When the first Kommerling frames came off the production line at Genius PVC Trade Frames in Norwich, they were headed directly for a large scale commercial refurbishment project being carried out by The Window Company (Contracts) for Chelmsford City Council.

David Thornton, chairman of the award winning* commercial installer, went along to see the frames for himself and to congratulate Pete Dyson and David Eagle, the two men who are the brains behind Genius, on their new venture.

He said: “We had worked with Pete and David and their production director Steve Wood before when they were at one of our existing suppliers and had always been impressed with how they operated and how they looked after customers. As soon as they announced the launch of Genius, we were keen to work with them again and, at the same time, to add another Kommerling fabricator to our list of partners.”

We’re incredibly proud of the efforts of our very own Katie Thornton, Director of Compliance and Administration at The Window Company (Contracts), who received a personal letter this week from Sir Gerry Berragon, CEO of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, congratulating her on the work she has done as chair of the Employer’s Trailblazer group.

This group has been responsible for developing a brand new suite of fenestration apprenticeship standards which will be used for decades to come to train thousands of individuals in fabrication, installation and eventually curtain walling as well.

It has been a momentous effort carried out over more than 18 months developing new standards which will work for both employers and apprentices and which we think will make a major contribution to this industry’s efforts to increase the skills base and attract new, young recruits.

The Window Company (Contracts)’ extensive experience in the schools sector helped the award winning* installer secure the replacement window contract at Loyola Preparatory School in Buckhurst Hill, Essex.

Recommendations came not just from other nearby schools, but even from other subcontractors who had seen the company’s fitting teams in action and had been impressed with the standard of work.

As a result, Loyola’s bursar Maria Rosario had high expectations of what the company could deliver on the contract and was delighted when they lived up to those. She explained: “From the outset, The Window Company (Contracts) made us feel that we were in very safe hands.

Retrieving ladders from the roofs of vans used to be an occupational safety hazard for almost all window fitters and many other onsite tradespeople. Award winning commercial installer The Window Company (Contracts) has come to the rescue however and introduced a new ladder system for its vans which eliminates that risk once and for all.

Working with a specialist provider, the Chelmsford based company is now equipping all its new vans with a pneumatic lifting and lowering mechanism for rooftop ladders which means that fitters never need to climb onto the top of vans again. They just release the obligatory safety catch and then they can raise or lower the ladders with a pole.

The industry seems finally to have recognised that it needs to step up its focus on skills and training if it is to continue to attract new talent and compete in a post Brexit Britain.

As a business which arguably has the best trained workforce in the industry, I would question why it has taken so long.

We joined the elite group of installers holding the Kitemark for window installation based on BS8213-4 way back in 2016 and continue to invest around £100,000 a year in training, via a mix of in-house and external training courses and in the production of our own training manuals and standardised Toolbox Talks procedural documents.

The 1000th Moat home has received new windows, installed by The Window Company (Contracts) since the commercial specialist was appointed to the window and door replacement framework at the start of last year.

The lucky residents in the landmark 1000^th property were delighted to receive flowers and chocolates to mark the occasion, telling The Window Company (Contracts): “We cannot thank you enough for the way we have been treated. Yours is a very considerate company with very pleasant employees.”

Fittingly, the 1000^th property was in Maldon, Essex where Moat have more homes than in any other local authority area, and where a Moat Foundation Community Hub opened last year, part-funded by a £10,000 donation from The Window Company (Contracts).