Customade Group formally celebrated its merger with Polyframe at the FIT Show. The Customade team welcomed visitors on to, not one, but two, stands at the show and told them about what the enlarged, full-service group can deliver to the industry since the merger in February.

The group spread the message about its new capabilities and showed visitors an array of products and brands. Show-goers saw REAL Aluminium and Atlas Glazed Roof Solutions and heard how the products can help

installers enter into the profitable aluminium market with complete confidence. Polyframe and Virtuoso also unveiled some exciting products and plans for the future.

Customade Group is now the biggest fabricator in the UK with revenues of more than £ 100million and a product range which extends across PVCu and aluminium windows and doors, composite doors, aluminium glazed roof products, sealed glass units and specialist glazing.

The group has just embarked on a major repositioning programme

to stimulate the market and spread the message among fabricators, installers and retailers about the advantages of collaborating with a large, established group with national reach.

Customade Group now includes Polyframe( PVCu), REAL Aluminium( aluminium), Atlas Glazed Roof Solutions( glazed roofs), Virtuoso( composite and panelled doors), Hourglass Seal( sealed glass units), and Fineline Aluminium( specialist glazing). The group operates nationwide and employs 900 people in multiple manufacturing sites across the UK.

www. customade. co. uk

The Atlas Contemporary glazed lantern stole the show as the crowning glory in the‘ Master Fitter Challenge’ at this year’ s FIT Show.

Show-goers flocked to see six teams install a range of glazed products in the two-day contest, which started with fitting a four-pane Atlas Contemporary Lantern on day one. Onlookers were impressed with the‘ fitter-friendly’ lantern, which all teams installed with ease.

David Shaw and Nathan Daw from Norfolk-based Shaw Home Improvements won the‘ Roof Lantern Challenge’ element of the contest, whilst David Keates and Jonathan Mountford

from DK Windows collected overall first prize in the Master Fitter Challenge.

The challenge saw a shortlist of six skilled installers compete against each other to install a range of glazing products, including the Atlas lantern, on their own 3x3-metre pod during the live finals at the FIT Show.

For further information, please contact Atlas on marketing @ atlasroofsolutions. co. uk or phone 02838 327741.

The first FIT Show to take place at the National Exhibition Centre will remain in the minds of David Keates and Jonathon Mountford of DK Windows- after they were declared overall winners of this year’ s gruelling Master Fitter Challenge. The results were announced at the FIT Show Gala Dinner by celebrity host Nick Knowles just hours after the competition closed.

Six teams competed to install windows, residential and bi-folding doors and a lantern roof in just two days and before the critical eyes of hundreds of their peers and a tough team of

Hardware manufacturer the Trojan Group reported that it was inundated with enquiries throughout the busy three days of The FIT Show.

Tony Chadwick, group managing director, said:“ Both existing and potential customers were extremely interested in our latest products, the 2 Star High Security Stainless Steel Door handle, the Athena range of door hinges and the unveiling of

our new product, the TS008 Document Q Unicorn Letterplate.

“ Trojan Group is one of the biggest hardware names in the industry and has an enviable reputation for quality and product innovation. That said, customers still need to see the products for themselves to

assessors, again provided by GQA.

And in the face of such pressures David and Jonathon prevailed in what was declared the most professional MFC competition yet

understand just how much they have to offer. The FIT Show was the perfect opportunity for people to do that and we were overwhelmed with the interest we received.”

to win a cheque for £ 5,000 and, more importantly, the top prize in this increasingly prestigious competition. The judges also thought the duo were the best at installing bi-folding doors and were also declared winners of that section of the competition.

By far the biggest attraction was the new TS008 Unicorn Letterplate. Trojan chose the FIT Show to showcase this new product which is one of the industry’ s few TS008 approved letterplates.