From Medical Student to Window and Door Manufacturer

In 1983, when I approached the doors of Manchester Medical school, I don’t think I was looking to see whether they were fitted with commercial aluminium, anti-finger trap, thermally broken profile of the type we can produce today at Nova. No, I was probably thinking…..will I be able to cope with cutting up the dead bodies in anatomy?!

Anyway, whilst I did pass the anatomy exams (eventually), I just wasn’t motivated to study and managed to fail the third year re-sit and was unceremoniously told not to come back.

Skip a few years, and I ended up as a Chartered Accountant auditor, at Nova’s auditors, and luckily, Nova was looking for a new Financial Director. In 1999, I joined the company and began my career in double glazing.

A little bit of background on Nova is that when its founder, Ian Sproston, a plumber by trade, required a piece of cut glass in 1971, he visited a local glass shop in Altrincham one lunchtime. He was turned away (with other customers) by the owner, who was having lunch. Realising that he could do a better job, Ian founded Altrincham Glass.

By 1975, the company had moved to its current site, which had considerable expansion opportunities.

The firm quickly progressed to making double glazed windows – first aluminium, then PVCU and conservatory roofs. By the late 1980s, the decision was taken to consolidate all the divisions under the banner ‘Nova Group’.

By 1999, the Company had grown into its 90,000 sqft manufacturing base, with 180 employees.

For the next 7 years, we saw some good growth in the business, and as the founder thought about his retirement, my wife and I discussed a management buy-out with him, and in 2006, we bought the business.

In 2008, we had the recession years to deal with, and in 2020, there was COVID.  All tremendous learning opportunities that I would never like to repeat!

When I joined Nova, we were only manufacturing one PVCu system and one aluminium system.  Today, we fabricate the Spectus and Eurocell PVCu window and door systems (including Modus), Alunet, Decalu, Kestrel, and Technal Aluminium Bi-fold, Sliders, and Commercial products, and our own secondary aluminium glazing system. We also fabricate Composite Doors and 30 minute Composite Fire Doors and windows.

I have been tremendously lucky in having an amazing workforce that has a service culture second to none in our industry, and colleagues who enjoy the challenges of running a company in a dynamic and competitive industry, which is constantly looking at new products to innovate what many may think is a simple product.

After nearly 26 years in the industry, I still feel like I’m learning new things every day, and I enjoy meeting new customers, suppliers, and colleagues. When I’m not working, I enjoy being with my family and dogs, playing basketball (though I’m too short and too old), and watching films.

At the end of the day, Nova was built on the promise of providing the best possible customer service (we certainly don’t close for lunch), and we can do that because we are on a single site with very experienced and talented people working for us who are always looking of ways we can help our customers sell to their customers.