Kitchens & Bathrooms News conquers Three Peaks Challenge, raising £5,000 for charity

Kitchens & Bathrooms News’ assistant editor Britta O’Boyle and advertisement manager Tom Lee completed the Three Peaks Challenge, helping raise over £5,000 for the Coins Foundation.

The charity supports construction projects addressing poverty issues across the world, in a sustainable way, from rebuilding homes following the Haiti earthquake to funding building projects in Nyumbani for AIDS orphans.

Britta O’Boyle and Tom Lee formed part of an eight-strong team from Hamerville Magazines, the publisher of Kitchen & Bathrooms News, who completed the challenge within 24-hours.

The walkers faced tough conditions, from the icy temperature of -17˚C on Ben Nevis to 80mph winds on Snowdon but still managed a sprint finish.

Thank you to all the sponsors, including Aqualux, Facta, JM Marketing and Roca.

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Sanitec for sale

Private equity company EQT has appointed UBS to help dispose of the Sanitec Group, which includes Twyford Bathrooms in the UK.

Reuters has stated that a sale of the Sanitec Group could fetch up to €1billion for the Swedish private equity company.

Sanitec has 20 production sites in Europe and had net sales amounting to €777m in 2010 and employs 7,500 people.

It is not known whether Sanitec will be sold as a group or split up in a sale, nor is it understood if any interested parties have already been identified.

The sale of Sanitec could attract interest from other private equity-owned bathroom product groups and trade competitors, such as the likes of Roca, Toto or Kohler.

Marketing manager of Sanitec-owned Twyford Bathrooms, Mark Winfield commented: “We’ve been aware, for some time, that the company was being built up into an efficient organisation to be sold.”

And he added that for the Twyford Bathrooms business, “nothing has changed”.

EQT bought Sanitec in 2005 from private equity company BC Partners, which also owns German shower and tap manufacturer Grohe.

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Claygate invests £100,000 in training centre

 



Claygate Distribution premises in Marden, Kent



Claygate Distribution based in Marden, Kent, has invested over £100,000 in a new training centre for retail customers and its staff, to improve their product knowledge.

The training centre features over 100 products spanning mirrors, furniture, brassware and sanitaryware from a range of manufacturers including VitrA, Roca and Hudson Reed and will host bi-monthly courses.

These courses will cover generic product knowledge including underfloor heating, wetrooms, pumps and whirlpools, as well as manufacturer specific.

According to Andrew Streek, who owns the company along with his brother Mel: “Our customers benefit by having a sharper liaison with our sales team and hopefully we benefit from increased sales.”

Mel Streek added: “It will also help customer services team. If a customer rings up and says they have a problem with a product, our customer services team can now go over to the centre and have a look at the product. They can see what the customer is referring to and understand what the problem is.”

However, Claygate Distribution sees the training centre educating all staff members, throughout the business.

Mel Streek continued: “The new training centre will benefit Claygate because we are always growing and our new staff need training on the products, as well as keeping our current staff up-to-date.”

And Andrew Streek added: “It will [also] benefit the warehouse team because they will understand better how to handle the boxes as they will know what is in them.”

Claygate Distribution invested £8.5million into its site in 2008 and has recently received planning permission to build another 30,000 square foot building next year. 

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Roca Jump the Gap Winner

Michal Warykiewicz from Poland, has been announced as the winner of the 4^th edition of the Roca Jump the Gap competition for his ‘In & Out’ shower concept.

The award, presented at the recently opened London Roca Gallery, was announced by famed architect Ron Arad who headed up the jury of design and architecture personalities.

The concept creates an exterior and interior shower, built on top of a circular base, with two columns and fixed semicircular glass screens. The shower rotates 180 degrees, transforming bathroom shower mode to garden shower mode. The exterior option provides a shower in the garden, while the indoor mode ensures privacy through the activation of liquid crystals to make the glass opaque.

Warykiewicz’s ‘In & Out’ shower concept was chosen as the winning design from a short list of 30 projects, and he will receive a trophy, as well as 5,000 euros.

Plans for the 5^th Edition of Jump the Gap is currently underway, with the official launch planned for September 2012.

The competition was launched at 100% Design in 2010 and received 3004 entries from 92 countries.

Zaha Hadid creates show-stopping Roca space

London is now home to a show-stopping architecture created by Zaha Hadid Architects – no not the Olympic Aquatic Centre – but the Roca London Gallery in Chelsea Harbour. Inspired by ‘the power of water as a transforming element’, it's been created to appear as though water has sculptured and defined the 1,100m2 single floor space.

However, the design is not just for looks alone. Its form is to help visitors understand the relationship between architecture and the design of Roca products. Zaha Hadid explained the concept: “Our work imbues architecture with the intricacy and beauty of natural forms. Using a formal language derived from the movement of water, the Roca London Gallery has been eroded and polished by fluidity; generating a sequence of dynamic spaces carved from this fascinating interplay between architecture and nature.”

Created to be more than a display space, the Roca London gallery is available to a wide audience from architects through to design-savvy students. And it is proposed to be a London hub for exhibitions, meetings, presentations, seminars and debates.

Miguel Angel Munar, senior managing director of Roca Bathroom Products division commented: “For Roca it is essential to have a presence in a city like London which is a benchmark for design and innovation on a global level. London is also of strategic important to our future business development since it allows us to be close to our top international distributors and clients. At the Roca London Gallery, Zaha Hadid has perfectly interpreted all our brand values, as well as our company philosophy in a singularly exciting and tangible way.”

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