A 2022 Christmas Message from our Managing Director

“2022 - A challenging year!”

As we left behind Covid regulations at the turn of the year, 2022 promised to be the year of less disruptions, however, for us and many, this year has been a difficult one. From battling renewed client expectations, to delays to projects and the price & availability of materials, it’s been a year of chasing our tails, but we can now look back on a jam-packed year with lots accomplished, and many inroads made to future success…

Off the back of 84% growth in the previous 3 years, we recorded further increase in turnover of 34%, with us now utilising the space from 3 premises.

Having moved into 2 new rented premises a year prior, we were delighted to announce our investment into our 13,500 sqft purpose-built office & factory building, which will serve the business for years to come. Due for completion at the start of Q2 2023, the striking building will boast modern & spacious facilities for our office & factory staff, allowing us to continue to expand and become more efficient both in the short & long term. You can read more about our move, here.

With impressive growth recorded, our focus now turns to improve our quality of service & internal efficiency, which was properly commenced in September with the appointment of David Stephens, as Operations Manager. Expanding our Senior Management team was essential, moreover in an Operations role, to allow Nathan to ‘work on’ the business more, whilst still overseeing all day-to-day activities of the business. With David having 30 years of experience in our industry, he brings a wealth of knowledge which is much needed as we continue to implement our growth & improvement plan. The Senior Management team now sits with Richard & Beckie in commercial roles, and Nathan & David, operational.

It’s been a non-stop year for all departments, with 30 projects of varying sizes & stages worked on in this calendar year. As ever. this included valued work with Bowmer + Kirkland & Volkferfitzpatrick, plus multiple projects with Readie Construction & Glencar Construction, as we seek to develop our relationships on commercial schemes with these 2 growing main contractors. A first for RKN is our awardment and work on multiple projects touching order values of £1,000,000, which we are immensely proud of. We are committed to working on projects no matter the size, but hope to develop our experience on larger schemes, identifying this as a key goal for the future.

Having moved into our dedicated ‘MMC unit’ in the latter stages of 2021, our off-site work started in full swing. Working with Bowmer + Kirkland on the Government’s DfE ESFA Framework, we are now involved in circa 10 MMC projects, 3 of which have all been glazed this calendar year. Despite delays to the others, this new method of construction holds a healthy proportion of our order book for 2023 and beyond, with our tried & tested method looking to be a key component of our business moving forward.

As ever, our commitment to proving curtain wall, windows and doors to Commerical Sector projects is at the forefront of our plan for next year, with our estimating team edging toward a number of exciting schemes.

Our offices close COP today, Wednesday 21st December and re-open Wednesday 4th January, with us giving all staff an extra day off for some much-needed rest.

We look forward to another actioned packed year in 2023