Sustained uplift in demand

Reopening with a small team to meet demand from emergency contractors in April, Mackenzie Glass said that it has since seen a steady increase in demand.

This includes significant demand for laminates, as glass processors access demand from the healthcare sector to retail, for protective screening.

Mark Herbert, joint-managing director at Mackenzie Glass, said: “We had some customers, working in emergency repair and essential healthcare, including the Nightingale Hospital scheme, who continued to work throughout the crisis, generating sustained but low-level demand.

“In the past couple of weeks, we’ve seen customers now coming back in greater volume, increasing demand for product, particularly laminate glass. We will continue to phase the return of our teams in line with that increasing demand.”

Mackenzie Glass’ reported a 30% jump in demand for cut-to-size laminate, prior to lockdown driven by new regulatory requirements under PAS24, as well as the increased specification of larger IGUs.

This prompted investment in a new Bottero 515LAMe laminated glass cutting table, Mackenzie’s second laminate cutting platform, giving it the capacity to handle 4.5m x 3.2m laminated sheets.

“The limited availability of toughened glass during lockdown has meant that demand for laminate has continued to build,” Mark said.