Industry Award

SHELFORCE WINS YET ANOTHER AWARD

Leading Birmingham window and door manufacturer Shelforce has scooped yet another award after being voted Diversity Champion at this year’s Scale-Up Awards 2022.

Celebrating high-growth companies and the entrepreneurs running them, the ScaleUp Awards are the first and only awards focusing on the scale-up sector. Shelforce, which specialises in providing high-quality PVCu and aluminium products to local authority building projects and works closely with Birmingham City Council, impressed the judges with its inclusive approach to training and employment, with 75% of its workforce having a disability. It’s just the latest in a long line of awards the Erdington-based company has picked up in the last 18 months and it will sit alongside the likes of the 2021 Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce (GBCC) Business of the Year, the 2021 Asian Business Chamber Awards for Outstanding Contribution to Diversity and Inclusion, and the 2021 British Chamber of Business Awards Equality Trailblazer for the West Midlands.

Shelforce beat strong competition from six other companies and a delighted Howard Trotter, the company’s Business Manager, said: “It’s absolutely brilliant to win Diversity Champion at this year’s ScaleUp Awards. It’s a great reward for the initiatives we have in place for staff and the leadership and management team, and it was a wonderful evening. “We have created a hugely supportive work environment that both inspires and benefits our team, and this has created exceptional staff satisfaction, development and increased employee engagement with Shelforce’s values and goals.” The prestigious event, held at London’s acclaimed Tobacco Dock and hosted by comedian Russell Kane, attracted 450 business leaders, entrepreneurs and VIPs from across the nation.

Attendees included the likes of Theo Paphitis, Touker Suleyman, Alpesh Patel OBE, Josh Robson and Emma Sayle. Brought to you by Business Leader Magazine, more than 500 businesses and entrepreneurs entered this year’s awards and Oli Ballard, Director at Scale-Up Awards, commented: “We were so excited to crown these incredible businesses that are shaping their respective industries and the UK economy, and I’d like to congratulate Shelforce.”

To find out more about Shelforce, call 0121 603 5262 or visit www.shelforce.com.

PROUND WINNER: Howard Trotter, Shelforce’s Business Manager on stage with his award flanked by Russell Kane (left) and Dan Barber, judge and Director of Brand Strategy of ClearCourse

NFA SUCCESS FOR VBH

VBH, the company behind the popular greenteQ hardware brand, has been successful at the 2022 National Fenestration Awards, picking up wins in two categories.

The presentation event was held at Doncaster Racecourse on 5th November, where 20 members of the VBH team joined hundreds of other industry hopefuls. Following a full card of racing, lunch, afternoon tea and entertainment, the serious business of the awards began. VBH emerged victorious in the Hardware Company of the Year and Digital Marketing Campaign categories. VBH Marketing Manager Gary Gleeson says, “The team here have been looking forward to the NFAs since we were shortlisted in May. We travelled from all points of the GB compass to enjoy the day and were over the moon to win two awards, including that for Hardware Company. “Hardware supply is, of course, what VBH is all about, so we were particularly pleased to win this one. It was nice to celebrate a win or two on the horses while we were here, too!”

The Digital Marketing award was in recognition of the work done by VBH to promote the greenteQ Q-Smart electronic door handle.

NFA awards are decided by votes from all sections of the industry, including fabricators and installers. since 2019. This is particular pleasing as it’s a vote for everything that all members of our team do, right across the company, to provide the industry with the best products and the best service.” VBH can be contacted on 01634 263263, by email at sales@vbhgb.com, or send them a Tweet @vbhgb.

KOLORSEAL WINS NFA FOR FOURTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR

The celebrations at Kolorseal Ltd have been the highlight of a very positive year for the team, with the 4th consecutive victory as NFA Colour Specialist. As a niche company, providing bespoke colour coating services to the fenestration sector #NFA22 win, reflects the high quality standards associated with the firm.

The #NFA22 Independent Industry Awards have gained recognition across the fenestration sector as an accolade that promotes and reflects the highest standards. The gala event held at Doncaster races on Saturday 5th November, was the largest of its kind with a champagne reception, NFA22 trophy presentations, followed by a full day of celebrations that included the last flat race of the season, an evening of live entertainment and a 7 course dinner.

Deborah Hendry, Managing Director, takes great pride in celebrating this achievement which she considers is very much a team effort. The awards, recognised for requiring both nomination and voting by industry peers, she believes demonstrate the highest acknowledge from the sector. As such, with the National Fenestration Awards being industry led, this win reflects the high standards and the unequalled reputation of Kolorseal, in a fair and open way. Deborah comments, “This has to be the best award to win - one where we are voted for by our customers and suppliers. It is something we never take for granted and for the Kolorseal team it demonstrates that their commitment to the company does not go unnoticed. The NFA award is a great recognition that boosts morale and demonstrates to the industry as a whole that we can help them with their own businesses.

All of us really appreciate every single vote that has been given to us this year, particularly given the very tough competition.” The company is recognised by customers for helping to support their business with quality colour coated products. Advice is offered on the Kolorseal website to give ideas and trends on colour options that will help fabricators and installers to offer more to their own customers.

Equally, for commercial contracts where architects and specifiers look to create a striking appearance to both contemporary and traditional building projects, the Kolorseal colour palettes offer a complete choice in both UPVC and aluminium products. For Deborah Hendry, the NFA Colour Specialist of the Year Award is a wonderful achievement. She comments,“In a very tough market we are so proud and deeply humbled to have won this year. No doubt our success story can be attributed not just to the quality standards we provide but also the drive and commitment of the whole team.”

For more information on Kolorseal Ltd please visit www.kolorseal.co.uk or to discuss a project, please call 01924 454856.

AN AWARDS EVENT TO REMEMBER

The National Fenestration Awards winners event was held last month on Saturday 5th November, and yes, it went off with a bang!

was particularly exciting because of the heavy ground on the day producing some unexpected winners. The food presented included ham hock, lamb rump and warm spiced yorkshire parkin. That wasn’t the most exciting thing about lunch though, to their guests’ surprise, singing waiters from Surprise Shows had a little something up their sleeve! day, he wanted him to do a speech. Carl nervously took to the mic and struggled with the PA system providing some earpiercing screeches on the speakers. The guests were a little curious and felt sorry for Carl but what they didn’t know was what was about to happen… Carl and Jason burst into song with a number called “The Greatest Show” from the feature film, and immediately guests were both shocked and thrilled. What followed was a show stopping performance with lots of audience participation, songs including Sweet Caroline and Daydream Believer. A never-ending conga was also parading around the room and the waiters also picked out a boyband tribute act from members of our excited audience.

This certainly was dinner and a show! As racing ended a delicious selection of sandwiches and cakes were served at

afternoon tea as attendees awaited the awards presentation to begin. Presenter Lee Phelps, experienced sports editor, radio presenter and producer then arrived to announce our winners, the atmosphere was electric as guests waited to see if they had been crowned 2022 champions. Winners made their way to the stage area gathering great applause from the 300 strong crowd. They were then congratulated by Lee and Sarah, from FENEX, collected their fully engraved glass trophy and certificate and had a celebratory photo taken on stage. They then walked to the ‘NFA winners enclosure’ for another great photo opportunity! 2022 NFA winners badges, available for the whole team, were also collected throughout the night. 33 trophies were then given out along with two extra surprise awards recognising multiple award wins and a lifetime in fenestration.

This year new categories were added to the campaign including Window Component, Director of the year and Conservatory Product. Winners included Morley Glass and Glazing, Stuga Machinery and the Endurance Avantal door. A full list of winners, photographs and a video, can be found on the 2022 winners page. In the closest category - Young Person of the Year, the top 5 finalists were all given a trophy celebrating up and coming talent in the fenestration industry. Congratulations to all winners! Next it was time to celebrate as Helter Skelter played a perfect range of songs from Oasis to

The Beatles, it was great to see guests let their hair down on the dancefloor and all partied into the night. Lee Clarke, Director of the NFA’s Said ”We certainly won’t forget this event in a hurry and want to thank all who took time out to join us and say thank you to all our sponsors. It will be difficult to top our 2022 event, but we will be brainstorming to see how we can make the 2023 event bigger and better as we celebrate our 10th anniversary. Yes you heard that right, the NFAs were launched in 2013 and we are planning to mark the occasion significantly, so watch this space!” The National Fenestration Awards would once again like to thank all who made the event possible including all sponsors, staff at the Hilton, videographer, photographer, singing waiters and Helter Skelter. For more information about the National Fenestration Awards, for instance how you can become a sponsor, please head to our website.

”We certainly won’t forget this event in a hurry and want to thank all who took time out to join us and say thank you to all our sponsors. It will be difficult to top our 2022 event, but we will be brainstorming to see how we can make the 2023 event bigger and better as we celebrate our 10th anniversary. Yes you heard that right, the NFAs were launched in 2013 and we are planning to mark the occasion significantly, so watch this space!”