FROM THE EDITOR
Fresh features – and some old faithfuls – for 2026
» WELCOME BACK AFTER THE FESTIVE BREAK, AND A VERY Happy New Year to all our readers. We hope you had a well-deserved rest and are as raring to go as we are for another exciting year in the industry. 2026 promises fresh opportunities and challenges, and we’ re ready to dive in headfirst.
This year, we’ re introducing a few new features, including a deeper focus on triple glazing innovations and exploring new avenues for business diversification for installers. But, before we get ahead of ourselves, this month features our now-famous‘ Annual Predictions’ and as tradition now dictates; it’ s only right to have a sneaky peek at what we predicted for 2025 and see how things played out.
This time last year, many of us reflected on the challenges faced by the industry, particularly with the election process and the budget slowing down growth for larger businesses. Despite these hurdles, we were optimistic, pointing out how innovation thrives in tough times and that companies would need to get creative with marketing and customer engagement to maintain and grow their market share. We also highlighted the importance of events such as the FIT Show, noting that businesses were still on the fence about exhibiting but that it would be a major event for new products and networking.
Well, 2025 turned out to be a year where innovation really came to the forefront. Despite the economic slowdown, many businesses embraced creative strategies to protect and expand their market share, just as we predicted. The FIT Show was a huge success, with a lot of exciting new products making their debut, and we saw a growing focus on diversifying services, especially from installers who were looking to offer more than just the basics.
One of our key predictions was the continued growth of our three magazines – Clearview, Pro Installer and The Locksmith – which we expected to keep gaining traction into 2025, alongside their online counterparts. But something else was on the horizon … the acquisition of Door Industry Journal. With four titles now under our belt, we’ re proud to be fully equipped to serve every corner of the door sector, providing tailored insights and updates to professionals across the industry.
As we move into 2026, it feels like the momentum from last year is only building. There’ s a lot of buzz around sustainability, triple glazing, and finding new ways to adapt in a rapidly changing market; hence the new features. We can’ t wait for the next 12 months.
See you next time, Gemma
HIS MAJESTY’ S LORD-LIEUTENANT OF DERBYSHIRE PRESENTS KING’ S AWARD FOR INNOVATION
» THE TEAM AT GARNALEX are celebrating at the company’ s HQ in Nether Heage, Derbyshire, after being formally presented with a King’ s Award for Innovation 2025.
Garnalex announced earlier in the year that it had been awarded the prestigious accolade in recognition of two aspects of the Sheerline system. First, the patented corner construction method, which reduces waste and misalignment while locking in quality. The second aspect is Sheerline’ s proprietary Thermlock ® technology, which was developed in-house as an alternative to outdated polyamide solutions. It is unique to the Sheerline system, enabling it to offer straightforward thermal efficiency through high-performance U-values and therefore, easy Part L compliance.
Garnalex CEO, Roger Hartshorn, was presented with the award by His Majesty’ s Lord-Lieutenant of Derbyshire, Elizabeth Fothergill CBE, who was joined by the Chair of the Derbyshire King’ s Awards for Enterprise( KAE) Panel, Marvin Cooke OBE DL.
After the presentation, there was an opportunity for members of the team and invited guests to meet with the Lieutenancy party before they had a tour of Garnalex’ s state-of-the-art manufacturing site.
This included the energy efficient SMS HybrEx 35 press and in-house powder-coating facility. The day recognises not only what Sheerline has achieved since its launch, but the day-to-day wins that come from team work, strong communications, and production efficiencies.
Roger Hartshorn said:“ From initially finding out we’ d won, to attending a reception at Windsor Castle and getting to know the other winners in Derbyshire and then hosting a formal presentation day – it’ s been a fantastic experience. And one that I would highly recommend to other business leaders in the region.”
“ For us, it provides an opportunity to standout in an historically competitive market where innovation is an essential requirement to stay ahead. It’ s been a great opportunity to reflect on how far we’ ve come since launching during the pandemic, and importantly, we’ re recognising and celebrating the hard work of all our employees,” he added.
www. sheerline. com
4 JANUARY 2026 CLEARVIEW-UK. COM