SUSTAINABILITY David Osborne
Roman Showers
Matt Broughton spoke to Roman’s CEO, David Osborne, about expectations for the year and the comapany’s impressive contribution to the Circular Economy.
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024 began pretty much as Roman Shower’s CEO, David Osborne, expected: “The market flattened towards the end of 2023 and essentially that seems to have carried on.” The company did however see some positive signs in the market in April and May and expects a steady improvement in the market throughout the rest of the year - with a strong finish and several significant new customers onboarded.
Roman’s Wetroom Panel offering continues to go from strength to strength, with the company currently launching a fifth metal finish - Gun Metal. “The colours trend is unabated, and we are launching Brushed Bronze for the second half of the year which has come to prominence in the retail sector,” explains David. “We have been constantly expanding our Innov8 range in terms of product options and colours and this sees further expansion in the second half of the year. The Innov8 Bifold Door was launched earlier this year and has made a great impact as a higher end inward opening option. Our Colours range has now been fully launched in the marketplace and this offers a new dimension of soft close functionality. The Sliding Door has a spring based soft close system - both opening and closing - and it offers an unrivalled operation. The Hinged Doors close themselves gently from 90 degrees and all of these products are, of course, available in 11 colours.”
As the leading British manufacturer within its sector, Roman considers sustainability extremely
importantly and is always keen to take the lead and emphasise its significant differential over Chinese imported goods. David explains, “Whilst we were certified as Carbon Neutral by the Carbon Trust in 2021, we feel that the real difference we can make as a manufacturer is in the materials we use and their provenance. Due to our two aluminium plants, we can empirically prove that all our aluminium is extruded purely from recycled billet. Our brass content is also 100% recycled and our packaging has been cardboard-only for 15 years and is also 100% recycled board. Our glass is currently running at about 80% recycled content so overall we are designing and manufacturing products with an extremely high recycled content which to us underpins the Circular Economy. Further to this, our products are extremely easy to recycle at their end of life and the materials can also be reused back at their original value which is absolutely to the core of Circularity.”
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Overall we are designing and manufacturing products with an extremely high recycled content which to us underpins the Circular Economy
Roman isn’t done there; its Solid Surface Shower Trays are also able to be reground at their end of life, so there is no issue with landfill for any of the products. This is an area where the
legislation is focussing, and some alternative materials in the shower tray sector will struggle to avoid being classed as landfill-only. “We are always driving new initiatives around the business at all levels but the one of particular prominence at the moment is related to shower trays, says David. “The by-product from anodising aluminium was historically treated by us as chemical waste. Upon analysis, it now appears that this by-product is in fact the purest form of solid surface material and we are now looking to manufacture all of our shower trays going forward from this recycled material.” This move represents a huge stride within the sector and is a great Circular Economy story. Commercially it is significantly bringing down the cost of Roman’s shower trays. “The Trays themselves are all gelcoat with an anti-slip finish to the highest anti slip standard – DIN Class C. The range has been expanded up to 46 sizes for 2024 and we also offer slate surface finishes which are available in 3 colours.”
The biggest service breakthrough this year for Roman is to move to a guaranteed 48-hour service nationally on all of its volume and trade ranges. “This has changed our business model, as for the first time in 40 years we now carry large volumes of finished goods which we are now backfilling every day in our production plans. Due to imported products, the market norm had become rapid delivery and we have now squared that circle. A great time to be buying fully compliant product from the leading UK manufacturer.”
32 BKU JULY 2024
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