L to R – Councillor Nigel Ball, Shaun O’Brien (director, Coalfields Regeneration Trust), Peter McNestry MBE (chair, Coalfields Regeneration Trust), Jonny Greenstreet (business relationship manager, Senior Architectural Systems), Mark Wadsworth (managing director, Senior Architectural Systems), Mark Wheatley (technical director, Senior Architectural Systems), Caroline Flint MP, Ian Oliver (marketing & communications manager, ALFED) and Mark Burton (production manager (Senior Architectural Systems).

Leading aluminium glazing systems manufacturer Senior Architectural Systems has joined forces with trade body the Aluminium Federation (ALFED) to help raise the profile of the industry and its importance to the UK’s job market by meeting with Caroline Flint MP.

Ms Flint, who is the MP for Don Valley in South Yorkshire, was invited to take a tour of Senior’s manufacturing facility in Denaby. The visit provided the ideal opportunity to highlight the various issues facing the aluminium sector in terms of energy efficiency targets, competition from overseas and skill shortages.  As the UK’s largest privately owned supplier of complete glazing solutions to the construction industry, Senior’s state of the art factory also proved to be the perfect environment for Ms Flint to discover more about the innovations and investments that are helping to breathe new life, and bring new jobs, into the UK’s aluminium and manufacturing industries.

As a major employer in the South Yorkshire area, Senior was also joined by Peter McNestry MBE, chairman of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, to highlight the importance of supporting local companies to help bring back industry and employment opportunities to former mining communities such as Denaby.

Commenting, Senior Architectural Systems’ managing director Mark Wadsworth said: “Although we operate on a national level, we are extremely proud of our South Yorkshire roots.  This is an area that has a rich heritage of manufacturing and we are always delighted to fly the flag for the local business community and the wider industry.  Attracting, nurturing and retaining a local labour force is a key strategy to our future growth, as is our commitment to developing new products and manufacturing processes that are truly sustainable.  It was a pleasure to meet with Ms Flint and I hope that the visit provided her with a greater understanding of the challenges that our industry is facing and the important role that UK manufacturers play in both fuelling the national economy and supporting the local communities in which they operate.”

The visit included a tour of the Denaby facility to see first-hand  the many energy saving initiatives that have been introduced throughout the company, including the installation of a state-of-the art waste reducing powder coating line and new biomass boiler which generates enough energy to provide free heating throughout the factory. There was also opportunity to find out more about Senior’s latest product developments, such as the new PURe^® range of aluminium windows that feature an innovative polyurethane thermal barrier that gives ultra-low U values to significantly improve a project’s carbon footprint.