PHPD gets the lowdown on UK manufacturer Kudos Showers.
British shower products manufacturer, Kudos, has been manufacturing shower enclosures, shower trays, over bath screens and wet room solutions on its 75,000 sq. ft. site in Holme, Cumbria since 1999.
Their products, designed and engineered specifically to suit a UK bathroom, can be found in independent retail and merchant showrooms across the UK. The team at Kudos is justifiably proud of their heritage and the firm one of the few remaining bathroom manufacturers still committed to producing products in the UK.
The Kudos business objectives have stayed firm: to create precision-engineered luxury showering products that represent excellent value for money, packed with innovative and functional features and produced to a quality finish. Product innovations have undoubtedly remained the key driver for this successful business over the years.
Committed to UK manufacturing and, where feasible, UK sourcing, Kudos helped accelerate its growth when it acquired Coleraine, Northern Ireland-based business Spa-Jet in 2016 after previously acquiring its main component supplier that manufactures its industry leading crystal clear seals.
Last year, despite the pandemic, Kudos made another substantial £650,000 investment in its business to expand it UK manufacturing capability further. Early in 2020, Kudos moved its finished goods stock from its manufacturing site in Cumbria to a new 60,000 sq. ft. warehouse facility in Sandbach, Cheshire.
The move not only places the company’s finished goods stock in a more central location with easier access to the motorway network, it also released around 25,000 sq. ft. of space in the Cumbria facility. This has enabled expansion of its manufacturing capability which in addition to increasing its enclosure output, has seen the installation of a new shower tray production facility to supplement their existing tray manufacturing unit in Coleraine, which has seen growth by over 50% in the last three years and was rapidly approaching full capacity.
The Cumbrian factory is now largely producing their new SR premium shower tray collection. These trays, available in both their KStone and Connect2 designs, feature a new surface material which is slip, scratch and stain resistant. The slip resistant properties are embedded in the material, rather than a coating on the surface, which means it cannot be removed and, unlike many other anti-slip surfaces, is comfortable underfoot. The requirement for anti-slip products has been growing over the past decade, initially due to our ageing population and more specifically today, the growth in multi-generational living. The SR collection successfully provides a solution allowing users to feel they have a more secure footing in the shower, but also due to its low height access.
The slimline 35mm high Connect2 Shower tray has been designed by Kudos not only for its low profile access but to avoid floor joists when plumbing in the product thanks to the precise positioning of a unique offset dual waste outlet, allowing the installer to choose the waste that is clear from obstruction to connect. If both waste holes are free, then both wastes can be connected for even faster water removal. A reinforced, magnetically secure waste cover, that’s easily removed for cleaning, then sits over the plug holes to complete the installation.
Kudos has been designing clever showering solutions in-house for many years and aside from their established standard sized enclosure range, they also offer a bepoke service they brand “Signature” for tailored products to meet a growing demand for personlisation in the bathroom. So when a standard sized product doesn’t suit, their Signature service takes over whether it’s a one-off special sized shower door, enclosure or bath screen or a shaped panel to accommodate a sloping ceiling for the consumer, housing development or hotel. Kudos offer a measuring service to support this offer, by their Retail Support Team, who can then be booked in to fit it too.
The Design and Development team at Kudos has a stack of innovative product ideas still coming through the pipeline. It’s a business not afraid to invest in a continual programme of improvement to deliver its showering solutions.
