Professional Builder puts the questions to Ollie Janes at DEKS about the company and its roofing products range
Q. We’ve spoken to you in the past mostly about your drainage offering, but there’s much more to DEKS than that. Can you offer a brief overview of the business and the sectors in which it operates?
Ollie Jane (OJ): DEKS has a global footprint covering Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) from our office and warehouse based just south of Bristol, with the other DEKS sites located in Chicago and Melbourne. DEKS is one of 25 business units which operate under our parent company Skellerup Holdings PLC that is based in New Zealand.
As a group we manufacture a diverse range of products from rubber and plastics, such as welly boots, rubber washers for push fit plumbing, foam inners for ski/snowboard boots, rubber liners for milking cows, non-slip foam decking for boats, silicone tubing for coffee machines and hundreds of OEM rubber and plastics products for customers globally to name just a few. All the businesses are supported by multiple technology and manufacturing sites enabling us to design and manufacture products. DEKS EMEA predominantly focuses on the drainage, roof flashing, solar and lead replacement markets.
Q. Looking at Roof Flashings, a key part of your proposal is lead replacement solutions. How does the UK market shape up and what do merchants need to know?
OJ: DEKS FastFlash is our market-leading lead replacement product, which offers the end user an easy to apply fully adhesive product. The adhesive and stretchable nature of the material makes it stand out in the market, and sales have grown significantly in the last few years. It’s a firm favourite with installers once they have tried it. Email us at sales@deks.co.uk and we will send a sample, as seeing is believing.
Q. With sustainability concerns and the cost of energy bills so apparent, we are seeing an increasing number of tradespeople diversify into solar PV panels and the various accessories needed to install them. We understand that such solar fitting solutions already form a key part of your product portfolio with more to come in the coming months. What can you tell us?
OJ: The DEKS range has always included rubber flashings for cables which are used for on-roof solar applications, but the range has grown significantly in the last year. New products such as TileFlash – a rubber rosemary roof tile with cable ports, BirdBrush – a quick and innovative method of bird proofing your solar panel instal, HookFlash – a bracket flashing for slate roof installation and last but not least DEKS FastFlash which is the go-to “fit and forget” flashing for in- roof solar installations.
Q. How do you see the market shaping up in the rest of 2024?
OJ: We have seen significant growth over the last few years in sales and we don’t see this stopping anytime soon. We have a growing portfolio of products, and we are leveraging our manufacturing base to bring more online in the drainage, roofing and solar marketplaces this year and next.
For further information on DEKS visit DEKS Industries Europe Limited.
