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Centor Wins Leading Product Award in the US

Major US magazine Window & Door have announced Centor Architectural as one of the winners of the Crystal Achievement Awards for 2008. Presented annually by the official publication of the powerful National Glass Association, the awards honour the best in new product technology, manufacturing and marketing in the fenestration industry.

The award for Most Innovative Door Component, with its ground-breaking insect screening system was Centor's second such award in two years!

"It's another great endorsement for what we do," said Centor Managing Director Nigel Spork. "Our weathersealed bifold door hardware was a big hit in 2006, and for the Centor Screen to get the same reaction really shows we're on the right path"

Centor S1 is the largest capacity, most robust retractable screening system in production and responds to the increasing size of architectural openings allowed for by rapidly evolving door system technology.

Developed from the bifold-integrated ES2 screening system, S1 can be matched with every door and window type, including sliding and French doors, for a flexible, effective screening solution. Ready for action as soon as temperatures allow for open windows and doors, S1 remains rolled back out of view the rest of the year.

"The demand was clearly there for a stand-alone system," said Spork. "We just had to find a way to deliver a system that looked as good and performed as well as ES2, without the limitations that come with an integrated system."

The award caps a period of sustained growth for Centor, which has seen the company nominated as Finalist for three categories in the Telstra Business Awards.

"It's certainly encouraging for us to be recognised ," reflected Nigel Spork. "These awards inspire us to keep pushing the boundaries by creating systems that give people more control over their environment."

Crystal Achievement Award Winners 2008  

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Centor Folding System Miami Dade County Approved

In a region legendary for its coastal hurricanes which has the single toughest standard of testing anywhere in the world, the path towards approval was a very challenging one - particularly with an ambitious door set-up featuring panels 120" (3048mm) high by 42" (1067mm) wide. The full test regime requires repeating the test procedure (described below) with 3 complete door assemblies just to make sure that the result is repeatable and to give peace of mind to the consumer that any product with a compliance rating will be utterly reliable.
 
Each test includes normal wind (structural), water and air infiltration tests to exacting standards as applicable in many areas of the world, on top of this, however, Miami Dade County and Florida State test regulations include a very exciting "large missile impact" test. A length of wood over 7 foot long (2.1 metres) long and weighing over 9 pounds (4 kg) is fired end on into the glass and framing at critical points at a  speed in excess of 34 mph (54km/h), simulating the flying debris likely to be encountered in an extreme storm event. This breaks the glass in the special impact resistant laminated glazing panels, however, a special interlayer is used that ensures that even after the glass is broken, the membrane which is bonded into the panel remains intact so as not to allow an opening in the building envelope that might put the building structure at risk to an even more destructive combination of wind forces. Not quite done yet, the battered unit is then subjected to a very serious structural wind load test regime. A total of 9000 pressure cycles (4500 negative and 4500 positive) including some up to the full design load rating. This part of the test takes roughly 8 hours to complete and is a very thorough examination of door system integrity.

 
View Notice of Acceptance (N.O.A): 05-1220.10