Glazerite: using investment to help installers win heritage business

The Glazerite UK Group’s marketing manager, Michelle Wright, shares the fabricator’s plans for its heritage range, and how keeping it under constant review adds value for its installers.

Glazerite investment is built around choice, quality and matching demand – and with sales of heritage-style windows and doors continuing to flourish, our heritage range remains under constant review.

Sometimes it’s what seems like even minor adjustments that can make all the difference in what we provide for our customers.

Our heritage window range gives our installers access to a range of options that will appeal to homeowners, including the classic vertical slider from Veka, and three flush sash products: Halo Flush Sash, Residence 7 and Residence 9.

We have two sites dedicated to the manufacture of heritage products, with our Wellingborough-based ‘Specials Division’ focusing on The Residence Collection, and our Glazerite East site producing the Halo range. Significant investment has been made at both sites, with the introduction of Timberweld technology resulting in some great benefits for both ranges.

Residence Collection products can now be ordered unglazed, making the logistics and fitting easier for our installers. The Halo flush sash, which had previously only been available with a mitre weld, now benefits from the addition of an authentic butt joint, which has great aesthetic appeal for homeowners looking to enhance their property with a classic and authentic heritage style.

One recent example of the quality of the Timberweld application to our Halo portfolio is this stunning installation in Barley, Lancashire, which is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Originally built in 1607, the property had previously been renovated with casement windows. These were replaced with Halo last year, which has restored the original charm and character of the house.

In the last couple of months at Glazerite East, we’ve installed new tooling on our Haffner, which has improved our routing times for System 10 and Rustique door frames. This fairly simple change of a different drill has resulted in improved quality and improved output for residential doors, French doors and composite doors manufactured to complete our Halo range. We’ve also moved to the 3D adjustable SFS butt hinge for these doors, which gives installers greater control of adjustment where needed onsite.

Our Specials Division, where we fabricate the Residence Collection portfolio, has also been subject to a number of improvements. We’ve moved to the WindowWare Mark II monkeytail handle and the Maco lock, both of which are fantastic additions to the functionality and performance for homeowners. Security is always a big factor for homeowners and a strong selling point for installers, which is why we’ve undergone independent testing on our Residence Collection windows in order to achieve PAS 24 and Secured by Design Accreditation (SBD).

We work with around a third of our customer base, providing tailored marketing support to help support the quest for new business. This includes heritage-focused marketing material, including a dedicated brochure, banner stands and drop cards to help installers position their heritage offering to customers.

This is bolstered by the marketing and social media strategies pursued by our suppliers, with the Residence Collection able to generate leads for our installers via their own website. Aspirational imagery of installs really helps customers visualise heritage styles and how they can work on both period properties and more contemporary homes. It’s an area we’ve been working on via sites like Pinterest as part of our social media toolkit, which we’ve recently launched as a resource for installers to tap into for their own use.

As demonstrated by recent developments in the fabrication of our heritage products, we strive continually to broaden and improve our offering. Leveraging new technology, making adjustments to products, and underpinning this offering with dedicated marketing support enables us to better support our installers looking to stake their claim and win new business in heritage.