HARDWARE
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YALE AND INGENIOUS DOOR LOCKS BOTH NOW AVAILABLE FROM MILA
INSTAGRAM INFLUENCER GETS SMART WITH KUBU Instagram influencer, Katrina @greygoosehouse, has upgraded her cherished home with a new Kubu equipped composite front door, that was manufactured and installed by Infinity Windows and Doors. With over 109k followers, @greygoosehouse has become a highly influential social media feed for all things that reflect interior design, home and interiors, and lifestyle inspirations. But the introduction of a Kubu equipped composite door has been a decision based on security, reassurance and ultimately peace of mind. Katrina outlines the rationale for this important investment in her home and said: ‘Kubu is a revelation for us as a family and as a busy business owner, I now know when my front door is locked or unlocked through the notifications which also tell me when our children have left and
returned to the house. The clever geo-fencing feature has also proven to be particularly useful and in time when the window sensor is launched, it will form part of an important smart home network for us too. She added: ‘It was also fundamental for me from an interior design perspective to pick the perfect hardware for my front door and not be reliant on an unsightly and bulky smart lock. Overall, I’m thrilled with this new investment on our Grey Goose House.’ Lauren Bromley, head of brand for Kubu added: ‘Kubu is not just a lifestyle choice, but one in which is part of a more secure
and ultimately smarter home. There’s little impact on manufacturing processes for fabricators and no additional works or cost implications for the installer, the clever bit is when doors and windows are activated by consumers with full support by us directly.’ For information on smart doors from Dekko, visit dekkowindows.com. For further information about becoming a manufacturing partner or Kubu Pro Installer then please visit kubu-home.com, e-mail support@kubu-home.com or call 0330 555 9545 for a free information pack. You can also follow them on all leading social media platforms @KubuSmart.
SHOWER HARDWARE SOLUTIONS THAT BRING SPA-LIKE LUXURY HOME With people spending more time at home and luxury spa breaks being hard to come by as a result of the pandemic, the range of shower hardware available from CRL helps bring that touch of luxury into the domestic bathroom. Bathrooms and shower rooms are increasingly being designed as extensions of our living spaces, a space to retreat, relax and rejuvenate rather than just for practicalities. CRL shower hardware taps into this movement, with colours and styles to suit all interior applications. From hinges and U-channels, to minimalist hardware for sliding shower doors, CRL has solutions for all projects and all spaces, with popular finishes including Chrome, Brass, Brushed Nickel, Matte Black and Oil Rubbed Bronze featuring across the different systems. The range includes frameless solutions, such as Cambridge and Serenity sliding shower doors, for the ultimate in wet-room style luxury that also maximises accessibility in the modern bathroom. Another highlight
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of the range is the CRL Geneva hinge, available in a wide choice of finishes and suitable for bespoke applications, enabling the shower area to be tailored to fit any space, ideal when working with awkward shapes and sizes in rooms such as in corners and under eaves. For more information call CRL on 01706 863600, email crl@crlaurence.co.uk, or visit www.crlaurence.co.uk.
Despite the fact that Mila supplies hardware from some of the biggest names in the industry including Yale, Siegenia, Axor and Spilka, we would certainly describe ourselves as a ‘branded house’ and not as a ‘house of brands’. It’s an important distinction for customers and stems from the fact that, on average, we only add a new brand to our product portfolio once every couple of years. Even then, we only choose brands which align closely with our own business in terms of innovation and quality and which fill what we see as being gaps in our product line up. We choose our partners very carefully because we know that our reputation rests so heavily on theirs. It’s big news then that this month Mila is joining forces with Ingenious Locks for the first time to begin supplying the Ingenious range of multipoint door locks for aluminium, UPVC and composite doors. Ingenious products will sit alongside the Yale locks we already supply and add a significant new dimension to our offering. There’s lots of talk about synergy in the hardware market but in this case it’s a pretty fair description of the relationship which exists between Mila and Ingenious, given that Stuart Carpenter, Ingenious’ Technical Director, was once the Technical Director here at Mila. Both our businesses are focused on developing products with real USPs, where the emphasis is on quality, durability and ease of installation. The Ingenious range which will be stocked by Mila includes single hook Professional door locks, Autofire latches, and clever Duplex locks, which are the only ones in the UK to feature this type of hook locking mechanism. All are already well proven in the UK market and all are Secured by Design accredited. Together, I think these enhanced security products bring a new dimension to our lock range and sit comfortably alongside the Yale locks we already offer to fabricators – broadening the choice and ensuring that we can justifiably claim to have the right product for every application.
Our Yale range, for example, already includes Lockmaster products for UPVC doors with matching strikers, Lockmaster secondary locks for French doors and Auto Engage products for composite doors with either two or three security latches. There are also dedicated Lockmaster locks for aluminium and bi-fold doors. More than 70% of Mila sales are now of our own branded products, designed and developed in house, but that still leaves a substantial part of our business which comes from distributing products from other manufacturers – in fact, we are amongst the largest distributors of Yale products in the UK. There are lots of reasons why customers choose to buy third-party products from Mila of course, but the main one is obviously service. That’s everything from having product in stock ready for next day delivery to being able to provide in-house testing services and onsite technical support. It’s also about the kind of helpful, specialist advice available from our knowledgeable sales teams – both on the phone and out in the field, and the extensive package of sales and marketing support we provide. Even before the pandemic, Mila had adopted a digital first strategy in our marketing but that’s obviously proved particularly valuable to customers over the past year. Our team has already created a dedicated page on the Mila website for door locks with all of the Yale and Ingenious products available to view and compare and lots of useful, downloadable resources. They’ve also produced digital animations of some of the new products so that customers can see the USPs up close in sales presentations conducted either remotely or face to face. We never forget though that the biggest test of hardware is how the products actually look and feel to our customers so we’re also promoting the new Ingenious range via new ‘Lock Block’ display boards which show them in operation. All the details of the new products including how to get hold of a Lock Block are at: https://www.mila.co.uk/new-door-locks/
“There are lots of reasons why customers choose to buy third-party products from Mila of course, but the main one is obviously service.” By Richard Gyde, Managing Director, Mila
August 2021 | www.glassnews.co.uk
