Peak time

It is not for nothing that Cairngorm Capital has taken its name from a mountain range as this week we see it is scaling the heights yet again, backing another industry acquisition with Stevenswood taking over the smaller Truemans trade counter network. Read Story

So, from the original Polyframe MBO, its WB acquisition and its Stevenswood swap to the Customade merger and now Truemans, it is continuing its upward climb in the pecking order of the industry’s premier league, leading more people than ever to ask where will it end.

We have twice reported the persistent rumour that there is at least one more major deal yet to come and we can only repeat, as we said last time, that this week’s news was not it. So if indeed Cairngorm and its protégés have not yet reached their plateau, we can only say again, watch this space.

But in the meantime, we hope you enjoy this issue.

Chris Church Editor

Please send all your news stories to news@the-glazine.com

This Week's News

Stevenswood grows to 30 outlets with Truemans deal
…Hepburn to retire

Newly expanded trade counter group Stevenswood, has announced the acquisition of the £10million-sales Truemans chain, adding five more units to its existing 25 in the next step towards its goal of creating a national network of outlets across the UK.

The news comes less than four months after Stevenswood grew its predominantly Scottish chain from 15 units in an exchange deal with Polyframe. Both deals were backed by investment firm Cairngorm Capital, which also supported Polyframe’s MBO last July, its acquisition of the WB Group in October and its merger with the Customade Group three weeks ago.

Stevenswood said in a statement: “Strategically, this acquisition presented the perfect opportunity for further expansion, as the Truemans stores complete important gaps in Stevenswood’s presence in England”. The existing Trumans outlets are in Burnley, Doncaster, Sheffield and Crewe with a fifth due to open soon in Reading.

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Bowater door buyer starts to ‘shout’

The first result of Birtley Group’s acquisition of Bowater Doors from Veka has emerged with the launch of the ‘Bowater by Birtley’ brand of composite, fire, flood and steel doors and is set for its first full unveiling at the FIT Show.

The former Veka operation was bought over a year ago but, as Birtley’s National Sales Manager (Doors), Kevin Kiernan explained: “we didn’t want to shout about it until the integration was complete and we were ready to deliver …Now we are!

“As is inevitable in any large-scale culmination of brands, there was a lot of work to do when Birtley Group first acquired Bowater Doors. We needed to combine the Birtley and Bowater ranges, integrate the new Bowater by Birtley offering into our production processes and get buy-in from the entire team. This has now been achieved.”

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Veka claims a PAS24 first with 2016 across the board

The Veka UK Group is claiming a first among system suppliers with the transition of its entire range of Veka and Halo PVC-U window and door products to PAS 24:2016, making it ‘the first BSI Kitemark System Supplier of PVC–U to do so’.

Group Sales Director Neil Evans said: “Being the first systems supplier to achieve PAS 24:2016 across its entire range represents a significant investment for the Group. It contains a number of exciting product enhancements, as well as new products that we will be announcing shortly.

Accreditation Manager Mark Barsby added: “We’ve been in discussions with our forward-thinking customers, BSI and Secured by Design since last July to ensure Veka and Halo products meet the updated enhanced security standard, PAS 24:2016. The previous version – PAS 24:2012 – has now been withdrawn from the BSI website, and while Document Q will continue to reference it for some time, the latest Secured by Design Homes Guide already allows for compliance via the new standard.

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We Have Email

From: Ben Brocklesby,
Director, Origin

There were no major shocks in Chancellor Philip Hammond’s Spring Budget, especially for the manufacturing industry. I do think, once again, it was a positive statement of intent from the Government It shows the UK economy is on the mend, which is fantastic for a family-run business like Origin.

We were thrilled to see that the Government is planning to introduce a series of qualifications known as T-Levels. Chancellor Hammond announced that there would be an additional £500 million a year given to technical and vocational education, designed to be more relevant to employers’ needs. This is music to our ears.

Ever since we hosted our ‘Homes of the Future’ roundtable in 2015, we have been calling for the Government to start encouraging fresh blood into the construction industry. This will fill the skills gap that is being created as the older generation retire. The introduction of T-Levels, which will see the number of hours’ training for 16- to 19-year-old students increase by more than 50 per cent, will go a long way to correcting this issue. It will also make sure workers in the manufacturing and engineering sector are work-ready once they qualify.

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From: Karl-Theo Roes
Head of Market Development, Europe, Swisspacer

In his recent report on the Window, Door and Conservatory Markets in Housing, Palmer identifies significant growth and opportunities in bi-folding doors, and highlights growth in patio doors. Strong forecasts of sales growth mean greater demand for larger sealed units in bifolds and sliding patio doors.

But, some have asked, what sort of spacer is best suited to these large units, soft and flexible or a rigid spacer bar? Do heavy window and door frames put more pressure on sealed units, so they deflect, making a flexible spacer bar better at dealing with the deflection?

But it’s not a question of soft or rigid. It’s not the job of the window or door to support the weight of the building above, nor the job of the sealed units to support the weight of the window or door; still less the job of the spacer bar to support the sealed unit, door, window or masonry above. If we built like that we’d all be living in piles of rubble from collapsed buildings!

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