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APEER: ‘STAYING AHEAD OF EXPECTATIONS’

January 7th, 2020 - Beth

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The last decade has seen more development and diversity in doors than at any other time, not only in an ever growing spectrum of styles and finishes but in the functionality and specialist applications as well as materials. A natural result of this is that fabricators and installers are putting as much emphasis on the benefits of a single source for all their door needs as the specification and quality of the products themselves.

“Not long ago, many manufacturers and fabricators could get away with a passable spread of traditional and contemporary composites, and, to be honest, there are some that haven’t progressed much since then.” said Apeer Managing Director, Asa McGillian.

“Others may think that if one of their customers occasionally wants a fire door or maybe a specialist finish, they can let them look somewhere else and expect them to come back to them for their conventional ranges. The problem is this burdens the installer not only with the wasted time dealing with multiple sources but also the uncertainty of inconsistency as well as the trust built up with one sole supplier.”

Apeer saw these changes coming a long time ago and made a commitment to stay ahead of the market by extending its existing strong reputation for consistent quality and service with a one-stop solution for all door needs. This process of evolution and development has never been as active as it has in the last year with the introduction of two major innovations, one to tackle the most technically urgent challenge of the moment and one to lead the most up-to-the-minute aesthetic trend.

The most recent was the FIT Show launch of Silka, a remarkable new smooth matt finish developed in response to demand for the look of aluminium. This brought to the door market the trend for cross-over products already prevalent in windows, giving the look of the metal on composite or PVC-U.

“We could see why consumers and commercial developers were catching onto this so quickly,” said Asa. “It meant they could have the best of both worlds, whether for value engineering in commercial tenders – one of the biggest factors driving the trend – for the additional thermal efficiency or simply for the look itself. With Silka, they can now get the same stunning effect on their doors either to match their windows or as a statement in its own right, and in a range of styles colours and furniture to blend in with any surroundings.

In the field of functionality, Apeer was among the first in the industry to go back to the market with a bi-laterally tested FD30 fire door after the industry’s voluntary moratorium on all composite fire door sales last year.

Asa explained: “After the shadow of fire resistance testing was cast on the industry, we were able to bring not only a fully FD30 bi-laterally tested door range to the market with our FD30 Isolate range but to follow that with glazed units as well as solid and even with apertures for letterboxes and spyholes.”

Asa concluded: “It is no longer enough to offer a few doors with a few styles and functions. The industry has moved on since those days. At Apeer, we have kept on moving to stay ahead of industry expectations and we will keep on moving forward as long as the industry needs us to.”

Apeer manufactures the most comprehensive portfolio of composite doors for its Traditional, Contemporary and ultra-modern Modo ranges as well as residential and patio doors in its radical Lumi and Lumi2 systems as well as Isolate and Silka, all of which can be seen and ordered via its online Apeer Door Builder facility.

ISSUE: NOVEMBER 2019

 


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