Quickslide Shortlisted at the Architect of the Year Awards 2026
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We’re delighted to announce that Quickslide has been shortlisted for Manufacturing Partner of the Year at the Architect of the Year Awards 2026.
Run by Building Design, these awards celebrate the companies and projects shaping the very best of UK architecture. The Manufacturing Partner of the Year category recognises the manufacturers and suppliers whose collaboration helps bring those designs to life, and we’re honoured to be one of just four companies named on this year’s shortlist.
Recognition for true partnership
For us, this category couldn’t be a better fit. It rewards manufacturers that go beyond simply supplying a product to UK property developers. Instead it focuses on those who are committed to solving real housebuilder problems and developing solutions that respond to real challenges on real projects.
That’s exactly the story behind our submission. When changes to Approved Document F of the Building Regulations introduced new background ventilation requirements in 2022, trickle vents became a fact of life for new and replacement windows. For most window styles that’s straightforward enough. For heritage-style sash windows, where authentic appearance is everything, it’s a genuine design challenge.
Our first answer was a modular trickle vent system that achieved full compliance, including the more demanding ventilation standards in Scotland. But as adoption grew, so did feedback from customers who wanted something more discreet for high-end, heritage and conservation-led projects, where the visual character of a building simply can’t be compromised.
So we went back to the drawing board, working in partnership with a customer delivering a new build scheme in East Anglia whose specification the modular vent couldn’t meet. Over twelve months, our in-house team designed, tested and launched a concealed head vent that delivers full compliance without disturbing the traditional sightlines of our Legacy sliding sash windows.
The result speaks for itself. The concealed vent has since been specified across five of that customer’s developments, covering around 750 windows, and demand for our premium heritage sash products continues to climb, with sales in the last six months up 25% on the previous six.
Built on relationships
Quickslide was founded in Brighouse, West Yorkshire in 2004 and remains family owned. Today we employ more than 240 people and supply installers, builders and property developers across the UK. Long-term partnership has always been at the heart of how we grow: the architects, developers and installers we work with shape our product development, our investment and our innovation, and this shortlisting reflects that shared way of working as much as it does any single product.
Sandra Berg, Marketing Manager at Quickslide, says: “Being shortlisted for Manufacturing Partner of the Year recognises the thing we care about most, which is working closely with the people who specify and install our products. The concealed head vent only exists because a customer challenged us to do better, and that collaborative spirit runs through everything we manufacture.”
What happens next
The winners will be revealed at the Architect of the Year Awards ceremony on 7 October 2026 in London, and we’ll be there with our fingers firmly crossed. Whatever the result, we’d like to congratulate our fellow shortlisted companies and thank our customers, partners and our brilliant team, whose hard work made this recognition possible.
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Their knowledge and expertise have been honed by working closely with the rest of Quickslide’s extensive team of professional manufacturers, letting them learn the ins and outs from direct sources. Their B2B experience is further enhanced by Quickslide’s long list of trade partners, offering additional insight into the manufacturing and installation process of sash windows, bifolds, flush windows, patio doors, and more.
Please note, our news articles are relevant and accurate at the time of release, but as technical developments dictate, and times goes by the information in this article may no longer be applicable. If you have questions, please contact us using our online contact form or call us on 03332 412 240.