QIC TRIMS UK LTD
QIC Trims
Radclive Road
Gawcott
Buckinghamshire MK18 4BL
Tel: 01280 818950
Fax: 01280 818955
Suppliers of: Dry Lining Trims, Suspended Ceiling Trims, Glass Partitions, Access Panels, Composite Trims, Column Rings, Partitioning Trims, Extruded Aluminium Trims.
QIC Trims UK Limited are Leading suppliers of aluminium trims and ancillary products for commercial interior fit outs, operating in the field of dry lining trims, suspended ceilings and glass partitioning systems.We supply straight and curved aluminium sections, access panels and fabricated steel products.
Our technical sales team has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the interior fit out sector, we use our experience to offer architects and designers comprehensive technical advice with support by CAD drawings, samples and hands-on practical advice. Backed up by a 36,000 square foot production facility with state of the art machinery QIC Trims UK Ltd are well established and proven to supply quality products on time and on budget.
Specialist made to order products are a large part of our offer, and our technical resources are always available to assist designers, specifiers and specialist contractors achieve the realisation of their designs within their budget.
Our Product Range Includes:
- Dry Lining Trims - Supplied in 3000mm lengths, extruded from architectural grade aluminium alloy to BS 1474. Dry lining trims are used to form reveal details within a conventional plasterboard system using single or multiple layers of plasterboard. Trade line trims can be used in conjunction with all major brands of plasterboard, steel stud and track systems and timber framing. The feathered edge allows for a seamless tape and joint finish.
- Suspended Ceiling Trims - Suspended ceiling trims are used to form unified transition details between plasterboard and most major brands of suspended ceiling tile and grid. Trade line trims can be used with a feathered edge for a plasterboard tape and joint finish or standard perimeter angle finish for mineral fibre ceiling tiles. Supplied in 3000mm lengths, extruded from architectural grade aluminium alloy to BS 1474.
- Glass Partitions – Available in a variety of solutions such as our Single Glazed Evolution System, Double Glazed Evolution System, Single Glazed Drywall Transition System and Double Glazed Drywall Transition System. QIC Trims Internal glass partitioning and transition profiles offer sleek minimal head and base track with complementary door frame details that service a multitude of styles and requirements.
- Access Panels - Installing a QIC access panel into your plasterboard wall or ceiling gives you quick and easy access to hidden services such as pipes, wiring or fuses. Our range of plasterboard access panels are ideal for use in commercial buildings, providing a practical and attractive solution. These are available in various sizes for walls and ceilings, as well as non-standard and bespoke applications. We also provide access panel solutions for residential applications.
- Composite Trims - Composite trims can be fabricated using a variety of in house products to create specific non-standard dry lining and suspended ceiling solutions. As with all of our trims these composite trims come in a vast range of colours and can be manufactured to your specific requirements for that special finish.
- Column Rings – Customer made curved trims suitable for curved walls or partitions to help create that special design you dream of.
Further technical information is available in the BPi download library or on the QIC Trims website.
QIC TRIMS ACHIEVE BIG SUCCESS IN FIT-OUT PRODUCTS’ SECTOR
Many a successful business has flourished from humble beginnings. That is certainly the case with QIC Trims…
The interior fit-out products specialist began as a four-person operation, with its aluminium extrusions being manufactured and dispatched from a small shed in a large airfield. But that was more than 25 years ago. Since then, staffing levels have increased nearly 10-fold in line with product demand, with QIC now occupying a 36,000ft2 manufacturing plant in Buckinghamshire.
The current premises is symbolic of the company’s reputational rise as a go-to provider of aluminium trims and products for use within dry lining, suspended ceilings and glass partitioning systems. Neil Miller, QIC Trims’ Sales and Marketing Director, said ‘propriety’ in respect of its service provision was key to the business’s burgeoning turnover. It’s a characteristic that was instilled from its earliest days when the company’s production facility was a humble shed, rather than the state-of-the-art plant QIC currently owns.
“It’s been an incredible rise,” he said. “From trims to glass partitioning profiles and sheet metal products, we now deliver a range of bespoke interior fit-out solutions. But what sets us apart is our service. We are focused on being super easy to deal with and having the right products available. If the customer orders it today, we do our utmost to ensure they get it tomorrow. It’s quite a simple ethos, but one that’s stood us in good stead throughout the years.”
Keeping pace with demand
Success came quickly to Quality In Components (QIC), which was founded by engineer Keith Davies in 1996. Just one year following its formation, the company upped sticks from its basic base at Shenington Airfield in Banbury, Oxfordshire to a 14,000ft2 production facility in nearby Brackley. Comprising three units occupied by three times the number of staff than were employed 12 months previously, the new site was a furious hive of activity. Such was the urgency to keep pace with customer demand for QIC’s vaunted aluminium trims, a surprise, yet friendly brush with ‘the law’ ensued, as Neil Miller explains. “Keith told me that forklifts would often hurtle along the road between the units to ensure deliveries went out on time. That was until a policeman visited the site one day and said, ‘You know you can’t drive your forklift on the road, don’t you?’ It was news to Keith.”
Explosive move
As years passed and turnover boomed, a move away from the Brackley premises was sought. The company had embarked on a series of high-profile projects, such as the delivery of aluminium trims and assorted products for a 100,000m2 aluminium grid that was built on behalf of Swedish telecoms giant, Nortel. Hence, additional space was needed to explore new business frontiers.
A building property developer associate of Keith Davies recommended a derelict site in Buckinghamshire as the next QIC HQ. The disused scrapyard neighboured RAF Finmere, which had served its time as a former pilot training centre. The derelict site was ideal for Keith’s expanding venture, which unbeknown to him, would have explosive beginnings. As Neil recalls: “During building work, Keith took a panicked call to say, ‘We have to stop everything. We’ve started excavating and we’ve found bombs buried in the ground. What shall we do?’
Neil described how bomb disposal experts called to the scene took into account the site’s former use a pilot training facility and declared that the potentially items were ‘just flares.’ They repaired to a nearby farmer’s field to prove their assumption and a crowd gathered to watch them detonate one of the devices. “The explosion knocked everyone off their feet,” Neil exclaimed. “After which, the bomb disposal guy turned around and said, ‘Actually, they were bombs.’
The factory opened in Buckinghamshire – where QIC remains based – in February 2002. Keith Davies sold the business a year later, with Jonathan Irwin taking over the business in 2013. Since then, QIC has gone from strength-to-strength. Neil joined the company as business development manager in 2015, progressing to Sales and Marketing Director. He said along with Managing Director Matt Woollam, the pair have been able to widen QICs product offering, with plans to branch out still further. “Myself and Matt joined QIC within a week of each other. At the time, the company was really just focused on trims for drylining and ceilings. We’ve added a glass partitioning product range, which has been hugely successful. We’ve also added a sheet metal fabrication side to the business. Metal ceilings will be the next new thing for us.”
Future
With nearly 30 employees split between its administrative and production areas and a full external sales force, QIC is looking forward to embellishing its brand as an acclaimed product manufacturer for the fit-out sector. But to realise how far you’ve come; you need to remember where you began. For QIC and founder Keith Davies, the dream began with a little shed and a lot of ambition. Now operating at a much larger scale, Neil said it was crucial QIC retained its humility and customer focus, the founding traits which first attracted him to the company. “QIC was always a company that I had enjoyed dealing with when I worked in the distribution sector. So, when the opportunity came to work for them, it was an easy decision to make. They have been around a long time and have such a good name in the marketplace. Thus, eight years later, I’m still here.”
QIC Trims’ high-quality building products portfolio
QIC Trims has strengthened its interior building products range with the acquisition of a high-quality aluminium partitioning system.
The demountable interior system, which is suitable for commercial fit-out applications in offices and public buildings such as hospitals and schools, is an ideal accompaniment to QIC’s glass partitioning range. QIC acquired the rights to produce the aluminium partitioning system from Telford-based building products manufacturer Libra Systems.
Speaking of the acquisition, Neil Miller, Sales Director at QIC, said: “This is a fantastic agreement for ourselves and Libra Systems. We have purchased a quality product from a manufacturer with an established reputation for excellence. The aluminium partitioning range further enhances our reputation as a go-to provider for products that facilitate first-class commercial fit-outs.”
Key to QIC’s acquisition of the aluminium partitioning range was its fire-rated accreditation. It means the company is purchasing a product of market standing in terms of its usability and safety. This makes it an appropriate addition to QIC’s building product offering. The company’s portfolio also includes ceiling trims, plasterboard trims, glass partitions and a recently added ‘Matrix-Mesh’ ceiling tile range, with each custom-designed product an enabler to creating inspiring interior spaces.
Simon Scowcroft, Managing Director at Libra Systems, said the decision to sell its aluminium partitioning range will allow the company to focus on further developing its core product offering. The privately-owned company, which was founded 50 years ago, is one of the UK’s leading distributors of drywall metal products. Hence, greater resources will now be afforded to expanding its stud and track solutions for drylining.
Simon said: “When we decided to sell the aluminium partitioning range, QIC Trims was the first company we approached. Their client base includes many established contractors, so our tried-and-tested product seemed an ideal fit for their portfolio. We hope this acquisition will open up further business between ourselves and QIC Trims.”
For more information on QIC Trims products and services, call +44 (0) 1280 818 950.
