TTA AWARDS – AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORS…
TTA is very grateful to all the Gold sponsors of the TTA Awards 2020. Despite the fact that our Awards celebration – at 2pm on Friday 16 October – is a little different this year, since it is an online event, we are determined that all our sponsors gain as much benefit as usual from their association with the quality values of the TTA Awards.
Don’t forget, you can register NOW to join in the Awards celebration, hosted once again by rugby and Dancing on Ice sensation Kyran Bracken MBE. Head online to the Awards website at www.ttaawards.com, where you can create an account and register.
These are the Gold sponsors of TTA Awards 2020…
Banks & Lloyd
“Freight Forwarding excites us, plain and simple.” Banks & Lloyd say this is not a matter of opinion but a matter of fact and that it is a passion that drives the company forward to provide the best service possible.
The company is a market leading UK freight forwarder for the tiles and ceramic industry, and has been in the business for 40 years, focussing on outstanding customer service, competitive rates and reliable, quick service. The company works with a globally connected network of partners and has a second office in Valencia, Spain.
The services which the company offers include sea freight, air freight, road freight, rail freight, cross trades and in-house customs clearance. The nature of the business means the company has had to prepare well for any outcome of the current Brexit situation, and believes it is well-placed to provide advice to its customers, whatever ultimately happens.
Forward thinking, agile, proactive and highly ambitious, the company aims to be the best and most experienced freight forwarder in tiles and ceramics transportation.
JACKOBOARD
JACKON Insulation is a leading manufacturer of XPS board solutions, especially for use as a tile backerboard. The company offers a broad range of innovative products for environmentally-friendly and sustainable thermal insulation solutions used in construction projects.
Between 2017 and 2018 the brand enjoyed impressive growth in the UK, which continued in the following year as well. JACKOBOARD is now the ‘go to’ brand in this market.
In a sector where there are a number of branded European competitors, JACKOBOARD has identified the need to differentiate and to establish its own strong brand personality, based on an innovative and fresh approach. The company’s strategy is to focus on the brand values of high performance and integrity, as an environmentally-responsible European manufacturer.
So in the past year, JACKOBOARD has moved its marketing activity up a gear, with new materials, consistency of messaging and the introduction of the ‘Inuits’ as a campaignable theme for marketing activities. These characters capture a number of key brand values, including insulation and environmental sustainability, and will be seen in different scenarios in future marketing campaigns.
The company has also recently opened a Training & Innovation Centre at its Lancashire head office. This specialises in the use of blended learning techniques, moving away from one dimensional learning.
JACKON has also been running a campaign of support for The Bee Centre – a campaign which makes explicit the link between its products and the environment. The tie-up provides a focus on to what is, along with the plastics issue, a key aspect of the current environmental crisis, namely the threat to pollinating bees.
Mapei
With more than 80 years’ experience, Mapei is a world-leading producer of adhesives and chemical products for the construction industry. Mapei’s ‘Products for the installation of Ceramic Tiles and Stone Materials’ incorporates complete quality systems for all manner of projects.
The fast track screeds, primers, waterproofing solutions and adhesives that make up the range are all manufactured and distributed from the state-of-the-art Mapei UK plant in Halesowen to an extensive UK customer base of distributors and retailers. Mapei’s coloured grout and sealant range boasts an extensive array of shades – enough to satisfy any design requirement.
Mapei places significant emphasis on R&D, investing five per cent of global turnover each year to bring the most technically advanced and sustainable system solutions to the market. Investment in sustainable products and practices dates back to the 1970s. In the UK, Mapei also continues to experience consistent growth.
The company’s training facility, Mapei Academy, provides practical and theoretical courses for all specialisms of contractors, installers, distributors and specifiers. Mapei’s renowned technical services department is available to offer guidance, on-site support nationwide, NBS specifications, technical drawings and BIM objects. Mapei are proud to be supporting the TTA Awards in 2020 and look forward to being a part of such a key construction industry event.
Norcros Adhesives
Norcros Adhesives is delighted once again to be able to show its support for the tiling industry as a Gold Sponsor of the TTA Awards. A proud UK manufacturer and employer, Norcros Adhesives is committed to the recognition and support of excellence throughout our industry.
Norcros Adhesives is a rapidly growing and well-established manufacturer and supplier of branded adhesives, grouts and surface preparation products for fixing ceramic and porcelain tiles, mosaics, natural stone and marble. Based in Stoke-on-Trent, the company serves the UK market, as well as exporting to Ireland, the USA and the Middle East.
Following significant capital investment in recent years, the business operates a modern, fully automated manufacturing and packaging plant, employing lean manufacturing techniques for the high volume production of polymer modified powder adhesives, grouts and levelling compounds, together with professional performance ready mixed paste adhesives. The Norcros Adhesives approach to new product development is driven by innovation and the search for system solutions to tiling problems.
The company runs a ‘Skills Centre’, which is now an important resource for the tiling industry, and is where Norcros Adhesives delivers its expanding range of tiling courses for the benefit of customers throughout the industry.
Norcros is proud of its environmental record and is a Gold member of the Supply Chain Sustainability School. For three years running Norcros Adhesives won The TTA Award for Best Environmental Initiative, in recognition of the many measures it has put in place to improve the environmental management of its operations.
PALACE CHEMICALS
Palace Chemicals has been a leading independent manufacturer of building, construction and DIY products for more than 40 years.
Established in 1978 in Speke, Liverpool, its ongoing commitment to technology and development has enabled it to bring to market a more extensive range of flooring, tiling, construction and DIY products than any other manufacturer in the UK.
All Palace products are manufactured at its advanced, high-volume and fully automated manufacturing facility. This ensures consistent high quality and readily available stock across all lines of flooring, preparation and levelling products, alongside the service and logistics support demanded by modern, fast-moving projects.
Palace Chemicals, which is also the UK Manufacturing Licensee for LATICRETE’s award-winning range of adhesives, grouts and waterproofing products, has built its reputation on high quality products at competitive market prices – and with its well established infrastructure and its deep-rooted in-house expertise, it is well placed to remain at the cutting edge of tiling, adhesives and construction as the industry continues to advance.
PCS
PCS are a UK-based manufacturer of high-performance construction products that are thermally insulating, lightweight and waterproof. DeltaBoard Thermal Construction Boards and DeltaTray Tileable Shower Floor Formers, form part of an extensive range of products manufactured by PCS, that offer high performance for the lining and overlaying of subfloors and walls prior to the application of tiles, plaster and flexible render coatings.
PCS products offer effective and durable solutions, designed to enhance performance, and reduce construction time of your project. All PCS products have been designed to meet the challenges and demands of modern-day construction.
Designing or developing a residential project, hotel complex, spa resort or private home? Our technical team can advise from the outset. Detailed CAD drawings, bespoke manufacturing, and short lead times are all part of our services.
PCS product range includes: Tile Backer Boards, Construction Boards, Shower Tray Formers, Flexi Board, Wall Niches, Wedge Board, Tileable Seating profiles, Wellness Spa Pods & more.
As a UK manufacturer, we are committed to reducing energy costs associated with construction. Installing PCS products will help to lower your carbon footprint, a concern that affects all of us.
Manufactured in the UK. Installed Worldwide.
Shackerley (Holdings) Group Ltd
Shackerley is a British, independently owned, manufacturer and prefabricator, renowned for supplying innovative, engineered products to the architectural and construction industries for over 55 years. Today the company leads the UK ceramic granite ventilated cladding market with its award-winning patented SureClad® façade systems, and is universally recognised as the country’s leading authority on the use of large format ceramic granite in external cladding applications.
In less than two decades, SureClad® ceramic granite ventilated façades have literally changed the architectural landscape. Since Shackerley first introduced its innovative modern method of construction at the turn of the 21stcentury, SureClad® façade cladding has been specified across the UK, to enhance and protect new and refurbished properties in every sector of the market – from healthcare, education and civic and public service buildings to hotels, sports and leisure facilities, retail centres and office complexes. In recent years, their specification has increased in the high-end residential sector too, particularly for buildings more than 18 metres high, where only non-combustible cladding materials are permitted.
Ceramic granite is an exceptionally hard, strong and durable form of porcelain that is ideally suited for use as an external façade material. Shackerley is able to offer the specifier an almost infinite array of aesthetic design options with colourways, finishes, styles and panel formats to meet every design brief, including panels up to 3m x 2m in size.
Every SureClad® system is supplied as a complete ‘installation-ready’ package that minimises the time required to install façades on site. Essentially the SureClad® system comprises fully prefabricated ceramic granite panels – cut to exact sizes and fitted with SureClad® façade fixings – together with strong, lightweight vertical and horizontal aluminium rails and profiles, and flexible and load bearing support brackets. Bespoke features such as cills, soffits and reveals can all be supplied as factory-assembled bracketed units. Ensuring the highest quality standards, all prefabrication work is carried out at Shackerley’s ISO 90001-accredited factory in Lancashire.
The latest addition to Shackerley’s product portfolio is their patented BrickClad® system for mechanically fixed brickwork – real bricks, but slimline and installed without bedding mortar – into a steel profiled rail, which is produced by a specially designed roll-forming machine at Shackerley’s factory.
Tilemaster Adhesives
2020 is Tilemaster Adhesives’ 30th Anniversary and the company is celebrating this with investment in its premises in Leyland, Lancashire, creating new offices, extending the R&D facility, revamping two of the existing production lines and installing a new automated line. In addition, the company operates a policy of continuous recruitment and development of talented people, ensuring that Tilemaster Adhesives will continue to thrive, and reaffirming its commitment to delivering the best possible service to its customers and to being at the forefront of innovation for the foreseeable future.
Family values and customer care continue to be at the heart of everything that Tilemaster Adhesives does. Its excellent product range and impeccable customer service are much loved by tilers and contractors across the UK. Today Tilemaster Adhesives has a comprehensive range of tile adhesives, grouts, floor levelling compounds and ancillary items for all types of substrates and tiles, developed to be user-friendly and a pleasure to work with.
Tilemaster’s technical support team draw on their hands-on experience and product expertise to offer advice on challenging installations, and can create technical specifications if required. Further support is offered through site visits, where advice is given on particular problems or challenges faced. On the road, Tilemaster Adhesives is also regularly involved with trade days, where products are demonstrated and customers have the opportunity to see first-hand how the formulations work and to seek advice from the knowledgeable team.
Trimline Group
Trimline Group are leading suppliers of tiling products and solutions backed up with expert support and advice. With over 2,600 product lines and next day delivery available across the UK. The business comprises an energetic team of professionals with a vibrant company culture. Founded in 1980, Trimline is a trusted and knowledgeable partner for all its clients.
In 2019, Trimline Group centralised business operations in Swanley, on the edge of the M25. With 65,000sq ft of storage, Trimline is ideally placed to partner with anyone on their next tiling project. Trimline’s unique offering, which combines multiple products and solutions into a complete package, means the company brings endless benefits to architects and developers.
Trimline stocks internationally renowned brands such as Mapei, Kerakoll, Python, UltraTile, Atrim, Dukkaboard, Lithofin, HG, Fila, Vulcaseal, Sigma, Rubi, Raimondi, Montolit, Soudal and TIGR. The product portfolio has now expanded into Trimline’s own tile range, making it a one-stop-shop for all its customers’ tiling needs.
Trimeline’s technical support teams offer unrivalled levels of expertise and technical support. With quick response times, it can help with hands-on training and advising on any unforeseen snag that has arisen during a customer’s project. The company works closely with clients to complete projects to the highest of standards.
The delivery fleet is Bronze accredited in the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme, clearly demonstrating Trimline’s commitment to exceeding industry standards. The company is committed to continual improvement, while also contributing to and investing in clients’ safety and sustainability. Trimline is well-positioned to serve its customers’ needs today, tomorrow and in the ever evolving marketplace of the future.
UltraTileFix
UltraTileFix supplies the tiling market with a comprehensive range of adhesives, grouts, primers, levelling compounds, silicones and tanking kit. All products are manufactured in the company’s state of the art factory in Tamworth, Staffordshire. The six-acre site houses production, distribution, transport, research and development, sales, marketing, quality and very importantly, training. Due to the success of the recently launched UltraTileFix Training Academy, the company has launched a fuller, enhanced training calendar for 2020, providing the opportunity to acquire all the key tiling skills needed for the new decade.
UltraTileFix from Instarmac has been a TTA member for over 10 years and actively supports the Association in many ways. Hands-on roles are held by many of the UltraTileFix team providing expertise and industry knowledge for TTA initiatives, in particular training. Marketing Manager, Rebecca Talbot, Board Member and Chair of the TTA General Purposes & Marketing Committee says: “We are delighted to be sponsoring the TTA Awards again for 2020. The TTA aims to promote professionalism and technical standards in the tiling industry, something we aim to support here at Instarmac with our recently launched UltraTileFix Academy. A TTA Award is an outstanding symbol of excellence and the event provides a fantastic opportunity to showcase and celebrate all aspects of the tiling industry, as well as praising nominees for their hard work and commitment.”
UltraTileFix is very much looking forward to attending again this year and wishes all nominees the very best of luck.
www.instarmac.co.uk/ultratilefix
The Verona Group
Over the past few years Verona has gone from strength to strength, and is now one of the UK’s leading distributors of tiles and accessories. The Leeds-based company offers an ever-expanding portfolio of products at competitive prices, combined with a range of professional marketing solutions and merchandising concepts to support tile retailers better across the UK. Verona is delighted to show its support for the tiling industry and celebrate all the achievements over the past year.
Verona has recently introduced a new trade initiative, providing customers with instant access to their trade account 24/7. Retailers can place orders online, check stock availability any time of the day or night, as well as download a range of marketing assets including brochures and lifestyle images. The newly revamped trade catalogue is now available to customers, and has been redesigned to ensure it’s simple to navigate and identify ranges for selection. Full of inspiration and lifestyle photography, it features simplified specification tables following retailer feedback to clearly outline size, material, use, thickness, PEI and slip rating in one easy to digest format.
Verona has a large UK stock holding to ensure short lead times and quick turnarounds. Verona’s friendly and knowledgeable sales support team are always on hand to help, and are available six days a week.