Grand Designs Live!

I’m never someone who turns down a day out, so I was pleased to be able to have an excuse for a work excursion to the Grand Designs Live show at the NEC. Grand Designs Live is a large exhibition inspired by the eponymous and ever popular TV show, with a wide range of building products on display, not to mention an extensive collection of interiors, gardens, kitchens and bathroom suppliers also.

I took particular interest in a few exhibitors, who design, manufacture and/or supply products which come up in conversation with my customers again and again. The first are conservatory replacement roofs. I’ve discussed the problems with conservatories before in my blog posts, and ultimately the ideal solution is to replace the conservatory completely, but for many people, that isn’t economically viable. So what else can you do? There are several suppliers of replacement conservatory roofs, and how they go about improving the existing structure varies. http://www.guardian-warmroof.co.uk are installers of the Guardian Warm Roof. They remove your insisting conservatory roof, and replace it with a lightweight aluminium frame, topped with an insulated roof, then finished to your specification. Their system is the only LABC approved roof, and is designed to achieve 0.18 U Value, which is equivalent to that of a standard roof construction.

The second supplier who attracted my attention was http://www.duplus.co.uk, suppliers of Structural silicone glazed roof lights. They make a wide range of roof windows and roof windows, suitable for flat roofs, and they looked simple and beautiful. When its difficult or impossible to fit a normal window in, a roof light or lantern can allow a space that would otherwise be dark and gloomy, to become wonderfully light and architecturally interesting. Also manufacturing similar products is skylight.co.uk, who produce flat and sloping roof lights, including the beautiful and unusual Ridgelite product, a window made to create a ‘window ridge’ which would create a fabulous feature to an extension.

We also had a good look at some of interiors products, and the study bed particularly caught my eye! http://www.studybed.co.uk

The bed effortlessly swings around to create a desk, and back again, without the bed needing to be stripped and remade, and without disturbing the desk items (they even had a small fish tank on it, to demonstrate how stable it was!). Often when I work on extensions, home owners want and need a multifunctional, efficient space, and the study bed could work brilliantly as a home office/guest bedroom, or in a teenagers bedroom where space is tight.

This is just a highlight of the many products and suppliers we met at Grand Designs Live, if you’ve read any of this and wonder how it might be integrated with you existing house, or a potential new extension, get in touch!