LOOKING AHEAD TO 2026 MANAGING MARKET CHALLENGE WITH DISCIPLINE EVIDENCE AND CONFIDENCE
The past year has reinforced a reality that most within our industry recognize, market conditions remain challenging, but they are not without opportunity for businesses that plan carefully, remain close to their markets, and invest with discipline. During 2025 continued pressure was felt across both residential and commercial construction. Rising operational costs driven by wage inflation, National Insurance changes, and wider input cost increases have been a persistent challenge. At the same time regulatory delays and funding constraints particularly within social housing and certain high rise and mixed use developments have slowed project pipelines. These factors were largely expected but required active management rather than passive acceptance. Against this backdrop the year also delivered meaningful progress. Strong industry engagement at events, such as the FIT Show, a relevant and active innovation pipeline, and recognition through national awards, reinforced the importance of continued investment even during more difficult periods. While volumes remained under pressure on some commercial and residential projects, our focus on operational control efficiency and close customer alignment allowed us to manage inflationary pressures while maintaining stability for our manufacturing partners. Looking ahead to 2026, expectations across the industry are understandably cautious and we share the view that improvement is likely to be gradual
rather than immediate. However, our own efforts around market focus and depth of engagement give us reasons to be optimistic. We are seeing early signs of movement in both commercial and residential pipelines, including renewed activity within high rise aluminium projects where hybrid Tilt and Turn solutions such as Alupilot are increasingly specified to meet performance compliance and installation requirements. At the same time, we are preparing for the forthcoming release of our Crafted Synergy range for entrance doors designed to bring mechanical and smart security solutions together in a more integrated and consistent way. A key element of this is the Polaris Smart turner which has been engineered specifically to work in harmony with Winkhaus door locking systems, the XR6 one star cylinder and two star security components from the Armorshield range including cylinder guards, handles, and escutcheons. The Polaris Smart Turner has been developed with long battery life automatic calibration during installation and reliable real world performance as core design priorities. Cyber security has also been embedded into the product from the outset. At launch Polaris will be supported by IASME recognised cyber security certification providing independent assurance that connectivity data handling and system integrity have been assessed against recognised best practice standards. This systems based approach reflects our broader view on security standards. While three star cylinders can continue to be specified beyond the end of 2026 as long as they successfully meet all elements of the
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