Here, Chris Coxon, Head of Marketing at Eurocell, looks at how the company’s investment in its roofing range has opened up new market opportunities for installers.
“There are a large number of conservatories as well as roofs on house extensions that fall below modern thermal performance standards. The result is a room that can be uncomfortably cold during winter and therefore the cause of high heating bills.
During summer, these poorly insulated roofs can also make the room below unbearably hot. All of this means that there are a large number of homeowners who, until now, have had to put up with areas in their home that feel uncomfortable at certain times of the year.
That is why we’ve introduced Equinox.
Roof-to-go
This latest addition to our range of kits is a tiled roof system that creates a new replacement roofs market for installers by providing an effective method of making a room such as a conservatory comfortable all year-round. Equinox is able to do this because it has solid insulation panels integrated in the structure to offer superb thermal efficiency.
Not only does this create a warmer, more comfortable living area during winter, but a cooler environment in summer, therefore reducing energy costs. The kits can achieve a U-value of 0.15, which comfortably exceeds current Building Regulations requirements, so can be used to create a new roof on a variety of flat roof structures.
Equinox is an effective method of upgrading the energy efficiency performance of conservatory roofs, where the fully insulated system is commonly used to replace ageing original glass or polycarbonate. The system can be fitted on double hipped, gable, Edwardian, Victorian and P-shaped conservatories and tiles are available in a wide choice of colours.
In these situations it transforms existing conservatory roofs to provide a cosy all year-round living space, minimise weather noise and enable an architectural interior finish to be created. Tiled roof systems can be used for new projects, too, for instance, a house extension, and the fact many are available in kit form makes it a very convenient solution.
With service remaining a key consideration for installers, we have made our tiled roof system available through all of our 125-plus branches nationwide. An additional benefit of this is that installers can source colour-matched fascias, soffits and guttering at the same time.
For customers that want to retain high levels of light passage in their conservatory, the system allows roof windows to be fitted.
Daylight Believer
As homeowners and specifiers begin to understand the benefits of ‘daylighting’ and the fact it reduces the need for artificial lighting at a time when electricity bills are increasing, products that address these needs again open up new market opportunities for roofing contractors.
Indeed, specifiers realise that the roof is critical to the functioning and comfort of the building. So much so that Building Bulletin 90: Lighting Design for Schools offers specific guidance on natural lighting and rooflights.
And it’s not just physiological reasons why rooflights are gaining favour. There are financial reasons as well and increased levels of natural light indoors means that artificial lighting may not be required and that can help save energy bills for building owners and managers.
In an effort to help roofing contractors address this need we have introduced a range of rooflights in our branches. They are fully compatible with all common flat roof waterproofing systems and can be used on new or refurbishment projects. The ‘all thermoplastic construction’ means that they have a high resistance to impact and weathering, along with long-term low maintenance properties.
Meeting thermal performance requirements is an important consideration when choosing rooflights and the reason why we specified our system with vented air spaces that help achieve a U value of 1.8W/m²K, to satisfy Part L requirements. They feature a robust wall thickness to ensure overall strength, whilst a weather seal on all opening rooflights maintains weather tightness. A special ‘key’ finish to the PVC-U kerb assists adhesion of the roof membrane and the PVC-U kerb is torch–on system friendly.
We are confident that our updated roof range will create new market opportunities for installers. In particular, Equinox will appeal to the many thousands of homeowners who have lived with uncomfortable conservatories because they have poorly insulated roofs.
Central to the success of our new roof ranges has been a commitment to make them accessible and offering them in kit form definitely helps, as does making them available through our branch network. There are few other companies prepared to make the investment we have made in our roofing category to become a one-stop-shop building plastics solution for contractors and installers.”
To find out how the 2013 Eurocell roofs range can help you come out on top, call the Eurocell Marketing Response Team on: 0800 988 3049.