On Point issue 5 Newsletter from Window Ware

Welcome to ON POINT.

It hardly feels like yesterday that we were starting 2022 and we are already well into the first quarter of 2023! What a year; and I know that the last 12 months have flown by for so many of us! Following the successful completion of our management buyout towards the end of last year, 2023 is definitely a year of possibility and new beginnings for Window Ware.

That’s not to say, however, that it’ll be all change from here on out! Quite the contrary in fact! Stability and continuity are very much the focus for the senior leadership team and I for our valued customers and suppliers and also our hardworking employees. You can get the full story on the back page.

I have to say, when we first announced the MBO back in November, we had such a positive response. The news caused a real sense of optimism and excitement in the industry, and we were truly honoured by all the messages of support and congratulations. We will do our utmost to live up to your high expectations and continue in true Window Ware fashion, providing the top-level service, rock-solid supply, and ever-dependable deliveries you need to prosper.

In keeping with our theme of continuity, I’m delighted to introduce another issue of Window Ware’s newsletter: On POINT Spring 2023. Happy reading!

New Regal door handle completes the range

Fulfilling fabricator demand for matching period door and window hardware

The Regal Hardware door handle might be a relative newcomer to the market having launched last Summer, but it’s already made its mark.

From the moment our official launch announcement landed on desks and in fabricator inboxes, it was met with resounding delight and a flurry of enquiries! And that’s no exaggeration! As one fabricator so aptly put it: “What a fantastic product! We have been waiting for the launch of a door handle.”

This was music to the ears of the Window Ware technical department and the perfect conclusion to a product development project that came about in direct response to customer requests.

Our Product Manager, Rob Vaughan explains, “We knew that many of our fabricators, particularly those working with premium flash sash systems like The Residence Collection, were struggling to source a heritage door handle that would match perfectly with the rest of the Regal Hardware range.”

“After months of careful research and and meticulous product design, we think we’ve nailed it with our exquisite new door handle offering!’

(Story continues on page 2)

THE NEW REGAL HARDWARE HERITAGE DOOR HANDLE IS HERE!

Window Ware takes ownership of its future

Senior leadership team prove they’re ‘all-in’ with management buyout

Sam Nuckey Managing Director

Supporting your Part F compliance journey

Helping you meet new requirements with straight-forward advice and compliant vents

It’s been 7 months since the revised Part F ventilation requirements of the Building Regulations in England came into force and 2 months since Welsh Building Regs followed suit. Whether you’ve got the new guidelines sussed or you’re still in the transition period, whatever stage you’re at in your compliance journey, Window Ware has got your back with the right support and

Following a successful management buyout in November, Window Ware is now run and owned by its esteemed senior leadership team – the same people who have guided the business to deliver growth, great service, and a solid supply to customers for the past 8 years.

Window Ware Managing Director, Sam Nuckey says, “The senior leadership team and I are passionate as

the right products you need to comply.

Turn to page 3 for our Part F summary and our pick of compliant vents…

ever about the business and excited for what the future holds, and by becoming Window Ware’s new owners we are only affirming our full and continued commitment.”

Sam maintains, “As director-owners, we feel there’s no one more qualified to champion the best interests of our stakeholders, uphold our core values, and ensure we continue to meet market needs.” (Story continues on the back page)

or visit www.windowware.co.uk/partf Scan

New Regal door handle completes the range – Page 2

Window Ware takes ownership of its future – back Page

New Regal door handle completes the range

Take a closer look at the heritage hardware suite fabricators can’t get enough of!

Continued from front page

Distinctive styling and a premium feel are the hallmarks of the Regal Hardware brand, and the new door handle is no exception. Just like Regal’s top-selling window fasteners and stays, it comes in a choice of two classic designs (monkey tail and pear drop) and nine decadent finishes including ever-popular black and pewter patina, as well as ontrend brushed copper and understated satin chrome. This gives fabricators and homeowners a whole host of hardware design/colour combinations to help them add character, kerb appeal and individuality to their doors and windows.

Luxury flair with flexible functionality

With a choice of 3 different-sized screw and spindle packs (35mm, 40mm & 10-55mm), the window handles are designed to suit both flush sash and standard 70mm profiles, and the door handle is just as flexible. It comes supplied as standard with screws and spindles to accommodate door thicknesses between 70mm and 75mm, with the option of a longer-length fixing pack to suit door thicknesses between 44mm and 90mm.

Enduring quality and performance are a given as all Regal Hardware comes with a 10-year mechanical guarantee and has undergone thorough corrosion testing to BS EN 1670 and cycle testing to 50,000 cycles on the door handle and 20,000 cycles on the window handles.

Persuasive promotional tools

We live in an image-conscious world, so it’s important that Regal Hardware looks the part in the showroom. That’s why we’ve developed a comprehensive range of marketing support to help fabricators and installers really bring home the range’s unique appeal to the homeowners.

On-demand resources such as sample display boards, quality images, brochures, and banners – available through our marketing support portal – make it easy to capture the customers’ imaginations, help them visualise how the products might fit into their own homes and create the all-important desire that ultimately drives sales.

Our commercial team is on the case

Proud to share recent projects and still charting a path of growth

Even though reports suggest the house building sector might have lost momentum in recent months due to weaker consumer confidence and worries about the tough economic outlook, the commercial construction sector on the other hand has remained reassuringly strong.

Indeed, Window Ware has seen significant growth in demand from its commercial fabricators and contractors too. This upward trend is illustrated perfectly by the increase in sales of our top-selling Caldwell and DuoFlex folding opener ranges, wherein 2021 turned out to be our busiest year ever and sales increased by more than half again in 2022!

This success is proof that Window Ware’s expanding and carefully curated product range, coupled with the kind of dedicated, knowledgeable, and well-practiced expertise which regularly receives endorsements from our brand partners, is really

Application story 1: Find out how Window Ware supplied a local fabricator with the perfect glazedin louvres for an ambitious commercialto-residential conversation project in London called ‘Irene House’.

Scan the QR code to read the full story

Application story 2: Read how Window Ware helped one aluminium glazing specialist specify and source the right insulated glazed-in louvres for a new-build sixth form centre at Heathfield Girls’ school.

Scan the QR code to read the full story

Customer story – Go-to for Glazed-in vents

Discover why Window Ware is the preferred provider of over-glass vents for Neil Hoad, Director of glazing repair specialists, Barnard and Hoad Glazing Ltd in East Sussex.

Scan the QR code to read the full story

hitting the mark with this specification-driven sector.

But it isn’t just the standard, off-the-shelf products like folding openers, commercial door hardware or panic bars which are really taking off now. Our custom-built hardware solutions are proving increasingly popular.

Consequently, Window Ware advised on and supported a wide range of highly specified commercial build projects last year and we’re delighted to share just some of those application stories which all feature made-to-measure products such as glazed-in louvres (in all shapes and sizes including an unusual cathedral-style louvre pictured here, as well as full louvre doors and turrets), plus custom-fit over glass ventilators:

Price

31%

15% Quality of products

Predictions and challenges for

10% 1 2 3

2023

Survey reveals biggest issues facing the industry

Almost half (44%) of fabricators and installers predicted that price increases would be the biggest challenge for them this year and 31% agreed that they would need to amend their own prices to ensure continued success in the months ahead.

Discover more insights like these when you check out the full results of our industry survey, originally published in September 2022.

Scan the QR to view the full report or visit:

Supporting your Part F compliance journey

At-a-glance guidance

Continued from front page

Months before the new regulations came into effect, our free Part F summary guide made a great starting point to kick off our customers’ compliance journeys by distilling the key points of Document F of Building Regulations and keeping things as straightforward as possible.

Today, the summary still provides a quick and valuable point of reference for fabricators and installers looking to fact check and verify their understanding of the new regulations at any point.

Visit www.windowware.co.uk/partf any time to download your copy.

We’ve also put together a selection of independently tested trickle vents chosen for airflow performances that will help you meet the new Doc F 2021 requirements straight out of the box.

Our pick of Part F 2021 compliant trickle vents:

Product Spotlight!

Our pick of new arrivals and products our customers keep raving about!

Yale Lockmaster 28

Multi-point lock for slim sightline profiles

Available in standard 16mm faceplate and 24mm u-channel variants designed for bi-fold traffic doors. Feature’s Lockmaster’s signature hook and anti-lift pins.

(To simplify fitting, the following models all require a 13mm slot height)

Scan the QR codes to visit individual product pages or visit www.windowware.co.uk/ ventilation/trickle-vents to browse the full range of trickle vents online and easily refine your search based on vent length or EA.

RW

Length: 400mm, Airflow 3026 EA

Length: 600mm, Airflow 6132 EA

NEW Yale Lockmaster 21 Stable Door Lock

RW Simon TTF Slimline

Length: 300mm, Airflow 2972 EA

Length: 400mm, Airflow 4069 EA

Length: 600mm, Airflow 5235 EA

Offering security, style and functionality

Delivering stable door functionality for modern PVC door sets. Top leaf is configured for a lever door handle, with a Lockmaster KeyTurn on the bottom leaf. Separate top and bottom keeps for ease of installation

Glide Hardware Bi-fold Range

Robust, high-performance bi-fold hardware

Includes hinges, pull D-handles and shoot bolt handles, rollers, top guides and magnets to kit out almost any bi-fold door configuration. Supports Smarts, Exlabesa, AluK and Cortizo.

Glazpart Link Vent

Length: 236.5mm, Airflow 2512 EA

Length: 380mm, Airflow 4000 EA

Length: 454.5mm, Airflow 5049 EA

Yale SlotVent

Length: 252mm, Airflow 2627 EA

Length: 386mm, Airflow 4206 EA

Simon Sightline

Window Ware is on the up

Investing for the future so we can support customers better

Throughout 2022, Window Ware made significant investments into its products and services to ensure we consistently offer the best possible customer experience in terms of communication, response times and dependability, as well as guarantee our hardware provision always hits the spot:.

Warehouse overhaul –

Last year, we increased our warehouse capacity (adding +50% crate storage and +10% bulk storage) and upscaled our warehouse operations by +30% to meet our customers’ growing demand for door and window hardware solutions.

Service obsessed – A great customer experience is our top priority. Ambitious service goals and sheer hard work ensure fabricators get the quick response, high accuracy, and reliability they need to do their jobs. Last year, our efforts were recognised at the 2022 SME Luton and Bedfordshire Business Awards when we won the Service Excellence category and were named Overall Winner on the night.

Window Ware takes ownership of its future

Senior leadership team prove they’re ‘all-in’ with management buyout

Following a successful management buyout in November, Window Ware is now a fully ‘independent’ hardware provider, owned and run by its existing senior leadership team.

It all started in June 2022, when Window Ware was bought by ASSA ABLOY having been owned by Arran Isle Group (formerly Heywood Williams Components Plc) for more than 20 years. Shortly after, ASSA decided to divest Window Ware.

Seize the moment - Window Ware’s existing senior leadership team saw this as the perfect moment to invest in the company’s future and confirm their commitment to the business they knew and loved. Afterall, who better to own and guide Window Ware into a bright and secure future than the very same people who have run the business since 2015 and helped to create one of the UK’s best-known and most trusted providers of door and window hardware?

Track record of trust - The keyword above is ‘trusted’. Between them, Sam Nuckey, Richard acombined fenestration industry experience. There’s no doubt they already know the business inside out and have proven their leadership credentials during their 8-year tenure at Window Ware, to earn the trust and support of the market. Hence, customers and suppliers can be confident that the new owners are just as committed as ever to maintaining the same close relationships, honest values, on-point product offering and service orientated culture that Window Ware is renowned for.

Solid foundation, big plans - Managing Director Sam Nuckey said, “The senior management team and I are excited to be taking Window Ware forward onto its next stage of growth and it’s great that our investors at Shawbrook could see the huge potential that we do.”

Oliver Sutton, Director of Corporate Lending at Shawbrook Bank agreed, “Right from the beginning of our relationship, we were deeply impressed with Window Ware. The management team is highly professional, and they have built up a significant reputation in their marketplace. They have invested well into their business and established a scalable platform with smart and efficient processes. This puts them in great stead to build on their previous success..”

Sam finished by saying, “As we strive for even bigger and better times ahead, we remain as committed as ever to preserving all the ‘little things’ that make Window Ware a great company to work for and do business with and keep our customers coming back to us year after year.”

Strong team – Last year we expanded our internal sales and customer service teams and implemented a new staff training plan to refresh skills, build product knowledge, and create the high levels of care and expertise our customers need.

Right products – Last year, we added 408 new SKUs to our product portfolio in a bid to meet our customers’ changing hardware requirements; that includes 230 Part F compliant trickle vent variants plus new bi-fold and commercial door hardware, stable door locks and more.

Ware, Telford Way, Cross Park, Bedford MK42 0PQ