Upselling against the entry level products of our competitors in an affordable rent tenure has resulted in huge share gain and the largest ever regional residential channel win in the London region.
Islington Homes, the housebuilding arm of the London Borough of Islington, has confirmed Ideal Standard as the full category provider for all new sites from 2023, with the currently confirmed pipeline worth £1.4m to the business.
We are supplying product primarily from the i.life and Connect Air ranges, taking over from what was a mixed specification with manufacturers including Kaldewei, Twyford, Laufen, Bristan and Lecico.
Andrea Jung, the Technical Director of Islington Homes, is an architect by training and was so impressed by the LDSC that she made an enquiry.
After an initial meeting with Joe Munday and Louise Vedat, when Ian Smith re-joined the business in November 2021, he was immediately tasked with securing the business.
Ian said: “Andrea wanted to be right on top of the specification and was seeking a full category manufacturer who could offer a true cradle to grave service, right through from pre-site meetings to supporting products many years after installation.
"Because they’d had so many manufacturers previously, there was little value offered and after sales was a real problem for them.
“We are specified in every category, even down to toilet roll holders, towel rails, medicine cabinets, mirrors and all the Part M bathrooms, which collectively maximises the plot value and brings a lot of value to the table.”
The developments will be a mixture of affordable rent, shared ownership and private sale properties.
Ian continued: “The best part of the win is the upgrade of the affordable rent tenure, which makes up 60 per cent of their build programme.
"Ordinarily, this would have been low margin entry level product like Sandringham 21.
“However, we focussed on Islington property values to upsell this to i.life A with back to wall pans, Ceratherm valves and Connect 2 shower doors, all of which offer a far more favourable margin for our business.
"The commitment Team South Residential made at Conference 22 was to increase both revenue AND margin, and this is a great example of the application of our strategy.”
The private sale specification features higher end products including Connect Air sanitaryware with wall hung pans and frames, Ceraline taps, EasyBox concealed shower valves and i.life 8mm shower doors.
Ian said: “Another thing that’s great is the scale of this win very clearly demonstrates the enormous benefits of having the stunning LDSC in such a prominent position on Clerkenwell Road and the superb work the team there are doing to get Ideal Standard noticed in the A&D community.”