Whs halo joins the party: Bowater division is the latest to launch composite doors

WHS Halo is the latest to launch a range of composite doors with the Gallery collection, supplied through regional manufacturing partners. The Bowater company manufactures and supplies the door blanks to regional customers who will handle the bespoke finishing and local distribution to the trade. Major Halo fabricators Lister Trade Frames, based in Stoke, and Thermaseal, based in Wickford, Essex, have been given 12 months exclusivity on the doors, which are tried and tested in the public sector.

The Gallery door collection is based around the company's chamfered or sculptured profile suites - so as to be fully compatible with WHS Halo's window systems - and is designed to offer a combination of aesthetic appeal with the benefits of high security, robustness, low maintenance and weather performance.

Technical specs

The door blade is manufactured with an impact resistant, glass reinforced acrylic resin face and an internal thermoplastic surface bonded to a welded, steel-reinforced substrate. The cavity is fully insulated with CFC free polyurethane foam, with zero ozone depletion potential, to offer excellent thermal performance and insulation values.

The Gallery collection includes a choice of six different door styles, available in four colours and two woodgrain effects - giving a total of 36 design options within the range. Through colour skins are employed for durability, and enhanced protection against casual marking in use. The door and doorsets are entirely timber free and so the possibility of rotting, swelling, shrinkage or warping is also totally obviated.

Necessarily bespoke in size, the doors are 68mm for enhanced thermal performance, and feature a twin seal ‘double rebate' which design provides enhanced weather performance, ease of manufacture and ease of installation. The doors meet also Parts M and N of the Building Regulations through the specification of 4mm toughened glass to BS 6206 Class A and/or an ultra-low level threshold.

Market potential

While demand for composite doors is strong, and growing stronger, the sector has been plagued by delivery and reliability issues. Sam Kennedy, WHS Halo Marketing Director has his own idea why some companies have been unsuccessful with the concept: ‘They get sucked into offering a very quick turnaround and a huge range of styles. Once they start doing that they give in to a huge inventory and that's where standards of quality and delivery drop off.'

Under the new scheme, WHS Halo will manufacture and supply door blanks to its partners who will then create doorsets and add hardware and glazing according to individual customer requirements. For example, Listers is using a Millenco lock, while Thermaseal will favour a Yale lock. Decorative glass designs are more popular in the South too, says Kennedy.

Leads for launch partners

Lister Trade Frames and Thermaseal will effectively act as manufacturing wholesalers. And in their role as launch partners, they will service leads received from the launch at Glassex, business from other WHS Halo fabricators (135 in the UK mainland plus 32 in Ireland), as well as their own customers.

Both Staffordshire-based Lister and Essex-based Thermaseal are strong, well-regarded businesses that will handle the bespoke finishing and local distribution of the Gallery door collection.

This maximises and combines the mass-production know-how of WHS Halo with the custom-build expertise of Lister and Thermaseal. Both partner companies have invested significantly in tooling and logistics to manage the doors programme.