Roger Hartshorn has been recognised for the significant contribution he has made to the fenestration industry during his 45-year career, (and still counting!) after receiving the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the National Fenestration Awards 2022, which took place at the Hilton Hotel at Doncaster Racecourse.

This award not only highlights Roger’s hard work and commitment to excellence, alongside the positive impact he has had on the industry, but also shows how highly he is regarded as the NFAs are peer-voted. Being recognised for his outstanding contribution by other industry professionals is an enormous compliment. Especially when considering this year’s NFAs were the biggest yet, with over 2,000 nominations submitted across all categories and a total of 29,060 votes being cast ahead of the winners being announced – a record for the organisation.

Roger, who despite his success tends to shy away from the limelight, was nevertheless delighted by the news, said of his award win: “I’ve thankfully achieved a lot during my career, but receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s NFAs was a nice surprise. To be recognised by my peers and industry professionals is not something that happens every day, and that means something.”

“Over the past few years, Garnalex and our aluminium window and door brand, Sheerline, have gone from strength to strength. I’m proud of what we’ve achieved already as the UK’s newest systems company and are continuing to achieve – this is just the beginning,” he added.

Roger is no stranger to the fenestration industry, having started out at HL Plastics in the late 1970s, where he was part of a management buyout. Under Roger’s direction the company created and launched Eurocell, which started as a window cill brand, and was grown into one of the UK’s most largest PVC-U systems houses with its own branch network, setting the company apart from the competition, resulting in it being bought by the Tessenderlo Group.

It was a few years later when Roger left Eurocell to form Flamstead Holdings, which bought back HL Plastics. Liniar was formed and achieved critical acclaim after its first window system was launched in 2008. Ten years later, Roger stepped down as the CEO of Flamstead Holdings (after 41 years with HL Plastics) and formed Garnalex, home of the Sheerline brand.

Throughout his career, Roger’s strong leadership and entrepreneurial spirit have enabled him to achieve sustainable business growth in every company he has operated. He is driven by a desire to improve current systems and accepted processes, making them more efficient, providing better products as well as service levels to fabricators, installers, and homeowners.

After achieving great success with PVC-U systems he is now replicating this success within the aluminium window and door market through the revolutionary Sheerline brand. Bringing many of the higher service and performance expectations to a sector that was stuck in the past, helping overcome many of the existing issues within the aluminium industry.

For example, Sheerline overcomes aluminium’s traditional issues of thermal efficiency through its innovative Thermlock® technology, which was developed in-house and reduces heat loss, while also helping keep service levels across all colour combinations agile. In addition, every product within the Sheerline Prestige, Classic and S1 Lantern ranges are available with Secured by Design accreditation – a police-backed initiative, helping highlight Sheerline’s high quality, robust design.