It’s been just over 12 months since Prefix officially rolled out the S2 glazed roof system. Glass Times editor, Luke Wood, caught up with Prefix director, Chris Cooke, to see how well the system has been adopted by customers – as well as discussing the launch of WARMdeck, a new flat roof offering that completes the roof specialist’s product portfolio.

Luke Wood (LW): Chris, Prefix was a launch partner for the S2 roof from Sheerline. Can you remind us of the reason for adopting this system and the advantages it delivers for your customers?

Chris Cooke (CC): Put simply, prior to the introduction of S2, we felt that the glass roof sector had stagnated, for many reasons but, mainly due to the fact the roof market has evolved.

Our award-winning WARMroof solid roof, for example, demonstrates this evolution and continues to go from strength to strength, but glass roofs are still a vital part of our business and we had found ourselves in a position where we were lacking a product that could really excite our customers.

We needed something that could deliver modern, contemporary aesthetics and class leading performance, but also something that could be priced competitively.

When we started talking to Garnalex about the Sheerline S2 roof, we knew very early on that we were onto a winner. The system is a redesign of the original K2 roof, a system that has been in the market for a number of years and one that has been proven, tried and tested in the field – so it was clear that it was a robust and high-quality solution.

What Sheerline did was build on that, to create a much more contemporary looking design with square line claddings, plus square line aluminium external cappings and aluminium ridge cappings.

For example, the large capacity 205mm box gutter has built in structural brackets which means the box never needs unsightly gallows brackets for support. They are well thought-through, discrete and don’t limit the maximum length of box gutter!

The square box section eaves is stronger – so they span further than other roof systems – and to cater for the modern trend for wider bi-fold openings, you can also specify an eaves bolster. The ridge section is also the slimmest on the market, which helps to maximise the amount of glazing and light.

Homeowners can specify an internal lighting pelmet, which gives a high-quality, orangery aesthetic and an external gutter shroud – which has a structural gutter bracket to eliminate the need for unsightly tie wires, and can also be easily retro-fitted to an existing S2 roof or WARMroof – another example of more modern design elements.

Crucially, dealing with Garnalex, a UK based extruder, has meant S2 is available at a price competitive rate and our customers can directly benefit from those cost savings.

LW: How has the S2 been received by customers since launch?

CC: It’s been a great success and I think that’s reflected in a positive upturn in the glass roof market, especially over the last few months.

The S1 lantern, for example, is proving popular not just because it looks fantastic and it’s easy to fit, but also because it has Secured By Design accreditation, which is something that local authorities are increasingly asking for.

And of course, SheerVent, the aluminium flush roof vent, that is used across both the S1 and S2 systems.

And while the glass roof market was down in 2023 and into 2024, I think that could have been due to a number of factors, including broader economic conditions and the bad weather.

But now, post general election and with interest and mortgage rates helping to boost consumer confidence, we have seen a noticeable upturn over the last few months and I’m quietly confident this will build in the run up to Christmas, as it’s historically a busy period for us. I think homeowners that had paused larger ticket home improvement projects are now deciding to go ahead – perhaps they previously upgraded a set of bi-folds and now want to renovate the conservatory windows to match and get the roof done at the same time – and this is helping to fuel a general resurgence in conservatory sales.

LW: Have you also seen increased demand for your Outdoor Living products?

CC: Absolutely! For a number of years, we have supplied outdoor living products. And they are set to be one of the big growth areas for the sector. That was evidenced by the number of veranda and pergola style products at the 2023 FIT Show but also reflected in reports of growing trends for outdoor kitchens and pizza ovens.

There’s no getting away from the fact that the Great British public love their gardens, and our range of outdoor living products means they can really make the most of that additional space without being comprised by the weather.

Our Verandah system, for example, can be specified with an S2 roof. It can do down to a pitch of 2.5 degrees and is available in a wide range of finishes and RAL colours.

We also offer a contemporary pergola system with a louvred roof detail. The louvres can be operated electronically, to moderate the light and airflow and again, there’s further options for lighting and glass doors.

These all feed into demand for home improvements, but I believe we will also see a greater volume of outdoor living solutions being specified into new builds in the future.

When you consider the original conservatory market was limited to the typical 1990s white box, the opportunities are massive now with the growing appeal of modern conservatories, ground floor extensions and extended living products.

LW: You are launching a new product this month, a flat roof solution called WARMdeck. Tell us more about it.

CC: We actually began the R&D process for WARMdeck before the Covid lockdown, so we had the design and machinery in place, but decided to hold off the launch until the market was more settled.

Around 12 months ago, we decided the time was right to introduce it and after field testing with a number of customers, we’re now ready to launch it properly.

The idea behind it is to offer our customers a way of targeting flat roof projects that would normally be handed to builders, usually because homeowners would assume they were the best trade for the job.

It’s a big market, there are hundreds of thousands of old-fashioned flat roofs in the UK that have perished over the years, and WARMdeck is a modern, easy to fit and highly thermally efficient way of replacing them.

As with our WARMroof solid roof, it’s a true warm roof because the insulation is at the top, so it will keep the whole structure warm, without the risk of condensation on the interior.

Plus, it can be configured to accommodate our flat roof lights and lanterns, which opens up even more opportunity for our customers to upsell to their customers, with everything available from Prefix as a single supply source.

LW: Lastly, how optimistic are you for the remainder of 2024 and into 2025?

CC: As I said, the run up to Christmas is usually a good time for us and we are currently seeing an upturn in demand – so I remain cautiously optimistic for the year ahead.

And, while recent years have demonstrated how difficult it is to make any accurate market predictions these days, I will put my neck on the line and say I’m also optimistic for 2025. When you’ve been in the industry as long as we have, you realise that everything goes in cycles and I’m hopeful that we’re due an upturn for next year!