In partnership

Kömmerling’s partnership with Saveheat Group, which includes Blairs Windows and Doors, along with Merlin Network, has flourished over the last 18 months explains Gareth Jones, managing director of Profine UK and the Kömmerling brand.

Like all good partnerships, ours with Saveheat Group has worked well for both parties and the decision to bring the Kömmerling product range to Blairs, a business with an esteemed history in timber, means that we have a strong representation across Scotland.

As managing director Alex Gray will tell you, “it’s been a combination of class leading windows and doors, outstanding product quality and world-class service and support that have enabled us to thrive as a group with Kömmerling”.

From an energy efficiency standpoint, we’ve also been able to successfully test a reinforced, double glazed Kömmerling O70 window to a U-value of just 1.2W/m2k, a pre-requisite for the Scottish market and without the need for near cost prohibitive glass.With Merlin Network looking to take Kömmerling 76 later in the year, there’s also the promise of outstanding casement and tilt and turn windows down to a U-value of 1.1 W/m2k and even to Passivhaus levels of performance, with the adoption of proEnergyTec pre-foamed profiles.

This new opportunity for Merlin is on the back of the fact that this business has over 40 years’ experience in high quality PVCU windows and doors, with product quality consistently first class and order fulfillment levels in excess of 98%. This has only been achieved by the fact that we’ve been able to deliver products to the same world class standards north of the border.

Saveheat Group’s manufacturing strategy is also relatively simple, in that Merlin Network take account of the east coast and some central regions in Scotland, while the relatively new Blairs facility for PVCU will focus on the west coast and centrally. Both businesses also have the resources to support installers in the very north of Scotland and on the many islands that feature on the west coast.

In addition to the O70 (ovolo) window and door system within the Kömmerling 70 platform, our PremiLine patio door has been a popular product option for Saveheat. There are a number of new developments on this patio door including heavy duty rollers for larger spans, and a bump stop.

These latest developments have been as a result of working in partnership with Ciilock Engineering and Window Ware and help differentiate the Kömmerling patio door from other me-too products in the sector. Combined with these and other new features on the PremiLine patio door, it’s arguably the most feature rich product in the Scottish PVCU sector, fully reflecting the Kömmerling brand reputation for outstanding product innovation.

While Saveheathas invested heavily in the Kömmerling brand, within its business it has also put in over £1million in new machinery, which allows it to set a 0.2mm weld seam restriction on all window and door frames. Furthermore, new software allows Saveheat to track windows and doors through production with a bar coding solution, as it looks to excel operationally.

Like all of the long-term relationships we have with our customers, the way in which we’ve worked closely with Saveheat Group and its respective brands of Blairs and Merlin Network has been good for both parties.

We’ve seen the market penetration of the Kömmerling brand right across Scotland for both the O70 window and the PremiLine patio door. With U-values and product performance towards the top of the agenda for Scottish PVCU window and door fabricators, along with installers, there’s also the reassurance that our name represents unrivalled product innovation, quality and performance thanks to Saveheat Group.