Solinear is delighted to announce that it will be 15 this year! The business is now well into its teenage years with no sign of mood swings or turbulent tantrums – in fact, Solinear is a very productive and cooperative 15-year-old!
Anyway, enough of the stereotypical human teenager analogies and on with the story of Solinear – the birthday business!
How it all began
Tony Dwyer (Solinear’s founder and managing director) has been in the solar shading and architectural louvre business for over 40 years since he became an apprentice in the industry at the age of 16. The knowledge, experience and insight that Tony gained during this time has enabled him to bring a strong, consistent and innovatory approach to the industry – offering a personal touch, tailored service and practical solutions formed from his decades of theoretical and practical understanding of solar shading, architectural louvres and sound reduction technology.
His vision became Solinear; founded from humble beginnings in November 2004 it now has a very healthy turnover and an excellent reputation for quality and service. 15 years later and Tony has never looked back.
The changing face of Solinear
The Solinear team has slightly changed over the 15 years and now includes Tom and Jack Dwyer, who have been raised with Solinear and enjoy working alongside their dad. Those who have joined Solinear and then moved on to new roles, have brought their creativity, observations and unique insights to the business and left with a greater understanding and respect for the industry.
Solinear has embraced the overwhelming reach of social media, which has greatly altered over the last 15 years and is currently present on Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook and is always on the look-out for the next big outlet to spread the Solinear brand and personality.
Over the past couple of years, the Solinear website has been overhauled and streamlined making it easier for architects, specifiers and clients to find products and relevant information.
Even Solinear’s team motivator, Solly the lion, has had a make-over! He now sports a smart new branded T-shirt.
Moving with the times
In the fifteen years that the business has existed research, science and technology has evolved; styles and materials that dictate how we design and manufacture our products have changed and, as stagnation and complacency are life-limiting to a business, Solinear has taken notice and responded.
Solinear developed two new revolutionary Aquarius perimeter louvre frame options – supplying factory assembled louvre panels that interface with curtain walling glazing rebates of any ‘equivalent glass’ thickness or with an external frame flange to enable direct fixing into masonry, clad or rendered structural openings, providing a weathered detail without visible sealant lines.
This is just one example, from many, highlighting Solinear’s desire to develop and refine. Over the years the Solinear team has constantly strived to improve products to deliver more advanced systems as well as offering a service that not only meets but exceeds the expectations of clients.
Solinear is proud to have achieved Accreditation with Safe Contractor along with the benefits that Solinear can offer to clients because of this.
Tony explains “With its range of services to support Solinear including legal advice, a forum offering support and networking and a health and Safety helpline, Safe Contractor helps to insure against the many unforeseen problems that can arise in the Construction Industry. Solinear understands the importance of ensuring that we offer our customers the most secure and approved system available – putting in place the requirements that allow us to complete projects to required standards.”
Solinear was delighted to announce its incorporation into the Constructionline database, allowing buyers to view products and history with ease, improving the tender process.
Constructionline pre-qualifies its suppliers to government standards and maintains relationships with a range of industry, ePurchasing and government partners to ensure that it remains relevant to procurement professionals within the construction industry. Solinear also offers CHAS accreditation contributing to a robust health and safety assessment regime with our contractors and staff, plus Safecontractor to help anticipate and manage risk within construction projects.
Tony explains “These services are offered by Solinear as part of our continued commitment to health and safety, properly managed project planning and improved buyer experience.”
As well as the website revamp, enabling end-users to easily locate products and services, Solinear made it even more painless for architects, specifiers and clients to find useful technical product information; since 2017, Solinear has been a member of highly-respected, industry-leading specification system, NBS Plus and RIBA Product Selector.
Achieving ISO 9001 certification cemented Solinear’s compliance with the industry standard of quality systems in addition to Constructionline, CHAS and Safe Contractor affiliation amongst others. ISO 9001 benefits Solinear’s clients with the guarantee of improved quality and service, efficient and assured delivery, ‘right first-time’ attitude, fewer product defects & complaints and independent auditing demonstrating Solinear’s dedication and commitment to quality.
Tony confirms “ ISO 9001 helps to improve tender processes, validate our work ethic and reassure clients that Solinear’s dedication to ensure professionalism and standards of work at all times is absolute. ”
Solinear introduced its dedicated, free BIM (Building Information Modelling) library in line with the UK Government’s BIM Mandate. Designed and developed by Solinear, SOLBIM specifically showcases Solinear’s diverse range of products.
BIM level 2 is a revolution of collaborative design, allowing intelligence to be infused and embedded within a product model before sharing, this abstract concept means that a 3D CAD model can be designed by an individual, shared with another individual/ company using a completely different system yet the data combines and allows the users to interrogate, manipulate and modify the design as they wish as if it was their own, creating a small slice of reality within their designs. Imagine the ability to access a construction site before the build has even begun, problems can be eliminated before designing has been concluded, construction teams can highlight issues at the design stage (a stage they would normally have no involvement in), fewer problems, resulting in less time, manpower and money spent rectifying avoidable situations.
An architect looking for a model package complete with metadata; allowing manipulation, adaption and altering designs for specific requirements, viewing specifications, limitations or the ability to perform parametric modelling; or a client requiring a true representation of a finalised build before the construct even starts, including layout, finishes and a range of other useful intelligent data. will wonder how they managed before BIM.
Solinear remains at the forefront of technology; ensuring that all client and architects’ needs are met regardless of how complex they may be. Solinear’s designers are BIM trained and all projects are capable of BIM level 2 compliance.
Growing Solinear
15 years on and Solinear is still growing and considered one of the leaders in its field – supplying premium-quality solar shading / brise soleil and architectural louvre products to everything from hospitals to high-tech test centres, banks to submarine bases, schools to retail outlets as well as some magnificent domestic builds as showcased on our case study web page.
From Solinear’s inception, the business has had a clear ethos that elevates it above the competition as explained by Tony: “Innovation, pliability and robustness in design contribute to Solinear’s success; specialising in the sort of unconventional profile shapes that other companies are unable to match and are perfectly tailored to the needs of the client. To achieve this remarkable level of service, Solinear is structured a bit differently to other businesses – we pride ourselves on being lean and responsive and with our market-leading design/supply/install package, we offer clients total peace of mind, taking charge of a project from initial concept right through to installation by our comprehensively-accredited fitting teams.” He continues “We can provide all CAD, 3D design and modelling services in-house, something that’s becoming increasingly rare as the construction skills shortage worsens. We’re BIM level 2 ready and have already contributed to many BIM level 2 projects too. It’s an approach that’s seen Solinear grow impressively over the last few years to a point where it can list some of the biggest names in UK architecture and construction as regular clients.
~Here’s to another 15…and more!”
Tony concludes “Solinear’s first quarter of 2019 has been robust and exceeded expectation securing a large number of solid, high-profile contracts so our 15th birthday year is already proving hugely successful thus demonstrating the extent of the Solinear name and reputation. Our in-house design team is still happily situated in Sheriff Hutton, York and we are proud to continue manufacturing in the UK.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have made Solinear the success it is and those who continue to strengthen the business; loyal clients, friends, supporters and, of course, the talented individuals who make up the Solinear team for their unending support throughout the years. Here’s to another 15…and more!”
