Industry News
GAI Education Awards show an
industry facing a confident future
» THE DOOR AND WINDOW
hardware industry’s rising stars
were celebrated at the 40th
annual Guild of Architectural
Ironmongers’ (GAI) Education
Awards.
Held at the Royal Lancaster
hotel, London, on November
7 2019, the awards celebrated
the architectural ironmongery
professionals who have
achieved their GAI Diploma
and recognised the highest
achieving students. The awards
were sponsored by ASSA
ABLOY Opening Solutions UK
and Ireland.
Gold, Silver and Bronze
medals were awarded to the
highest achieving students
at the GAI Diploma level and
there were also prize awards
for the top three students from
the Certificate in Architectural
Hardware (CiAH) level. This
year, the Diplomas and awards
were given to students by former
Top Gear Stig, Ben Collins.
Dave Timson, technical
sales director at Eurobond
Doors, presented this year’s
Pinnacle Award to Bala Vignesh,
specification consultant at ASSA
ABLOY Opening Solutions
Middle East.
Bala Vignesh said:
“I had been working in the
door and ironmongery industry
for eight years and wanted to get
to grips with all the essentials of
architectural ironmongery. At
the moment there are technical
and regulatory changes
everywhere. Locks are changing
from mechanical to electrical,
2D drawings are becoming
3D models, and the way that
we specify is also evolving. It
is important that we stay up
to date, and the GAI Diploma
programme has prepared me
for this.”
Julian Newman, president of
the GAI, said:
“The scrutiny of the skills,
qualifications and competence
of everyone in the building
industry has never been higher,
and each part of the supply
chain needs to prove its worth.
The GAI Diploma makes this
possible in our sector. It is the
only recognised programme
in the world that leads to a
qualification in architectural
ironmongery to British and
European standards.”
The full list of
Education Awards
winners in 2019 is:
The Pinnacle Award,
sponsored by Eurobond
Doors:
• Bala Vignesh, ASSA
ABLOY Opening
Solutions Middle East
GAI Diploma:
• Gold – Bala Vignesh,
ASSA ABLOY Opening
Solutions Middle East
• Silver – Craig Birch,
ASSA ABLOY Opening
Solutions
• Bronze – Bernadeth
Prometidos, Consort
Middle East LLC
CiAH Prize Winners:
• First place - Andrew
Marshall, ASSA ABLOY
New Zealand
• Second place - Ian
Tisdale, Carlisle Brass
• Third place - Michael
Hunt, More Handles
www.gai.org.uk
ASSA ABLOY LAUNCHES NEW INTUMESCENT
KIT TO ENSURE FIRE DOOR INTEGRITY
» THE ASSA ABLOY DOOR HARDWARE
& Access Control Group is pleased
to announce the launch of a new
intumescent kit range, which ensures
the integrity of a fire doorset is not
compromised by morticed ironmongery.
These new kits will be available for some
of the brand’s most popular CE marked
locks, hinges and latches.
Morticing can cause hinges, locks, latches
and concealed door closers to no longer
meet the requirements for fire door safety.
The new kits from the ASSA ABLOY Door
Hardware & Access Control Group provide
intumescent sheets made from an ultra-thin
and flexible graphite material, which allows
for high levels of expansion and insulation,
preventing heat transfer on ironmongery
rebated into timber fire doorsets.
Suitable for both 30 and 60 minute
applications on timber doors, the
intumescent sheets arrive pre-cut
for a selected range of ASSA ABLOY
10
ironmongery. This includes ASSA modular
locks and the ASSA ABLOY DC840A
and DC860 concealed door closers,
plus UNION’s new CodeGUARD 5 push
button lock, a number of UNION hinges,
the UNION HD26 tubular latch and the
StrongBOLT® mortice lock range.
The intumescent sheets have a self-
adhesive backing, which means they
can be quickly and easily applied to
ironmongery, and therefore ensure an
easy installation into the prepared door.
Sabrina Bettles, Product Category
Manager at the ASSA ABLOY Door
Hardware & Access Control Group, explains:
“Other intumescent materials on the market
will typically be fibrous and thicker, and can
be prone to snapping, while also generally
being harder to wrap around products. In
comparison, the intumescent sheets we
offer as part of our new kits contain no fibres
or irritants, and are only 0.8mm thick, which
means minimal rebating is needed. They
are very flexible and clean to work with,
and are unaffected by moisture, humidity,
atmospheric pollution and other common
chemical substances.
“Furthermore, the fact that the
intumescent sheets are supplied pre-cut
means installers can be confident in the
solution being perfectly designed for ASSA
ABLOY’s range, providing peace of mind
that these kits will help ensure integrity for
fire doorsets.”
To find out more information about the
new intumescent kits, please visit http://
bit.ly/2kOHA9Y.
NOV/DEC 2019
locksmithjournal.co.uk
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