A year of major business growth for specialist external brick and terracotta cladding systems supplier Aquarian Cladding Systems places the company in a position of strength for 2022.
Working with architects, contractors, developers, and cladding contractors, Aquarian’s brick slip cladding systems include the A1-rated MechSlip and NaturAL-X, the Gebrik Insulating Brick Cladding System and A1-rated Terreal Terracotta Rainscreen System.
2021 started with significant structural changes in the company, with Julian Venus moving into the role of Business Development Director, Jazz Rigden joining the board as the new Sales Director, and Chris Gill moving to Operations Manager.
Building the team was also one of the goals of 2021, with the appointment of two new external Technical Sales Managers – Grant Softley in Scotland and Ryan Callaghan in South East England, along with Laurence Bailey as Architectural Specification Manager for London. The Head Office in Clevedon was strengthened in the summer with the appointment of Jake Wotton as Technical & Commercial Sales Support and Charlie Franklin as Business Admin Apprentice.
Managing Director Paul Richards said: “After a challenging period, consolidating the business has been our main aim for the past year, making sure we have everything in place to be able to explore the exciting market opportunities we see coming up over the next few years and beyond.
“The A1-rated MechSlip and NaturAL-X brick slip cladding systems, which we added to our portfolio in 2020, have really bedded in now with a number of projects nearing completion. And with the additional investment in our team, we have the capacity to improve our service levels across our entire supply chain through efficient, simplified processes.”
And to cap off a very busy year, Aquarian were proud winners at the 2021 Façade Awards UK for ‘Best Use of a Brick Slip Cladding System.’
The judges were impressed with the use of its off-site manufactured brick cladding system Gebrik on the stunning Better New Addington Leisure & Community Centre in Croydon, which was installed by one of Aquarian’s key specialist contractors from their Approved Installer Network, Express Group Ltd.
“Winning the ‘Best Use of a Brick Slip Cladding System’ at this year’s Façade Awards made for a welcome finish to the year,” said Paul.
“We have worked on a number of award-winning buildings across a wide range of sectors over the years and what was so good about New Addington was that, despite having supplied nearly 500 projects across the UK to date, this project was truly unique.”
Optimistic for the future of the economy and Aquarian Cladding
With both the economy and the country starting to get back to some form of normality, Paul believes there will be many opportunities for the company to take advantage of, in both new-build construction and retrofit.
“Optimism in the construction industry is high, with the government committed to Building Back Better, so there are plenty of opportunities for a company like Aquarian.
“Following COP-26, we also recognise that sustainability and building greener will be even more important for the country in hitting its carbon net-zero targets. So, with an increasing demand for Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) through offsite construction for new build, and insulating cladding solutions for retrofit, there will be an invaluable role for Aquarian to play in the supply chain for many years to come.”
For more information or to discuss your project requirements please call 0808 223 9080
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