Home Editors Comments Page 3
Posted On - 28/06/2023
Last week I commented on how the ongoing skills shortage may be resolved in the long run if students are savvy enough to avoid university degrees that don’t offer a good enough return on investment. The allure of university life is still strong enough for many students to take on huge amounts of debt, but with many courses – typically...
Posted On - 21/06/2023
The skills crisis continues to be one of the most prominent, longstanding issues for the industry. And a big reason, I believe, that it remains is the allure of university and college after sixth form. While university was traditionally reserved for more elite careers, it has in more recent times opened up to a much broader demographic which regard it...
Posted On - 14/06/2023
A recent conversation about marketing & PR, brought about as we are planning a marketing feature for the next issue of Glass Times magazine, has fanned the flames of two of my favourite pet hates – badly written PR copy and social media. The reason I am particularly sensitive to these is that I’ve worked on both sides of the...
Posted On - 07/06/2023
The industry continues to invest heavily in sustainability, with more and more organisations working towards a lower carbon footprint and ‘greener’ operations. This week for instance, Ultraframe has joined the growing list of manufacturers to make the most of their factory roof space. The extended living specialist is set to install 1,000 solar panels on top of its factory buildings...
Posted On - 31/05/2023
With the dust still settling from last week’s FIT Show, I’m already looking forward to the next event in two years’ time. Timed to coincide with new regulations on energy efficiency for the Future Homes Standard, it will give companies plenty of time to develop even more new products – and will potentially attract more systems companies and some of...
Posted On - 17/05/2023
With less than a week to go before the 10th anniversary of the FIT Show, many exhibitors will no doubt be fully focused on the final stand preparations before the exhibition opens its doors to visitors on 23 May. It will be two years before FIT returns, so I would encourage everyone to make the most of the opportunity to...
Posted On - 09/05/2023
The phrase ‘people buy from people’ might be considered by some as an old sales cliché, but it’s one that arguably still rings true in an industry that’s as sociable as fenestration. Anyone that’s been to a People in Glazing event, or the G Awards, or the Glazing Summit will appreciate the amount of business that’s done on the strength...
Posted On - 03/05/2023
After seven months of downward trajectory, house prices rose in April for the first time since last August, up 0.5% to £260,441, according to mortgage lender Nationwide. Great news for homeowners, (and for consumer confidence generally) but it has left economists – who were expecting prices to slip by a further 0.4% – scratching their heads. Property prices are still...
Posted On - 26/04/2023
You may have seen or heard last week the news that the UK is plagued with conservatories that are so ‘naff’ they can wipe £15,000 of the price of a property. According to a swathe of newspapers and radio hosts, who all jumped at the chance to highlight the terrible blight attached to millions of homes across the country, we...
Posted On - 19/04/2023
Are you ready for the Future Homes Standard? The changes to Part L that were introduced in June 2022 were a good demonstration that the industry is more than capable of being caught napping on legislative change, no matter how far in advance it is forecast or discussed in the trade press. To be fair to the industry, there were...
Posted On - 12/04/2023
Last week I was invited to a tour of the Reynaers Aluminium campus in Duffel, Belgium. The Reynaers facility is second to none – look out for a full report in the May issue of Glass Times – but a particular highlight for me was the company’s in-house virtual reality facility. The phrase ‘state of the art’ is one that’s...
Posted On - 05/04/2023
In the pandemic, it was holidays – or a lack thereof – that was one of the main drivers for sales in the industry’s retail sector. Stuck at home, and sitting on a pile of cash that would have otherwise been spent on two weeks relaxing on a beach, consumers decided to cheer themselves up by spending it on home...
Posted On - 29/03/2023
A newspaper headline on the vulnerability of expensive ‘luxury’ cars caught my eye recently. It seems that thieves are now able to purchase relatively cheap devices online that allow them to unlock and drive away with desirable motors in as little as 90 seconds. The keyless theft of cars has been happening for years, but any attempts by manufacturers to...
Posted On - 22/03/2023
The industry has done very well over the years to innovate modern solutions for old, inefficient conservatories. These would have originally been constructed with basic polycarbonate or glass roofs and in many cases they’ve ended up being used as additional storage areas – too hot to enjoy in the summer and too cold to sit in during the winter months....
Posted On - 15/03/2023
Preparations for this year’s FIT Show, which is scheduled for 23-25 May at the NEC, are now well underway. Over the last week or so my inbox has been pinging with press release from companies who are keen to announce what they will be showcasing at the 10-year anniversary special. The first batch are in this week’s newsletter – stand...
Posted On - 08/03/2023
News that Chinese surveillance cameras equipped with facial recognition technology have been installed at various government departments and at locations on the King’s Sandringham estate has got me thinking. For starters, who in their right mind thought that it would be a good idea to install Chinese made CCTV at such sensitive sites in the first place? Perhaps they were...
Posted On - 01/03/2023
In my comment for last week’s newsletter, I referenced a recent report that outlined the benefits of a four-day working week. To re-cap, 2,900 employees from 61 companies across the UK took part in a study to see how a four-day week would impact on productivity and staff wellbeing. The results were eye opening, with no loss of productivity and...
Posted On - 22/02/2023
According to a recent study, which included 61 companies and organisations across the country, a four-day working week is the way to go. The experiment, which ran for six months from June 2022, included 2,900 employees who were only required to work for four days out of the week and at full pay. All of which would result in roughly...
Posted On - 15/02/2023
Have you heard about the next big innovation that’s helping UK homeowners to keep warm in the winter? Switch off the radiators, because electric, infrared wallpaper has arrived. It sounds like an early April Fools, but the technology is real and consists of wallpaper that includes two, thin copper strips and a layer of graphene that gives off heat when...
Posted On - 08/02/2023
With January behind us and Spring just around the corner, let’s take a minute to assess the potential outlook for the window and door industry. On the one hand, we are being told that the economic downturn may not be as bad as all that and that inflation may be nearing its peak. On the other, in an effort to...
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