Quickslide Launches Hardware Upgrade For Vertical Sliders

Quickslide has added a further bonus to its Vertical Sliding Sash windows with a switch to Fab&Fix Hardex hardware from ERA.

The move, part of the Yorkshire fabricator’s recent consolidation of hardware suppliers, not only gives a step-up in looks and performance but also further endorses the company’s full ten-year guarantee on all products. The new hardware items have the additional bonus that they are also available in a wider range of eight colours and finishes.

Both the standard and the Heritage ranges manufactured by Quickslide – which are also available via its newly acquired sister company Welglaze – will now predominantly use ERA products, as Marketing Director Tom Swallow explained:

“These are premium products that are tested to retain their finish for longer without showing tarnish or pit-marks, and that is why we are more than happy to include them in our ten-year guarantee.

“Hardware is more than just a functioning element of a window, it’s an immediate indicator of its overall quality – both to installers and especially to their consumers – so it is important that we use the right components throughout.”

The move is part of Quickslide’s ongoing strategy of establishing close, long-term partnerships with major suppliers, which has already brought benefits from working this way with companies such as Edgetech, Pilkington and Synseal.

Yorkshire-based Quickslide is best-known for its acclaimed sliding sash windows, and the company has been instrumental in bringing this former niche product into the mainstream of the retrofit and new-build markets, but it also manufactures a wide range of other styles of windows and doors for trade and commercial customers.

www.quickslide.co.uk

Image Above: Gareth Jones

The FIT Show has come and gone and as all recollect on the recent event the REHAU team have been wondering is it money well spent:

Matt Janicki

Gareth Jones, Window Solutions Marketing and Technical Director at REHAU, said: “We’re now a few weeks on from this year’s FIT Show but we have been looking back at the success of the exhibition for our team. This year as I walked the stands everyone was very upbeat and there was a positive feeling that the show was a success with record visitors and busy stands. But now is a time to reflect on the success of the show for our business.

“At the REHAU stand this year we went for the In Hand concept – something slightly different – and focused on the four key areas of sustainability, support, product and colour. From my point of view I was very pleased with the way the stand came together and I am pleased to extend thanks to all involved.

“One of the great additions this year was Big Tuesday, which I think we did really well with the introduction of our gin bar, four cocktails following our core themes, our virtual reality game and the ice sculpting.

Steve Tonkiss

“Overall for us the feedback has been very positive and people really understood our themes. But the cost is no longer insignificant as we move to the NEC and all the incidentals that come with this, plus the time invested within the business, which is where the real expense comes in. To me the message is let’s not rest on our laurels and while this was a successful show we must judge each year as it comes.”

Matt Janicki, North West Area Sales Manager at REHAU, said: “As this was my first show I found the event to be a real eye opener, from the size of the show in the NEC to the stands, which were far past my expectations.

“I felt our stand was very friendly and welcoming to customers. Throughout the event and post show I received a lot of positive feedback from visitors who loved the stand, with the virtual reality experience a particular highlight – and of course the gin bar.

“In summary these were three long days which were not good for my feet, but overall I really enjoyed the show and valued the networking possibilities the show presented.”

Steve Tonkiss, Windows Solutions Commercial Sales Manager, said: “I thought the show went very well generally and the REHAU stand had a good positive buzz about it.

Irene Smith

“For myself I do feel that there were lower numbers of architects and specifiers than I would have hoped to see. For the future I believe this should be addressed as fenestration solutions are vitally important. There could also be opportunities to run CPD Seminars at the show to encourage different visitors.

My opinion is that the show is too insular in its approach to enticing new delegates and visitors to the show and continues to lack on the amount of aluminium suppliers attending the show.”

Irene Smith, Windows Solutions Marketing Manager, said: “It was great to be back at the NEC and there was a fantastic buzz to this year’s show. It’s important to me to assess the reaction to the show and I was really pleased with the response to our stand from visitors, particularly guests enjoyed our giant profiles and were very interested in the virtual reality and product displays.

“BIG Tuesday was a great success offering us the opportunity to mingle with our customers in a relaxed environment as well as the chance to watch the brilliant Ice Carving demonstration by Danny Thomas. But I do have a word of caution for 2019 – the show shouldn’t get too big and become very expensive as it could make it impossible for some exhibitors to participate and take away from the variety on show and thus overall visitor experience.”

As the country fell into general election fever across May, overall construction contract figures on the month dropped to their lowest value for more than three years.

According to the latest edition of the Economic & Construction Market Review from industry analysts Barbour ABI, £4.9 billion worth of construction contracts were commissioned in May (see figure 1.1), a £500 million decrease on the previous month and a noteworthy £1.5 billion drop when compared to May 2016.

(Figure 1.1)

Looking at construction across the UK regions, it was the South West that led with 18 per cent of the UK’s construction contract value, largely thanks to a £400 million mechanical and engineering contract at the Hinckley Point nuclear plant project based in Somerset, which was awarded to Balfour Beatty. Interestingly London, which usually sits firmly at the top of the regional rankings for market share, only accumulated nine per cent of the UK’s total construction contract value in May, with five regions contributing more value than the capital.

Looking across the sectors, only Residential and Education saw construction contract values increase in May compared to April – both increases were only minimal though at 1.9 and 0.9 per cent respectively. The remaining sectors all saw decreases with Infrastructure hit hardest, falling by 22 per cent on the month and by almost 40 per cent compared to twelve months ago.

Outside of the Hinckley Point contract, some of the biggest projects awarded in May include; £300 million Blyth offshore wind farm in Northumberland, £130 million halls of residence at the University of Hull and the luxury Vincent Tower hotel in Liverpool valued at £70 million.

Commenting on the figures, Michael Dall, Lead Economist at Barbour ABI, said: “While the pre-election jitters will have no doubt affected these recent figures, many of the sectors – such as infrastructure and medical & health – have been performing below par for some time now, with the industry being too heavily reliant on residential building performing strongly each month.”

“What also stood out in May was the lack of major projects awarded in London, which saw a big drop in its construction contract value contribution in May, down to 9 per cent. The biggest projects on the month were spread sparingly across the country and with London’s modest contribution, its clear this held back the figures last month.”

Former Hollyoaks star, Will Mellor (right) helped to celebrate the launch of Warmlight’s new showroom

Warmlight, an authorised partner installer of Rehau windows and doors, has opened a brand-new showroom in Leigh, Lancashire. The company reportedly converted its warehouse into a ‘state-of-the-art’ showroom in just three months. Its grand opening was held on 22 April, with former Hollyoaks actor, Will Mellor, on hand to do the official ribbon cut.

The new showroom village is said to provide a ‘welcoming space’ for trade and retail customers to get hands on with products, which are displayed in individual room sets with 3D images as back drops in order to give an accurate picture of how the windows and doors may look when installed.

Susan Foxwell, co-owner at family-business Warmlight, said: “We had outgrown our existing showroom in Atherton, and wanted a bigger display area to better showcase the range of options we could deliver for our customers. My husband Glenn and I had a vision to convert our existing warehouse in Leigh and we are both so pleased with what we’ve achieved. It has been well received by customers too – in fact, we sold two full sets of house windows and six doors on the opening day. I also want to thank everyone for their continued support.”

Matt Janicki, from Rehau said: “We love what Warmlight have done with the showroom. They have found a relaxed and innovative way of presenting our products to potential customers and we hope this approach results in a profitable year for their business.”

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Picture above:  Left to Right – Stefan Seidel – Kommerling, Zoe and Paul Hardcastle – Thermal

KÖMMERLING took advantage at the FIT Show to celebrate its 10-year relationship with Barnsley-based, Thermal Window & Conservatory Roof Systems Limited.

Paul Hardcastle, Thermal Window & Conservatory Roof Systems, managing director and wife Zoe, met with KÖMMERLING staff and managing director, Stefan Seidel on the stand to be presented with the 10-year award. The couple were also handed a complimentary bottle of champagne, gifts and invited to join the team for an evening of entertainment at the FIT Show Gala Dinner.

Commenting on the presentation, Paul advised: “Working with KÖMMERLING over the last 10-years has been a good experience. We have seen many changes in the marketplace over this time and we have always been pleased with how they have adapted to the trends.

“Producing quality windows and doors are an important aspect to our business and in this competitive market it is great to be associated to a profile manufacture who can provided a product and service which makes it easy for us to achieve this.” Paul added.

Stefan Seidel, managing director for KÖMMERLING, who presented the award, commented: “It is always good to meet new customers at the FIT Show, but being able to showcase a long-term relationship is a great testimonial to our business and the goals we strive for between us and our customers.

“We always value the feedback given by customers when developing services and products and having a business on board like Thermal is priceless to help us achieve this.” Stefan said.

KÖMMERLING showcased several new product enhancements on its stand at the show including the PremiSlide patio door system and its range of C70 Gold and O70 Gold® window systems, all available in a range of colours and finishes.

Family run, Thermal Window & Conservatory Roof Systems provide a range of KÖMMERLING door and window products for trade customers and has recently made substantial investment through its website and marketing activities to help promote its product range.

For more information visit, www.thermaltradeframes.co.uk or www.kommerling.co.uk

In the past eighteen months, Distinction Doors has invested over £750,000 in its production facilities at its 86,000 square feet headquarters in South Yorkshire. Gareth Williams, Operations Director, commented: “The investment we have made in our production facilities helps us to be more efficient across the board and gives us benefits we can pass on to our customers.”

The investment Distinction has made includes two new CNC machines, which has doubled its capacity. Alongside this, Distinction now has two edge banders so all elements of the production facility have expanded. Rollers and transfer trollies have been installed in the preparation areas to improve organisation and the flow of doors through the department. Further investment is expected and the company is currently looking at automated manual handling systems and conveyors between machines to improve the flow and cut down on manual handling where possible. It all means the company can continue to offer exceptional lead times even as it continues its expansion over the next few years to cement its position at the top of the market.

The production facility is also benefiting from a new extraction unit. The unit includes an extraction-on-demand system, which constantly monitors machine use and only powers up when machines are running, rather than operating continuously. Gareth comments: “The extraction-on-demand installation will help us make significant energy savings – in fact, we believe we will have recovered its cost in less than 18 months, not to mention helping us meet our environmental commitment.”

Gareth concludes: “Delivering a top quality door efficiently is at the heart of our offering to customers. Our investment means we can continue to do this not only now but in the future too.” Distinction Doors’ set up is state-of-the-art, as you’d expect from the tried, tested and trusted industry leader.

www.distinctiondoors.co.uk

Hybrid windows and doors aren’t going away. In fact, after visiting the FIT Show at the end of May, it became even more apparent that they’re going to play a bigger part in our industry as we move forward. There was quite a few timber/ali systems on show this year, both existing and new. All of them looked the part.

But even within the niche that is hybrids, there are two halves to this mini-industry: timber/ali and ali/PVCu. A sign of just how fierce the competition has become in our industry. Even before a niche has been allowed to turn into a full blown sub-sector of fenestration it’s already splitting off into different directions.

Hybrids are here to stay, and you’re going to want to pick a side sooner rather than later.

Synseal expands the WarmCore range

Whilst at the FIT Show I was invited to the launch of a new range of products being announced by Synseal. That was a brand new WarmCore patio slider, a range of foiled wood grains on aluminium profile, and an expansion of their Stratus roof range.

For me, the patio slider was the stand out product, along with the foiled wood grain finishes. Patio sliders were already a clear theme of the show by this point, with many higher end companies showing off crazy sized patio sliders that in reality no typical installer would even get the chance to sell. But, I wanted to see if their new patio slider would match the high quality of the existing WarmCore bi-folds and windows. It does.

We already know what makes the product, aluminium outside, PVCu inside. Synseal aims this directly at the aluminium market, designed to be at a price point above PVCu but below full blown aluminium. This is where the WarmCore slider will sit at. And it’s a smart move by the company too. They have spotted the very clear rise in popularity of patio sliders with home owners, so wish to capitalise on this revived trend.

The product has a couple of nifty premium features to sit alongside it’s other USPs. It has a soft-close mechanism. This stuff has been around forever on kitchen drawers and household furniture, but everyone still loves that novelty. It was the same for the WarmCore slider. They had on display quite a big example of the product, but it’s movement and then the soft-close for such a big unit felt high quality. Also, the handle also incorporates the locking function. Not separately. It’s a nifty little thing. I’m not doing it justice really, you’ll have to see it for yourself.

Although it takes aim at the aluminium sector and targets the price point below it, for many it will remain a hybrid and not a full aluminium product. But that is OK. There is a flourishing hybrid market taking place, and this is one of the leading products in this new and expanding niche. For the home owner, they get the best looks of aluminium, the best thermal performance PVCu brings, whilst paying a bit more than PVCu but less than aluminium. This is where hybrids could carve out a decent chunk of market space.

The timber/ali factor

If you went to the FIT Show, did you see the Prefix Systems stand? The amount of products these guys do now is staggering. No longer can they be called “just a roof fabricator”. This is a company set up for the long hall and out-diversifying everyone.

Specifically for me though, and the focus of this post, it was their OPUS range which pointed the hybrid market in another direction.

For those who are not aware, OPUS is a timber/ali hybrid range, where Smarts aluminium is used externally, and rich hardwood is used internally and is available in three different finished. The aluminium externally can be done in any of the finishes Smarts do. It really does look superb, and bridges the gap nicely for home owners who want a traditional look, feel and even smell internally, but something a bit more striking externally. OPUS is available as windows, doors, lanterns, glazed roofs, French doors and probably even more now too. It’s the full suite, and for me is one of the leading hybrid systems out there, of any configuration.

This for me is where I think the hybrid market is going to progress the most and quickest. I was shown an offering from Kommerling on the Thursday of the show which looked very cool also. These new innovations are coming from the top down. They will bed in, and sales of hybrid products will rise too.

There seems to be lots of room to expand and innovate on the timber/ali side of the coin. I believe that this part of the hybrid market will see the most new entrants to the sector as more and more fabricators look to see what they can garner from this lucrative niche.

The battle of the hybrids has already started however. Suppliers will not be clambering onto the bandwagon in an attempt to catch up on the likes of Prefix and Synseal before a large proportion of the new market share is snapped up. The question is, which way will home owners swing? Will they prefer a mix of timber and aluminium? Or would they prefer an all aluminium look with the benefits that PVCu brings internally? And from an installers perspective, would it just be easier to supply both types of products and then all bases are covered?

Exova, the testing, calibration and advisory services provider, marked the official opening of a new 50,000ft2 supersite in Wednesbury, recently.

According to Exova, the new testing site serves the needs of national and international customers in the automotive, door, window and hardware industries and is said to represent a further significant long term commitment to the provision of technically demanding testing services from the UK. The facility, which will conduct more than 10,000 tests annually, was opened by Paul Forrest, director at the West Midlands Economic Forum and Ian El-Mokadem, CEO of Exova.

Exova says the multi-million pound investment will allow it to expand both its capabilities and its capacity in the provision of testing services for the built environment and the automotive sector. The company also says that customers will benefit from a greater range of technically demanding services delivered from a modern facility which will be able to support both today’s demands and the expected future growth in the sectors it serves. As a result, Exova’s highly skilled engineers and technicians will be able to continue to support their customers by playing a key role in their product development processes and improving speed to market.

Ian El-Mokadem, CEO of Exova, commented: “This is an important milestone in the growth of our automotive and building products testing businesses, which work for some of the world’s leading household names. Bringing these testing services together, close to our key customers, will enable us to increase efficiency and turnaround times, and give greater access to Exova’s global expertise.”

Work undertaken at the site will include: testing for the built environment – security, durability and weather testing of doors, windows and hardware; as well as the testing of automotive trim, components and full vehicles for corrosion, UV weathering, environmental ageing, flammability, vibration and emissions.

The site will initially employ 32 people, a figure which is expected to rise in the first two years as Exova’s development plans are realised. It will offer testing to British, European, international and OEM standards.

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