HEATING
RADIATORS ARE JUST WARMING UP
“T
he UK radiator market is mature,” says Stelrad’s head of marketing, Chris Harvey “There’s been just 0.3% of
growth per annum forecast between 2017 and 2021.” Harvey explains that this isn’t surprising, considering how long heating in a home environment has been paramount. “Stelrad Radiator Group consolidated its UK market leadership with further share gain in 2017. SRG has also achieved record European market share levels in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 consecutively, with a rise of 2.3% through those years. We have a leading position in all sectors of the steel panel radiator market and this is where we are focussing our time and effort. In 2017, Stelrad had 58.7% contract sector share and at least 47.7% share in all segments.”
In the Steel Panel market, one-off volumes are stable, with modest growth in Private New Build forecast to offset a continuing decline in social housing. While the steel panel market is forecast to be flat overall, a 6.3% growth is forecast for the profitable premium panel segment. Harvey says that a continuous objective of SRG is to develop sales of higher added value designer radiators. “There is a big opportunity for designer radiators. As the fundamental aspects of a home come into focus and the basics are now easily covered, customers are looking for ways to make their heating choices a feature of their home rather than just something standard that everyone has. We’ve seen sales volumes in designer radiators increase by 30% since 2016 and by 52% since 2013.” “In fact, there’s a radiator available for virtually every application, be it a new build, a refurbishment of a bespoke application that requires something specific to meet the application in mind. The old approach to specifying radiators seems to be changing. This could be thanks to the number of interior design and home-based TV programmes now available to us. Never before have we been able to see inside so many other people’s homes. People see what they like, are influenced to mimic the designs they see and upgrade their own heating systems accordingly.”
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After this summer’s heatwave, Stelrad Radiators say that while radiator sales are lower than in previous years, they aren’t worried about the future of heating. BMJ checks it out.
“Installers are telling us that increasingly, homeowners want a say in the radiators they get and are looking for premium panel, decorative or designer radiators. This is reflected in our recent figures and the forecast for 2021 sales. Many installers are anticipating this preference for non-standard radiators offering a wider choice to their customers, giving them the option to ‘up-spec’ to designer or decorative radiators in their homes. So it’s increasingly important that merchants are stocking or showcasing a wider range of radiators to help their customers keep up to speed with the options available.”
Mix and Match
“The joy of today’s radiators from Stelrad, are that the installation instructions are the same for virtually all of them, so there’s the ability to mix and match, with the less expensive standard panel radiators in rooms that aren’t the key ones in the homeowner’s mind and premium panel, designer and decorative radiators elsewhere in the home.”
Harvey describes the varieties of radiators now available from Stelrad to suit multiple environments and tastes: “We are always developing our range of Extra Robust, Slimline,
Compact, Rust Resistant and our brand new Low Surface Temperature radiators. We have also invested hugely in our National Distribution Centre and our delivery systems to ensure
that our radiators are in merchants’ hands as quickly as possible. The statistics are staggering. This widening of the range of radiators available from stock increases the number of different radiators and sizes in stock in our National Distribution Centre to 3,200- with a total of more than 360,00 radiators in stock at any one time to be called off by merchants across the country for delivery within 72 hours of order. ” “Radiators are still responsible for sharing the heat in more than 90% of domestic heating systems installed in the UK and a surprisingly high percentage of commercial properties as well, so the age of the radiator is still very much with us.” BMJ
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net December 2018
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