In the Spotlight: Keylite’s Jonathan Boland

Growing up in Holywood, Co. Down I followed in my father’s footsteps by working in the construction industry after I left school. I worked for Lowden & Partners builders’ merchants in Duncrue (now MacBlair), and I used to cycle the eight miles there and back every day, but I loved it.

This gave me a taste for the trade and after studying at university in Scotland I secured my first role working for Hanson (building materials), where I remained for 18 years and gained valuable knowledge and insight into the construction industry.

Although I enjoyed the roles I had at Hanson, I really wanted the opportunity to manage a team and that’s when I made the move to Keylite Roof Windows. Working as the Regional Sales Director for UK North for over six years, in January this year I was promoted to also look after the whole of Ireland – an opportunity I am thrilled about – not least because it allows me to go back to my roots.

As part of my role, I will oversee a team in the North of England, Scotland and North Wales, as well as a team in Ireland, which we are also currently recruiting for to strengthen in terms of numbers and exactly the right candidates.

I love my job and I am very passionate about working for such an innovative, loyal and hardworking brand as Keylite. In terms of competition, of course we have to work harder in the sense that everyone is aware of the market-leader in terms of its brand.

However, we work to develop relationships with our customers, and we pride ourselves on being known as product-leaders that contractors choose for our product USPs. It’s very rare that installers will use our roof windows and then go back to an alternative – and this is something we are extremely proud of.

We also constantly have a variety of new and exciting products in development, including our Integral Blinds Roof Window, which is a popular choice for educational and health sector applications; All our roof window products include unique USP’s as standard such as our Flick-Fit brackets, which are all factory pre-installed, making them ideal for building contractors; and our integrated expanding thermal collar, which appeals to housebuilders and architects for its ‘straight out the box’ solution to enhanced thermal performance. Keylite continue to develop its product portfolio within the flat roofing market too including Roof Lanterns, Flat Glass Rooflights and Polycarbonate Domes.

I am relishing the opportunity to get fully stuck into the extra responsibilities of my role with Keylite. For me, I love the combination of developing and coaching the internal sales team, as well as working hard to nurture new external relationships with customers across Ireland.

Our ethos at Keylite is to work hard, but always with a smile on your face. Morals and trust are incredibly important to us, and this is why we have built up such close relationships with loyal customers across our markets.

There is an enormous sense of pride that comes with knowing that we are continuing to develop our markets and build long-standing partnerships with customers – we want everyone in the supply chain to succeed, and this is what we at Keylite are passionate about.