Targets to cut carbon emissions and shifting consumer expectations mean the one thing that you can be certain of in 2024 is that sustainability will remain at the top of the agenda.

There are very few things which we can be certain about but the importance of sustainability in construction, in home improvement, in each and every aspect of our lives, is one,” says Rob McGlennon, managing director, Deceuninck.

“Pretending it’s not happening isn’t an option,” he continues. “Companies that can’t evidence – and I mean evidence – their green credentials are going to be locked out of new build, and very soon, home improvement.

“And that’s something progressive window and door companies should, and are, embracing.”

Commercial window fabricators have had to be able to demonstrate their environmental commitments as a key element in winning business for decades – but that’s now something which should also according to the Deceuninck boss, be part of the pitch for trade fabricators and installers.

“I was recently at an event with a group of installers, and they were talking about sustainability. One of those installers dismissed its importance. It was one of those tumble-weed moments and no one said anything, other than I said that I was surprised that it didn’t resonate with consumers.

“Later that day a couple of installers grabbed me and said that they hadn’t wanted to contradict the guy who had been speaking but that they were regularly asked by homeowners ‘if products were manufactured sustainably’, and said that they were using the recovery and recycling of old PVC-U windows as a way to win business.

“That sums up neatly where we find ourselves,” continues Rob. “There are companies who don’t and may never see the opportunity and that those that will, and who are quietly already levering a commercial advantage from it.”

Rob argues that there are two factors that are converging to bring a certain amount of inevitability to proceedings. The first being the state of the UK’s notoriously energy leaky housing stock.

Around 75% of the residential properties that will be occupied in 2050, already exist. This makes improving the energy efficiency of our existing housing stock key if the Government is to reach its own targets to cut UK carbon emissions.

“The consultation on the Future Homes Standard closed at the end of March and while it may not quite have been the watershed moment that we were expecting, there are still big ramifications for the window and door industry,” Rob continues.

“If adopted, the Home Energy Model which shifts testing of window and door performance away from the standard window model to an assessment of performance against actual window dimensions. This is a practical shift which redefines how we measure energy efficiency and will transform the new build landscape.

“The legislative ‘stick’ is however, only one of the drivers. Increasing end-user awareness and expectation, the very tangible impact that climate change is having on our planet is driving a bigger shift.

“People expect the products that they purchase from electric cars to windows, to deliver an environmental benefit.”

This is backed up by research commissioned by Deceuninck and conducted by YouGov, which shows that more than two-thirds of UK homeowners (68%) would choose windows and doors with a higher recycled content, over and above products which don’t contain recycled content, or which did so at lower levels.

The study also found that 38%, would be prepared to pay more for home improvement products that had higher recycled content and reduced impact on the environment.

“Everyone knows what they should be doing,” Rob says. “This isn’t an epiphany moment, we know how important sustainability is. What’s different is that now there is a very clear and tangible connection between running a greener business and fitting a more sustainable product and making more money.”

Deceuninck has established a lead on sustainability based on its’ commitment to the Science Based Targets (SBTi) programme, with a headline pledge to cut the CO₂ emissions from its own operations (Scope 1&2) by 60% by 2030 from a 2021 baseline.

Cutting emissions by 21% last year puts Deceuninck, which won the G-Award Sustainability Initiative category in 2022, already ahead of target.

It followed up its 2022 win last year claiming the G-Awards Marketing Campaign of the Year, for its movement to give fabricators and installers the tools to work out, evidence and communicate their own carbon footprints and green credentials including its carbon and energy calculators and sustainability marketing toolkit.

“If you aren’t measuring your carbon footprint, if you aren’t working to lower it and if your supply partners can’t evidence what they’re doing to lessen the impact their operations have on the environment, then you should know, that your competitors are,” Rob says.

“The direction of travel is one way – your business needs to be more sustainable. Deceuninck is working towards that and our customers are as well.

“It’s the right thing to do and it’s winning them business.”