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IN RECENT YEARS, there’ s no doubt that energy efficiency has been a principal driver in shaping our fenestration market, leading to a significant improvement in product performance standards and enhanced credibility for our resourceful industry in the eyes of UK consumers.

Now we’ ve all got over the initial shock of the Brexit referendum result, are things going to change radically as Britain prepares to stand proudly alone as a sovereign island nation?

The answer must be“ no”, but this is down to the undoubted strength of our Window Energy Ratings( WER) infrastructure. Conformity to European standards compliance and CE Marking regulations will remain firmly in place, however within the established European framework the practical implementation of our authoritative WER classifications is widely admired and, crucially, now well understood by industry professionals and informed homeowners alike.

What has happened in the last few years is“ goodbye” to industry-standard C WERs and“ hello” to A WERs as our sales and marketing norm – this has been a major revolution in repositioning our UK window industry as leading champions of energy-efficiency in the home improvement arena.

At Victorian Sliders, as Europe’ s largest specialist manufacturer of PVCu vertical sliding sash windows, we use 100 % virgin, lead-free compound to extrude,

fabricate and supply A-rated ECOSlide windows to 2,300 professional trade installation companies operating across the length and breadth of the UK. So the company supplies 30 % of the 7,500 installers that regularly“ buy-in” PVCu vertical sliding windows for home improvement jobs or new housebuilding needs( source: Insight Data). Why is this product offering so successful? Well, the true answer is that commercial success is due to a variety of factors, but one of the major clues lies in the name:“ ECOSlide” … Here is an energyefficient

and environmentallyfriendly( fully-recyclable) product, that comfortably meets today’ s needs and anticipates emerging homeowner concerns in the future.

We can supply A + rated ECOSlide windows if required, but the simple truth is that our standard A-rating generally hits the mark. British homeowners want new low maintenance PVCu windows that look good, keep their houses secure and warm( and maybe help to reduce energy bills in the long run), are easy to operate and keep clean.

That is why factors such as easy-to-use“ tilt and clean” functionality and our reassuring“ anti-jemmy” security bar, which is an integral built-in feature on all ECOSlide PVCu sill extrusions tend to capture consumer minds and subsequently develop retail sales discussions away from U-values and WER thermal performance comparisons.

Enhanced security, in part driven by the Document Q specifications for new builds and building adaptations, is undoubtedly going to loom ever larger in post-Brexit Britain, as our economic and cultural landscapes continue to evolve.

Although other homeowner concerns should and must be addressed, energy efficiency will of course remain central to our collective selling story, with“ smart DG” dominating because it delivers an agreeable mix of effective performance and value for money. Triple glazing has been( and will continue to be) a tempting discussion and commercial distraction, but in my former role as Head of Marketing for one of our leading UK systems suppliers I can quite categorically report that“ TG” represented less than 2 % of total sales volume( calculated by quantities of triple glazing bead) with no significant trend movement year-on-year between 2014 and 2015. The spread of that systems business in terms of both fabricator diversity and installer reach was highly representative of our total UK industry, so this insight seems pertinent.