Super Rig supports boom for sliding doors
Lorraine Balch, Certification Manager for Fenestration at BSI, explains how its ‘Super Rig’ is helping customers to test their sliding doors
Due to a rapidly changing political and economic landscape, there’s been a significant drop in consumer confidence in the housing market. As a result, many consumers are looking to renovate their home rather than investing in new property; driving demand for high-quality, design led re-installed products. Many homeowners are renovating to increase the amount of natural light and space they have in their home. This can be seen in the growth of bi-folding and sliding doors fitted in the UK over recent years and the rise in popularity for features that connect their indoor and outdoor environments. It’s been predicted that the global bi-fold doors market will be worth £10,447 million in 2023 which creates an incredible opportunity for the fenestration industry.
In order to meet the needs of the market, BSI has invested in a ‘Super Rig’ for windows and doors testing at its Centre of Excellence based in Hemel Hempstead. The Super Rig enables the testing of doors and windows up to six metres wide including bi-fold and sliding doors. The super rig enables our teams to accommodate new designs and specifications, as well as doubling the testing capacity at the fenestration laboratory, helping manufacturers bring products to market faster. Eurocell is one of the first customers to have its products tested on the new Super Rig. James Rotherham, Design Manager at Eurocell commented: “BSI’s ‘Super Rig’ came at the perfect time for us. It allowed us to test the maximum sizes of our new Studio Glide aluminium bi-folding door system that we have launched. We have a long-standing relationship with BSI and the ‘Super Rig’ has allowed us to test all of our products to PAS 24 without the need to go elsewhere.”
The fenestration laboratory carries out various security and performance testing on windows and doorsets including mechanical, impact and endurance testing. System houses and fabricators may choose to have their windows and doors tested against the recently revised PAS 24; the publically available specification for enhanced security performance requirements for doorsets and windows in the UK. PAS 24 provides guidance on testing and assessing the enhanced security performance requirements for windows and doors, intended to resist the levels and methods of attack experienced in the UK. The BSI Kitemark™ also covers PAS 24 and therefore offers a competitive solution for meeting the requirements of Approved Document Q, demonstrating that products are high quality, durable and fit for purpose.
Other trends to watch
With the rise in home improvements likely to continue, it’s important for vendors to understand what product trends are driving consumer choices. There are three key trends to take note of for the future:
(1). Dual-colour frames
A popular trend for those renovating their homes is the use of coloured PVC-U window frames. This popularity has also driven an increase in manufacturers offering dual-colour frames, which were the most in-demand products across the UK window industry in 2017.
(2). Sustainable solutions
As more consumers reinstall PVC-U windows into their home, there is an increasing demand for installers and suppliers to meet environmentally friendly standards when removing products. Waste generated through replacements creates a negative impact on the environment. The UK accounts for sending tens of millions of products to the landfills and out of these wastes, only 5% of them are recycled.
(3). The rise of aluminium
With more suppliers creating ultra slim line aluminium frames for both residential and construction purposes there is clearly an opportunity for manufacturers and suppliers to continue to innovate the design and functionality of aluminium products in 2019.
For more information, please visit https://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/our-services/product-certification/industry-sector-schemes/construction/windows-and-doors/certification-schemes/
