In the latest of our series of in-depth interviews with manufacturers and merchants, Alan Hogan, Divisional MD of Sanbra Group, tells Andrew Gaved about the importance of installer conversations:
Alan Hogan tells me he is excited to be at InstallerSHOW and it is easy to see why. For Sanbra Group, the Ireland-based owner of the Instantor pipe and fittings brand, the UK represents a significant market opportunity and the show is the ideal place to do something that Alan rates very highly: meeting the installers. And given Alan’s enthusiasm for his subject, I can imagine there are some pretty good conversations – and lively ones.
As Instantor celebrates the hundredth anniversary of its original brass compression fitting in 2026 – which might surprise anyone who thought mechanical jointing was a recent invention – Alan is in no doubt about the importance of those conversations with installers:
“Contractor engagement is the lifeblood of our business. These products are not only created in an R&D lab,” he says, “It’s a two-way conversation. It’s very important that we hear what irks installers and we can feed that back into our product development.”
Press-fit, of course, is all about speed, reliability and repeatability, and the reasons for specifying the system have only become more compelling, he notes:
“100 years ago, everything was welded copper and plumbers were looking for a faster, quicker methodology of joining pipes. It’s interesting that a hundred years later we’re involved in another massive transition in the marketplace, with the move from gas to electric heating.”
Alan notes that for installers the main commodity they trade in is time, so Instantor can help them get better value out of that commodity:
“We believe this [the Instantor Press System] is a product that after being pressed once that you can walk away from with confidence, and has a 50-year warranty, as well as a manufacturer by your side to help to bridge skill gaps or to give advice on compliance…”
The importance of time-saving
That time-saving element only gets more important in these days of ever-increasing paperwork and regulation, Alan says, and he is here to help: “They’re working every hour that they can to put bread on the table, but yet they’re expected to consume large amounts of technical guidance and standards. There’s a lot more for the installer to consider. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but the challenge is they’re not getting rewarded for the additional work.”
All this means that training is an important part of the Instantor offering. Alan, it turns out, has no intention of transitioning everything to AI:
“I believe you can create all the digital tools in the world, but plumbers still want to talk to people. We need plumbers to know that they can have that direct relationship with us as a manufacturer. Because as a manufacturer we know that if the right product is applied in the right application and installed in the right way, we are going to have an easy life and you’re going to have an easy life.”
Alan, it turns out, has a pretty solid reason to look after the installers, particularly the sole traders. It’s family: “My father is a plumber and my grandfather comes from the industry. So we take great pride in what we do and we listen to what is really critical for the installer.”
Why training and guidance are key
Training is a key part of the equation – it takes place in a variety of different ways to ensure the installers are up to speed, Alan notes. Instantor currently has a mobile training academy, which tours the UK and Ireland, along with a training lab at the Dublin factory and there are plans to widen the facilities further.
But alongside training, guidance and support is crucial, Alan believes: “There’s too much confusion around standards. I think as an industry, we could do a lot better in simplifying it. So we are creating a bank of one-minute guides for installers. The idea is to inform them in a way that makes them interested in getting more information.”
He describes it as ‘sowing the seeds’ for the likes of Part L, telling the installer the minimum thermal insulation they will need on their pipework for instance. “If the site certifiers require the installer to meet Part L compliance on heat loss, Instantor will create the calculation, so they can submit the technical submission.”
With the arrival of the Building Safety Act, there is added pressure for the installers to prove they are competent with their pipework installations – a task made more difficult when some plumbing curriculums still don’t cover press fitting. So Instantor is developing its own press-fit compliance card:
“We know if our product is applied and installed in the correct fashion, nobody’s going to have any issues,” Alan says, “So we’ve been working with specifiers to say, ‘This is what you should be looking for in a compliant install.’ We provide the training and the installer can present the card to the customer to show they are a competent and compliant installer.’”
A big recent development for the manufacturer is the launch of its own underfloor heating range. Alan says it is a logical step:
“For us, it is the same customer base. And we are already experts in pipe and in manifolds and fittings and it’s just a question of creating the system.”
Again, the range has been driven by a desire to meet the demands of the installer for simplicity:
“What we are saying is, whether it’s cold-water service, or it’s hot water service, whether it’s low pressure or low temperature, we’ll have the solution for it, using the same tooling, and having access to the same expertise and training. We’ve been developing that nearly for two years.”
The advent of new materials
New materials are also very much part of the new landscape, with low-lead fittings introduced to meet the upcoming European Drinking Water Directive requirement for metals in contact with water, expected to come in to the EU and UK in 2030, or later.
“We are Drinking Water Directive-ready,” says Alan, “We’ve launched a PPSU [high-performance plastic] product, which has no metal in it at all, other than a stainless-steel seam. So there’s no metal touching the water. With our compression fittings, we have a lead-free version now available, the CW511L, which is a low lead content brass, less than 0.2%.”
Alan notes that although there are still theoretically a number of years to comply in the UK, the demands of specifiers are driving lead-free solutions now.
“We have seen in Ireland already that local authority specifications are requiring a lead-free content brass and other materials to be lead-free. The installer might be dealing with a person behind the merchant counter who may not have been briefed on this. So there’s a knowledge gap that we’re trying to bridge.”
The move towards PPSU materials is also being driven by the rising price of copper, he adds, “It’s a high-temperature, high-pressure-resistant material that’s used in the engine blocks of high-performance cars. Plumbers were historically hesitant about using plastics, but I think they’re really comfortable with it now.”
All of this attention to the installer will pay dividends for the industry, Alan concludes:
“Plumbers are fantastic people. They are honest and hard-working, but the business is them – they carry all the risk. If we can impart knowledge for them to do better work that’s going to last longer, it’s going to be a better industry for everybody!”
