Morley Glass has been the leading UK manufacturer of ScreenLine integral blinds for 20 years. Glass Times editor, Luke Wood, visits the Leeds based facility to learn more about how the company has continued to build on its success.

Morley Glass has been making its Uni-Blinds integral blinds since 2004, after identifying a gap in the market for a high-quality alternative to traditional wall-mounted blinds and for a product that had proved itself to be incredibly popular with homeowners on a global scale, but had yet to find traction in the UK market.

From day one, Morley has only manufactured the range of ScreenLine systems from Italian specialist, Pellini, a company that helped to pioneer integral blind technology as far back as the 1970s.

For Ian Short, managing director of Morley Glass, the decision to partner with Pellini was based on the quality of the product range, something that would help to ensure the best possible solution for Morley’s customers.

That commitment to the very best products and service has proved to be a very successful formula over the last two decades. In 2004, Morley’s order book with Pellini was valued at just over 50,000 Euros and by 2005 it had manufactured around 1,400 integral blinds.

In 2022, however, it made 152,553 blinds and that order book was nudging 18milllion Euros – an upward trajectory that looks set to continue into its 20th anniversary year and beyond.

“The quality of the ScreenLine system is absolutely integral to the success of the business,” explains Ian. “There are other systems on the market, but nothing else really comes close in terms of reliability or the standard of engineering and that means we can sell on quality and service – we’re not price driven – because our customers know they can trust our products to perform as they should.

“There are cheaper integral blinds available, but our customers know that with Uni-Blinds, they can concentrate on selling a premium, value-added offering and not have to worry about constant remedial work, which can impact on their bottom line because it’s costly and time consuming to put things right,” he continues. “And they can also win more business on the back of positive referrals and a good reputation.”

According to Ian, Morley’s growth is built not just on the quality of the Uni-Blinds brand – it is also due to exceptionally high standards of production.

This is evident in the company’s pristine, 53,000ft² factory, which it has occupied since 2016, and which incorporates barcode scanning for full traceability in quality control.

It is also evident in its unique dual sealed units. Both the inner and outer panes of glass in Morley’s Uni-Blinds units are separated by a warm edge spacer bar to guarantee optimal thermal performance, and it is the only UK integral blind manufacturer to produce units in this way.

“We demand the very best throughout our production processes, and we’re the only UK based integral blind manufacturer to meet and exceed TüV’s EN 1279 type testing for sealed units,” says Ian.

“It’s an incredibly strict test, and when we first had the TüV inspectors in the factory, we were told that we weren’t ready for the accreditation. That came as a bit of a surprise at the time, but if anything it only made me want to work harder, to improve our processes.

“Now we have achieved that standard, it’s set the bar very high – but we know that it’s worth the effort because again, it all comes back to quality and service.”

Sustained growth

Ian is also quick to underline the value of the people that are employed at Morley Glass. The company has invested significantly in staff training at all levels, which means that all admin staff are up to speed on products and specifications, and key team members are also trained in the mechanics of the Pellini systems to help trouble shoot with any potential customer issues.

Morley employs three, full time service engineers as well as a customer service manager and also helps to train customers with installation techniques to further improve end user satisfaction.

This, along with continued investment in marketing and in transport – Morley currently operates 38 vehicles with five more on order – has helped to nurture the ScreenLine brand into a premium, ‘value added’ product offering.

That’s supported by excellent lead times and nationwide delivery in as little as 10-12 working days.

It’s also underlined by a genuine – and award-winning – commitment to sustainability. Morley’s glass recycling initiative, which was developed in conjunction with Saint-Gobain Glass won the G23 Award for ‘Sustainability Initiative of the Year’, and has helped to save vast amounts of resources, energy and C02 emissions, as well as generating thousands in financial support for charitable causes.

Under the scheme, Morley Glass collects post-consumer IGUs, free of charge, when they deliver new orders of Uni-Blinds and these are then returned and crushed into cullet back at HQ. The cullet is then supplied to Saint-Gobain, and used in place of raw materials for the production of new float glass.

At the time of the G23 award entry, Morley had generated nearly 2,500 bags of cullet, the equivalent of 1,850 tonnes of sand, and reduced C02 emissions in the glass manufacturing process by over 1,000 tonnes.

“Our recycling scheme has been a fantastic success,” says Ian. “It’s been really encouraging to see more installers coming on board with it, and the fact that we’ve been able to pass on the benefits to help provide funding for community initiatives has been the icing on the cake.”

Product development

While integral blinds continue to be Morley’s ‘bread and butter’, the company continues to push forward with product development, including the introduction of Uni-Switch switchable smart glass, that was launched at the 2023 FIT Show.

Uni-Switch works by applying an ultra-thin layer film to glass, which is then activated with an electrical current and can turn the glass opaque and clear again, at the flick of a switch. It can also be operated remotely or with a smart phone and can be specified easily into bi-fold doors.

“There’s a host of exciting applications for Uni-Switch and we’ve seen some good traction since launch, especially into office spaces,” says Ian. “It’s a great product, but we also continue to develop our core Uni-Blinds range, for example with our latest, pleated black out blinds – which are ideal for bedrooms or home cinema rooms and which are exclusive to Morley Glass – and with the introduction of new colours within our Venetian range, including agate grey and black which we think will prove to be a very popular option.

“We’ve certainly had a very positive start to 2024,” he concludes. “We’ve come a long way since 2004 – thanks to the success of Uni-Blinds, we’re now not just the manufacturer in the UK, we’re one of the largest, bespoke integral blind manufacturers in the world.”