NEWS

Luxury sports car retailer Luigi Motor Services based in New Mills, decided to improve the look of his showroom and make it easier to drive sports cars in and out. He turned to specialist manufacturer KAT UK for advice.

KAT recommended their aluminium bifolding doors combined with fixed toplights, to accommodate the aperture width and height. Luigi chose black doors to denote luxury and because the doors will experience a lot of vehicle traffic, black is easier to keep looking good. At one end of the doorset Luigi specified a pedestrian traffic door as the bifolds are now the main showroom entrance.

Luigi is delighted with the finished look and practicality. "Customers can now see my cars even when we are closed and the low track height allows me to drive over the threshold with ease. I can’t believe the difference these doors have made to my showroom. I have ordered another 2 sets from KAT UK"

KAT UK, the UK’s leading supplier of patio doors and vertical sliding sash windows, donated £3719 during 2006 to Care for the Wild International (CWI) – it will help aid the charity’s work in protecting wild tigers.

KAT UK agreed to make a contribution to the charity for every unit it sold and has donated almost £7,500 since it launched the scheme in 2005. The firm will continue to support CWI during 2007.

Managing director at KAT UK, Jonathan Sheard said: “We’ve used the tiger in our logo for almost nine years but regardless of that connection, we believe this is a worthwhile charity that undertakes extremely important work as there may be less than 5000 tigers left in the wild today."

“Our donation will help Care for the Wild International protect wild tigers by funding equipment, manpower and extra support for forest guards – several of whom are killed each year by poachers.”

CWI has been working since 1995 to protect the tiger in India and has delivered over £200,000 to develop a variety of key projects.

Since it was founded, CWI has provided 35 vehicles for anti-poaching teams working in India’s Tiger Reserves. Over £100,000 of equipment has been donated to date for the protection of the Bengal tiger including jeeps, motorcycles and motorboats, binoculars and cameras. CWI has also provided 192 forest guards in Ranthambore Tiger Reserve with insurance policies for life and sick cover. CWI was also first to address the world’s biggest threat facing tigers today – wildlife trade involving Tibetans and other Himalayan communities – securing the support of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to act as a champion for wildlife protection.

KAT UK has launched two new fire egress windows for its Elegance and Classic vertical sliding sash window ranges, which will allow its customers to meet the stringent Building Regulations fire escape window requirements in the UK and Ireland¹.

A fire escape option with a unique side hinged system has been designed exclusively for KAT UK for its Elegance range of vertical sliding sash windows, which will allow windows as small as 600 mm square to comply with current UK and Ireland Building Regulations.

The unique KAT UK hinge mechanisms on the Elegance window allows both sashes to slide vertically and swing inwards to give an egress aperture of almost the full window size. Standard frames are hinged on the right when viewed internally and all of the hinges are finished in white for a discreet appearance.

Managing director at KAT UK - the UK’s leading supplier of patio doors and vertical sliding sash windows - Jonathan Sheard said: “We’ve developed the fire escape compliant sash windows as a result of customer feedback and to satisfy market demand.”

“Historically it has sometimes been difficult to achieve a suitable opening for fire egress with sash windows due to the nature of their operation but our innovative side hinged system will ensure this is now always possible. What we have launched into the market with our Elegance VS is a top quality window that has a bespoke side hinge which will make the window quicker and easier to operate in an emergency, without taking away its aesthetic value.”

Systems supplier, LB Sheerframe, has designed the Classic fire egress window for use by KAT UK, on which the specially adapted tilt function is reversed to allow maximum aperture sizes to be achieved for escape purposes. The bottom sash only has a tilt function and can pivot either from internal sash horns or as standard from the top corner of the bottom sash. KAT UK’s Classic fire egress window is available in White, Oak and Mahogany finishes.

All KAT UK’s optional extras and glazing options are available on the special fire egress sliding sash windows.

KAT UK have recently celebrated their successful accreditation in the form of the British Board of Agrément (Certificate No 06/4399). The award of this industry recognised quality accolade further enhances and confirms KAT UK’s reputation in the market place as the UK’s leading supplier of quality specialist windows & doors.

Already manufacturing to exacting standards KAT UK’s technical manager, Dave Morgan explains: “The Agrément Certificate will simply give our products a further quality guarantee. It confirms that our products are ‘fit for purpose’, therefore giving customers absolute confidence in their performance.”

The technical approval process involved three distinct areas. Firstly rigorous laboratory testing at BBA’s UKAS test house, which involved weather testing, cycle endurance testing and a human intervention security test. This was followed by a full factory audit by the BBA’s own inspection services which covered every process from receipt of order and goods inward through to final quality control, inspection, packaging & labeling – all of which was audited against the agreed & approved quality plan. Thirdly factory production control which involves regular calibration & testing of tape measures, combination squares, checks of temperature on weld heads and weld testing, compliance with approved Work Instructions, full traceability and continuous control of manufactured product & final record retention.

Dave Morgan said, “it is very pleasing to see our team working consistently to a high standard, producing products that are ‘right first time’ with the added assurance for our customers that it is backed up with a third party technical approval in the form of the Agrément certificate”.

KAT UK BBA certificates are available for downloading via the BBA’s own web-site http://www.bbacerts.co.uk/.

As one of the very few sash window manufacturers to hold BBA certification KAT UK now have an even greater advantage over some of their competitors who cannot provide acceptable certified guarantees for specifiers and organizations such as the NHBC. The BBA badge will be used by both KAT UK and its customers to prove they are offering the highest quality sash windows available.

KAT UK, the UK’s leading supplier of patio doors and vertical sliding sash windows, has added two new doors to its growing portfolio – the KAT Classic Aluminium Folding and Sliding door and the KAT Classic Aluminium Patio door.

To satisfy customer demand, KAT UK has introduced these two aluminium doors to provide further options for specifiers, PVC window and door fabricators, installers, architects and builders.

These products are manufactured using profile from leading aluminium system company Smart Systems which, in line with other KAT products, means KAT will be supplying high specification top quality products that will be equally at home in a sheltered garden or to provide a panoramic view from a 10th floor modern penthouse.

In addition, KAT UK aims to improve on the manufacturing lead times normally associated with the aluminium industry.

Managing director at KAT UK, Jonathan Sheard said: “We hope that our experience and expertise in providing bespoke products for our customers will help us cut average lead times, as both doors will benefit from dedicated production facilities with fully tooled and trained staff."

“Many architects specify aluminium doors, which we previously didn’t provide. However, our new thermally broken Aluminium Folding and Sliding, and inline sliding patio doors will now give them a quality KAT UK option”.

KAT UK’s new doors will allow homeowners to enjoy unrestricted views of their gardens and surrounding environment. They have multiple inward or outward opening options and can be stacked open at one end, or at both ends. Depending on the option chosen they can also operate with a conventional door or a pair of French doors.

With an unlimited choice of any Ral colour in a variety of finishes, the doors can be manufactured either the same colour on both sides or with the option of dual colours.

The new sliding and folding doors will complement KAT UK’s pvc patio door range, which includes the Elegance (WHS Halo), Classic (Deceuninck) and
Euroclassic (Eurocell)