK.

The Northern Powerhouse hopes to redress the North-South economic imbalance and attract investment into northern cities and towns.

Proposed infrastructure projects include HS2, a £50 billion high-speed railway connecting London, Birmingham, the East Midlands, Leeds and Manchester.

Supporters of HS2 say the project will create better connections between the big cities of the North and Midlands and make sure our economy shares growth between the North and South.

A report by KPMG says the new rail project could boost the UK economy by £15bn a year and will create 22,000 construction jobs in the next five years.

HS2 is set to provide a big boost for the aluminium sector as specifiers on projects around the rail-line look to aluminium as the material of choice, presenting opportunities for manufacturers of these types of products.

Manufacturers are also set to benefit from an increase in new housing, particularly in the PRS sector, as young professionals flock to the major cities.

Manchester has a flourishing PRS sector. An increase in career prospects and a rise in population has seen PRS in the city grow by 85% over the last decade.

The city now has 60% more 25-29-year-olds than the UK average and needs one new home every single hour.

Leon Friend, Director at Hueck UK, says the company has seen an increase in demand for its aluminium systems for projects in cities such as Manchester and Birmingham.

He comments: “We have seen increased demand for our solutions for multi-storey residential projects in the cities; as well as commercial projects. As more young people flock to the cities, the need for single occupancy homes is growing bigger. New-build houses to buy are out and build-to-rent apartments are in.

“And this will only increase as stronger transport links are forged and more people see the North as a more attractive place to work and live.”

Hueck is one of Europe’s largest manufacturers and suppliers of aluminium window, door and façade solutions, specialising in both standard systems as well as bespoke applications.

For more information please visit www.hueck.com

It’s been a little while now since hybrid windows and doors have been on the market. Seen as a natural progression as fenestration materials blur lines, hybrid products have been highly touted but have perhaps fallen short of expectations so far.

The last few years however have seen somewhat of a next step in the quality and choice in the hybrid market. A number of timber/aluminium options are now available, and perhaps the most well known hybrid of them all right now is the WarmCore range of windows and doors from Synseal. WarmCore caused a bit of a stir upon launch as some, including myself saw this as more aluminium than hybrid. Fair to say the aluminium community disagreed with that persepctive.

Still, the way I see it, hybrids are getting better with each round of products, and might start to become a niche product that home owners begin to ask for more of.

Still a specialist niche

For me, hybrid window and door products will always remain a very specialist niche. I don’t think it will explode in the same way the timber alternative market did when that was just a niche. It’s fair to say that the timber alternative market is it’s very own market now.

But a hybrid window or door, that mix of two different materials creating two very different looks internally and externally will mean it will suit some very specific customers and some very specific properties. And in all honesty, I don’t think those producing and selling them won’t mind that.

They don’t suit every property, and I suspect that the majority of home owners may not be switched on to the idea. However, there will be a smaller percentage, and perhaps that percentage will grow over time, who will be looking for a product that creates a modern look to the outside and a traditional look to the inside. Products like Prefix Systems’ Opus range of timber/aluminium hybrid products would tick that box.

And they won’t be small orders either. Hybrid products, given their premium, high end audience, aren’t likely to be sold one or two windows at a time. They’re more likely to be sold as a part of a larger project on a property. So full houses of windows and doors, a big glazed extension, a conservatory roof replacement etc. So although they may not be the bread and butter sales for most installers, the orders that do come in will be of high value and provide plenty of fitting for that installer.

The debate around hybrids

The conversation around what exactly a hybrid product was came about when WarmCore was first introduced. This is a window and door system which incorporates aluminium profile around a PVCu core. The PVCu is there for thermal efficiency, the aluminium is there to make it look like, well, aluminium. Some, including myself, saw this as an aluminium product rather than a hybrid, principally because you couldn’t see the PVCu, you could only see the aluminium. And that it was aimed at the aluminium market,

Those in aluminium disagreed, quite strongly, insisting that this was indeed a hybrid because of the two main materials used and not a thoroughbred aluminium product through and through. I could see their point of view.

For me, products like Opus by Prefix are the true definition of a hybrid. A product which combines two materials but back to back. Creating very different looks inside and out. I guess that WarmCore is a kind of hybrid, but not in the same way Opus is. It’s still aimed more at aluminium for me. Opus is the truer version of a hybrid.

The question remains though, how much demand for these products will there be? As I said earlier in the post, this is still a very niche product aimed at a very specific part of the market. Namely at the higher value properties and to home owners who are more discerning than your average home owner. If hybrids can establish themselves in that part of the market, there is a chance that it can grow outwards to a wider part of the market from there.

We saw the same thing happen with aluminium bi-folds and timber alternative windows and doors. They started life in the higher value part of the property market and have grown outwards to pretty much every part of the property market since. It may take some time, but it’s not inconceivable to think that the same pattern may occur with hybrid windows and doors.

I would say that the hybrid market is probably now well placed to step things up a gear and start hitting the market harder. When they were first introduced there were question marks about the quality of the product. From what I’ve seen of the products that are currently in the market those days are now gone.

Linktrusion^TM from Deceuninck is changing the way the market specifies fenestration, thanks to a trademarked manufacturing process and material content that results in the best of both worlds: top performance thermal efficiency usually associated with PVC-U with the strength, durability and design freedom of aluminium but up to 30% lower cost.

Deceuninck’s Rob McGlennon says: “As specifiers, clients and architects have woken up to the benefits of this unique technology, we are now looking for ambitious companies across the UK to help meet this relentless demand for next generation fenestration solutions and to help grow our fabrication and installation network.

“London and Quadrant (L & Q) was one client who chose this advanced technology for their recent flagship project in Abbey Road, Barking. Being one of the UK’s leading housing associations and one of London’s largest residential developers, this technology was fitting for this attractive development. Using Deceuninck’s unique Linktrusion^TM technology the project was completed in Decoroc Anthracite grey RAL 7016 –a very popular choice of colour in the current commercial sector.

“The system really is a dream to sell as it is unrivalled in the market place. The benefits of this exceptional manufacturing process include the ability to produce windows which are as strong as steel reinforced windows, 30% more thermally efficient with U values below 0.8W/m²K, with up to 40% saving on materials and weight. New design opportunities are also generated through slimmer sightlines and increased sash sizes (1150 x 2500 single doors) traditionally the domain of aluminium is now easily manufactured using Linktrusion^TM.

“With a heritage spanning eight decades, Deceuninck is one of the top three PVC-U extrusion systems’ companies in the world. Over 2,000,000 products are made from Deceuninck profile every year in the UK and many of these go into commercial new build and refurbishment projects. It’s precisely this experience and scale that means we are in the privileged position to be able to look at existing solutions – be it from a material, design or value for money perspective – and invest in bringing to market something better.”

If you’re interested in joining Deceuninck to meet this increasing demand and would like to discuss the potential please call us now on 01249 816969 or visit www.deceuninck.co.uk/specification

Profile 22 has announced a strong start to 2017. Paul Lindsay, Sales Director for Profile 22, commented: “We know what a big decision it is to move profile partner and the number of new sign ups we’ve had so far this year is evidence of just how much Profile 22 has to offer.”

When it comes to a market-leading offering, Profile 22 claims it really delivers. Its award-winning Optima system is billed as the best of everything. It offers two main systems in chamfered and sculptured variants, complemented with a heritage style flush casement system and a unique flush tilt and turn system designed to compete with aluminium. The systems offer impressive technical innovations such as more thermal chambers, deep drainage channels, a central eurogroove position, thickened walls around screw locations and a secure bead system. There are a wealth of glazing options, a wide range of ancillaries and an impressive colour selection too. While the list of innovations is impressive, Optima retains the familiar Profile 22 appearance, something that offers a clear visual differentiation. “The response from the market has been excellent,” said Paul. “Fabricators recognise just what a strong product Optima is and this is reflected in the number of new sign ups this year.”

Profile 22 says it can also offer the reassurance of a genuinely seamless transfer from one system to another. In fact, the process is so detailed, finely tuned and proactive that it is possible to finish with one system on the Friday and begin with Optima on the Monday. “Many fabricators fear changing profile partners because of the potential disruption to their business, but with Profile 22 we can guarantee there will be minimal or no disruption,” said Paul. We know this to be the case because when we launched Optima last year, we successfully undertook a complete changeover of nearly 100 Profile 22 fabricators to Optima in nine months.

Profile 22 has got over 30 years’ experience in the industry and this latest news shows it is maintaining its position as one of the industry’s go-to profile partners.

www.profile22.co.uk