Clearview South December 2013 - Issue 145 | Page 37

ALUMINIUM

HELPING TO
REBUILD SCHOOL
COMMUNITY
A rebuilt school near Doncaster,
which boasts state-of-the-art amenities,
has benefited from the specification
of products from glazing systems
manufacturer Senior Architectural
Systems. The contemporary design
of Campsmount Technology College
incorporates a host of innovative
and market-leading curtain
walling systems from Senior.
Campsmount sits between
the villages of Norton and
Campsall in South Yorkshire
and is particularly significant
to people in surrounding
communities as the original
school was completely
destroyed in 2009 by a
fire caused by an electrical
fault.
After the government axed
the Building Schools for the
Future (BSF) programme, the
Campsmount rebuild became
a pilot project for cost saving
reforms and was also the pilot
project for main contractor
Wates Construction’s innovative
Adapt Schools Solutions
design approach. The results

of the project set out the key
recommendations for the
efficient delivery of educational
buildings.
CPMG specified Senior’s
aluminium SMR800 curtain
wall system for the student and
visitor entrances and receptions
of the building, helping to flood
the interior with natural light,
which creates a positive learning
environment for both staff and
pupils. The SMR800 medium
rise system is fully weather
tested to the requirements
of CWCT and is designed
to achieve high weather and
thermal performance, along
with being compartmentally
drained.

To read more, visit www.clearview-uk.com

CLEARVIEW EXCLUSIVE

Why standard
white isn’t
enough and why
we’d rather be
a purple cow
Following the success of his bifold doctor column, TWR Trade
Frames’ Terry Richardson is now
the aluminium doctor. Focussed
on high-growth products and
helping installers grow, his first
column talks about the benefits
of going premium.
All the signs are telling us that
economic recovery is becoming a
reality. For those of us who have
survived and thrived during this
brutal recession, we will have
certainly learnt a thing or two.
Here at TWR Trade Frames we’ve
learnt that a purple cow stands out
against a sea of black and white
ones.
Keep it simple

What we really mean by being
a purple cow is to do things
differently and be brave enough
to follow new ventures and ideas
through.
Post 2008 ‘crash’ we re-focused
on premium growth products.
We re-arranged and invested in
our factory to accommodate extra
bi-fold lines; and from scratch
created a bi-fold survey, support
and installation service.
Most recently we have started to
manufacture and supply Residence
9. Premium is key and adapting
to it has helped us and our
installer customers enter, and win
contracts, in lucrative markets.
The alternative would have been
to rely solely on standard white
PVCu windows and doors, which
had previously counted for the
bulk of our turnover. But these
suffered as a result of the credit
crunch and the squeeze on the
disposable income of lower to
middle earners.

So what next?

But with bi-folding doors
becoming ever more popular and
many more fabricators adding
them to their portfolio, one
question we ask at TWR is - what
are the next growth products?
The bi-fold market isn’t quite
saturated yet and many companies
still haven’t got the service,
infrastructure and product quality
just right; but it’s a valid question because nothing lasts forever.
Colour

Colour holds great opportunities.
The reality is that more and more
homeowners are replacing their
existing windows and doors with
coloured frames because white
isn’t always exciting enough. I
personally think that colour is
king – and when you consider the
PVC-u windows installed in the
1980s are gradually being replaced
up and down the county, the
opportunities are there.

DEC 2013

37