The 2000s: To the window, to the wall, and everything in between

Whether you remember the 2000s for the bitter end of VHS tapes (the last film produced in this format was 2006), Coldplay's debut album in 2000 or Windows pinball, this decade sure had a lot of memories. Our September feature in the press reminisces on the O2 stadium being built to celebrate a new milenium and the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. You could say that a popular song lyric (from 2003), 'To the window, to the wall' is quite a fitting summary of this decade for us.

To the window...

In the 2000s, we also started supplying windows for Tulloch Homes as well as quite a major contract with the RAF which involved installed secondary glazing in Lossiemouth and Kinloss to minimise the sound of jets at the military base.

To the wall...

More walls were being built in the tail end of the 1990s, ready for opening our purpose-built factory on Longman Drive in the turn of a new decade. This saw us bring together the existing three Inverness bases under one roof, and was officially opened in 2000 by a former Scotland football manager, Craig Brown, which was in keeping with our links to football. Here's a picture of the directors at the time (Graham Bennett and David) from the 1990s eyeing up the new plot. We also found a photo of now Joint Managing Director, Chris eyeing up the plans pre-2000s!                                   Chris mentions some of the benefits of an all-in-one factory:

“The new factory made communication much easier, and it helped with the team dynamics. It just simplified everything, and it helped with our carbon footprint as we weren’t spread out between places.”

And everything in between...

Ever since the start of the 2000s, we've paid increasingly more focus to our environmental impact... Off the back of the Kyoto Protocol agreement being signed by world leaders at the end of the 1990s, the 2000s energy saving revolution started with Cairngorm Group becoming one of the first companies in Scotland to be accredited with "A-rated windows and doors. You can view our windows and doors brochures here. The decade saw other key memories for us. For one, with technology seeing further advancements, we announced (in a newsletter from 2003) that our we our appearance on the world wide web had been made. We also increased our workforce by 20% and celebrated our 50th business anniversary - a golden jubilee! We saw many interesting publications as a result. Click into the images below to find out more: In amongst many positive memories of the 2000s, Chris makes some remarks on the tougher times:

"2008 was the most challenging time in our journey but it’s part of our story. There were a number of challenges the world faced then but being able to come out the other side still standing strong was very pleasing.”

We are very proud to have made it through a time like 2008, and more recently to be celebrating our 70 years in business - a platinum anniversary! You can read up on our reflections of our other decades in our 'Through The Decades' timeline.