NEWS | Round-up Aqualisa appoints new CEO
MAT NORRIS has been appointed as chief executive at shower specialist Aqualisa.
Norris will replace Colin Sykes, who has held the position since 2018. Sykes will remain a strategic advisor and a non-executive director until December, when he will semi- retire and focus on other non-executive roles. In this role, Norris will spearhead Aqualisa’s product
expansion and innovation strategy and its ambitious plans for growth.
Kevin Sargeant, chairman of Aqualisa, said: “Mat’s vast expertise
from within the manufacturing and technical
engineering industries, combined with his significant leadership track record and visionary approach, positions him perfectly to accelerate Aqualisa to the next level in its journey of growth.
“I would like to thank Colin Sykes for his significant contribution to the business over the past five years, and for his ongoing commitment and support through this period of transition.”
Norris said: “Aqualisa has a strong heritage of innovating shower technologies, and the team clearly takes great pride in ensuring our customers enjoy the ultimate showering experience. I am thrilled to be joining our 260 dedicated team members at such a pivotal chapter in the organisation’s history, and I look forward to working with the outstanding management team that Colin has established at Aqualisa. “My mission is to accelerate our innovation strategy, while ensuring operational excellence and the agility to meet our long-term growth, profitability and sustainability objectives. I am also eager to continue
to build upon the valued
relationships we have developed with our loyal customer, client and installer network in the UK, and internationally.” Norris has a master’s degree in Engineering from the University of Exeter and has had an extensive career in the manufacturing and engineering sectors. He has worked for Ford Motor Company, Philips and ventilation firm Titon.
Worktop Fabricators Federation launches ‘vital’ stone surface guide for retailers and consumers
THE WORKTOP Fabricators Federation (WFF) has launched an all-industry guide to help showroom staff better advise consumers when they are buying stone worktops. The WFF’s ‘Guide to Engineered and Natural Stone Surfaces’ was launched at the kbb Birmingham show in March and has had more than 200 downloads from the WFF website. “Too often, consumers are led to believe that because an engineered or natural stone worktop is the most resilient, it must therefore be bullet- proof,” said owner of work surface fabrications company, Stone System of London, and WFF director Mark Mills. “They end up disappointed after children have climbed on it, hot pans have been placed on it, harsh chemicals have been used to clean it or the supporting cabinetry has shifted in response to floor compounds or plaster drying and shrinking. “Call-backs and disappointments are costly and uncomfortable for all concerned — especially when we know so many of them could have been avoided by better hand-holding during the selection process.” The WFF says the guide steers a road between manufacturers’ detailed cutting instructions on the one hand,
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Poggenpohl opens new London studio
LUXURY GERMAN kitchen brand Poggenpohl has relocated its Chelsea studio to Fulham Road. With 2,458sq ft of display space,
the new flagship studio is set out over three floors and is part of Chelsea’s Sloane Stanley design community. Sharon Wallis, managing director of Poggenpohl UK, said: “This will be the first UK studio to open under our new owners. Offering an expansive three floors of displays, this space allows us to showcase elements of our new 2021 collection, which we are extremely excited to be bringing to the UK market.” Jomoo Germany, a subsidiary of the Chinese Jomoo Group, took over ownership of Poggenpohl on Sep - tember 1, 2020. Wallis added: “The opportunity with this new location in the heart of Chelsea, within the Sloane Stanley estate,
forms part of
and customers’ unsubstantiated assumptions on the other. It says the result is an “authoritative, readable, no-nonsense guide to the selection, care and maintenance of worktops in quartz, granite, marble, quartzite and sintered stone materials”. To back the launch, and to encourage showrooms to join in with educating their customers, the WFF has produced A6-sized POS displays. Designed to stand discreetly on in-store displays, the mini-posters carry a QR code that
enables
customers to download the detailed guide directly from the WFF’s website. “We know professional kitchen share
studios our concern worktop,” said Mills.
“None of us want disappointed customers. And none of us benefit when the stone industry seems to be failing to live up to its promises — even if they are promises nobody who understands stone would ever have made in the first place.
when
customers feel they have been oversold the benefits of a stone
“The answer is to work together to manage customers’ expectations and better professionalise the whole process of choosing, specifying, maintaining and above all enjoying a well-performing, fit-for-purpose stone worktop. This guide is a first small but vital contribution to helping our industry’s customers on that journey.” The WFF guide can be downloaded free of charge at https://www.
worktopfabricators.org/surfacesguide
our future
development and strategic growth plans for one of the most important markets for the Poggenpohl Group.” The luxury brand said the upsized Fulham Road showroom will “immerse visitors in Poggenpohl’s world of heritage kitchen craftsmanship and design”. The new studio will be the first in
the UK to show elements of
Poggenpohl’s new +Modo collection that was launched at the German Küchenmeile trade show last autumn. Poggenpohl says the new showroom
will “see the specially
trained interior architects develop bespoke solutions for individual customer ideas and living spaces, with on-hand professional expertise offered to support every decision along the kitchen development journey”.
· May 2022
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