22
MAY 2016 PRO INSTALLER
PRO NEWS
www.proinstaller.co.uk
PREMIUM PRODUCTS
ARE KEY TO GROWTH
Those across the glass and glazing supply chain must do more to
promote high-performance products to homeowners to secure growth
of the industry, says Pilkington United Kingdom Limited.
The report, Framing the debate:
What does the future hold for the
domestic glazing market?, spoke
to key industry figures to gauge
their thoughts on the state of the
domestic market. Among its key
findings was concern that developers focussed on low cost rather than
quality, and standard frame size was
holding back widespread adoption of
triple glazing.
With a significant amount of R&D taking
place across the domestic glazing sector, a
number of innovative products are coming
to market. Despite this, key industry figures
believe more needs to be done to promote
products with properties such as advanced
energy performance to consumers.
Speaking in the report, Mark Catchpole,
sales director at SWC Trade Frames, said:
“Product development and innovation is
happening rapidly, and the energy performance that windows can deliver is getting
better and better. However, what doesn’t
seem to be happening is these products
filtering into the market with any speed,
and we, as an industry, should see this as a
major point to address.”
Elsewhere in the report, VEKA plc cited
standard frame sizes as an obstacle preventing widespread adoption of triple-glazing in
the UK.
Dave Jones, managing director at VEKA
plc, said: “The hesitance of the UK market
to adopt triple-glazing is due in large part
to the fact that 70mm frames are still the
standard offering here, while the continent
moved to 82mm+ systems as standard long
ago.”
Despite these challenges, those in the
supply chain recognise a number of
opportunities that the industry can capi-
talise on, including an increasing demand
for products with a premium appearance.
With consumers moving away from white
PVCu frames, designers are increasingly
specifying silver or dark grey frames that
give the appearance of metal and high-end
aluminium alternatives while offering the affordability of PVCu products. This growing
demand for a wider range of colours has
the potential to create new revenue streams
for the industry.
Visit www.pilkington.co.uk
Certification adds confidence
Glazpart Limited’s extensive range of trickle vents is
currently the only range to be third party certified by Local
Authority Building Control (LABC), says the company.
The vents provide background ventilation in buildings and also meet the
requirements for approved
document F1. The LABC certification covers three main
trickle vent product ranges
in all colour options – the
slim line (clip fix), standard
(screw fix) and the innovative Link Vent.
Many design specifications for
the supply of windows fitted with
trickle vents require a third party
certification such as one from the
LABC, one of the most widely
recognised bodies with LABC departments and officers in the UK
construction market.
LABC Registered Details is a certification process proving compliance with building regulations and
standards across England, Wales
and Scotland. It is the only scheme
of its kind supported by all local
authorities.
Glazpart says as well as increasing confidence in the performance
and suitability of its vents, LABC
approval makes the building
control process faster, easier and
cheaper.
Trend for lawns
on balconies
‘details of over 3,500
colour options’
The new trickle ventilation
catalogue provides details of over
3,500 colour options, whether a moulded colour, vacuum
foiled, printed wood grain or
paint sprayed. Also, covered are
packaging options such as colour
combinations such as white internal vents with a colour matched
external canopy.
http://www.glazpart.com/
products/trickle-ventilation/
Flats and apartments make
up nearly a fifth of all homes
in the UK and a fast growing
trend is for people to turn
their balconies and terraces
into mini-gardens, complete
with mini-lawns. Traditionally
there have been problems
which made this virtually impossible - the weight of soil
needed on a balcony, cutting
the grass and disposing of
cuttings week after week.
Wonderlawn has an answer.
Modern artificial turf - it always
looks perfect and is virtually maintenance-free. It’s as easy to clean
as a carpet and both vacuums and
washes well. It’s also impervious
to stains, so the odd spilled glass of
wine or baby food is not a problem
either.
Almost everyone enjoys some
aspects of a garden – which is
probably the reason so many peo-
ple have potted plants and flowers.
Understandably there is a natural
reluctance to put anything that
feels rough or harsh like plastic on
a balcony. But Wonderlawn’s latest artificial grass is pleasant to the
touch and feels soft and natural.
Some balconies are not strong
enough to support the heavy
weight of soil needed to grow
grass, but the long-term problem
with real grass is cutting it every
week. Artificial grass allows
people to avoid this and create a
perfect mini-garden on the balcony.
There’s no grass cutting or weeding, so they can spend their time
sitting back and relaxing. Wonderlawn’s balcony system drainage
comes built-in to a thick matting
underlay, so there are no worries
about rain (or mud) collecting on
your mini-garden.
www.wonderlawn.com