K2's Aluminium Adventure

Charles Fox, K2’s sales director, discusses the company’s latest product development, a comprehensive and impressive aluminium roof system. In a highly competitive market he suggests that installers should look to offer something different and not sell the conservatory as a commodity. As an industry we must not forget that it’s an aspirational home improvement product and an investment.

There is little doubt that the conservatory market has changed over the last ten years with a number of new entrants throughout the supply chain and up until recently, yielding consistent and strong growth. While the consumer demand which helped ignite this growth has slowed down we still have a huge market to play for. But where is the market going?

Consumer choice is ever expanding in nearly all markets thanks to the global availability of resources and companies desires to extend their product ranges. While many products become mature and relatively saturated, others are developed and marketed as a little more specialist and offer something different. A perfect example is the rapid increase in use of glass in conservatory roofs. Products such as K2’s Celsius have proven a major hit with the consumer, particularly when combined with the inherent strength and design of K2’s own BBA certified conservatory roof system.

K2’s continued commitment to providing its customers with a complete portfolio of conservatory products has now also been expanded with the launch of a comprehensive aluminium conservatory roof system. This new system has been designed to offer significantly faster installation times than other aluminium roof systems and is based on the proven engineering fundamentals of the existing K2 system.

Capped by a high quality thermally–broken aluminium exterior this new system benefits from quality extrusions and castings which have been powder coated in the UK to provide added weathering performance and a better overall finish. The boss end, crestings and finials are completely new castings while the ridge, valley and glazing bar top caps are aluminium extrusions which cap a pvc-u sleeve. During the process of design and field testing this proved to provide a consistent fit and an important thermal break. To complete the system there is the option of a new aluminium end cap or K2’s existing pvc-u end cap and glass retention paddle.

There are few aluminium roof systems that have been designed with the installer in mind. Large component lists and complex connection details are two of the main issues and these have been considered in the design process for this new system. The fixings and accessories including the ridge joints, jack rafter brackets and box gutters of the new product share that of the standard pvc-u system. They are proven across a wide range of applications and climatic conditions in the UK, USA and Europe.

In addition, the existing fixings provide product familiarity for fabricators and installers so the transition from the existing system to the new aluminium one is a relatively easy and simplistic exercise. This is also made easier thanks to K2’s changeover programme which is designed for both fabricators and installers. Factory layout, installer training, surveyor training, fabricator training and first build assists are just a few elements of the process that’s designed to help the transition. Given that K2 is now approaching its eighth trading year this offering has been constantly refined to offer the K2 customer everything needed to move over from another system or indeed to commence as a new start.

So what has the initial response been? A number of existing customers have now taken the product and the feedback from them and the consumer has been overwhelming. Consumers demand choice in the form of different products and not just a “me too” approach and this rationale holds regardless of market sector. Ultimately this has made the selling process for the K2 customer much easier with the new aluminium offering.

Sales of the new product are growing strongly and it simply isn’t replacing those of the core K2 system, but is engaging a new type of K2 customer.

For anyone involved in the conservatory sector new and proven products are the future for the industry, to simply stand still is in effect to go backwards. If companies want to excel at a time when their competitors aren’t then a little innovation and commitment could help change their fortune, but don’t wait too long. New opportunities need to be embraced and not left on the shelf.