Editors Comments
- No categories
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell considers the persistent attraction of glass. Following on from my comment last week, where I flagged up a news story that called for glass skyscrapers to be banned, I think it would be fair this week to highlight an area where glass is demonstrating its strength and flexibility. News that all timber doors tested for...
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell reflects on a recent story that called for a ban on glass skyscrapers. Should glass skyscrapers be banned? According to Simon Sturgis, chairman of Riba’s sustainability group, and an advisor to the government, whose opinions featured in a recent Guardian story, all-glass skyscrapers should be banned because they are too difficult and expensive to cool....
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell focuses on the efforts being made to attract and train the talent the glass and glazing industry needs to flourish. “The recruitment and retention of shop floor staff combined with a failure to attract younger workers into the industry, threaten the long-term sustainability of the glass and glazing sector, according to commentators. “The warning was...
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell responds to news that BA will receive a record-breaking fine for a massive data breach. In the same week that Facebook users were reportedly handing over significant amounts of personal date to an app that aged them, we learned that British Airways will be fined £183.39 following a sizeable breach of the General Data Protection...
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell considers something old and something new. This morning I was going to write about a tweet I had read earlier in the week about how someone found some Crittall windows by the side of the road, and then decided to take them home. They had been removed from a property (ie, not new), and she...
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell celebrates interconnectivity. Last week’s Glass Times Race Day was – as usual – a great success. Typically, though, like any event where you put so many people you know (or want to get to know) in a room, you end up kicking yourself the morning after because you missed your chance to say hello. I...
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell attended Prefix’s showroom opening last week, and discovered some new opportunities. The opening of Prefix’s new showroom in Blackburn last week was something of an eye opener. I know the company quite well, and I’m always impressed with how Chris Cooke and Chris Baron have developed new products and created new markets while keeping a...
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell congratulates GM Fundraising on the latest cycling challenge, which concluded at the beginning of the week. On Saturday June 22, the GM Fundraising cycling team arrived at Hope House in Oswestry marking the end of From Russia With Hope, the latest GM Fundraising cycling challenge. Ten countries in 12 days, from the Russian border through...
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell reports on the latest news to emerge from the GM Fundraising cycling team. This morning, the GM Fundraising Facebook page read “Day nine, From Russia With Hope: Hamburg, Germany to Arnhem, Holland. 246 miles and 3,973 feet of climbing. It will be difficult to build up a rhythm today with lots of stop/start urban riding.”...
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell reports on the latest attempts to rid the construction industry of rogue traders. Today sees the launch of a mandatory licensing scheme that has been designed to combat the image that the construction industry is unprofessional. The new Construction Licensing Task Force has the backing of several professional bodies, including Fensa, Federation of Master Builders...
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell responds to a scammer. As the dust settles on what has turned out to be a successful FIT Show 2019, the organisers have an unwelcome battle on their hands: fraudulent attempts to sell visitor data. FIT Show exhibitors have been receiving messages from someone purporting to be an ‘event specialist’ from the FIT Show offering...
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell reflects on FIT Show’s success. What a great three days that was! I don’t think I’ve talked so much, or met so many people, in such a short space of time. And, as always happens after an industry event, I apologise most humbly if I failed to catch up with you at the FIT Show....
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell reflect on the news that the FIT Show will become an annual event. So, we are past the halfway point in the FIT Show. I think there’s no coincidence in the fact that ‘show’ and ‘exhibition’ are also synonymous with entertainment, and while we attend events like this one in order to be informed, we...
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell reports on the government’s plans to make permanent the right to build extensions and conservatories. I have some good news for you this week, especially if you supply products that go into single storey extensions: the government has pledged to make Permitted Development Rights (PDRs) for single storey extensions permanent. Glass Times posted this story...
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell reviews the latest fire safety news. Following last week’s news that the BBC had found that new-build homes were not fire safe, the Door and Hardware Federation has emphasised the importance of making fire safety an ‘absolute priority’ in new-build homes. “The BBC’s Watchdog discovered serious breaches that had gone undetected during the construction process,...
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell wonders why new homes are not meeting fire safety standards. It often takes a significant jolt to make society sit up and take notice of something. Just recently, despite repeated warnings from scientist that the earth’s atmosphere was heading towards irreversible damage, it took the action of the so-called Extinction Rebellion, and a disrupted London,...
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell discusses how having the right skills really pays off. Following the credit crunch and recession 10 years ago, companies right across the construction industry laid off staff, choosing instead to hire contractors as when they were needed. This included window fitting teams. Staff cuts are an obvious barometer for the health of any industry, and...
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell reports on a new modular build in Corby. As you may have picked up before now, I am quite excited by the growing trend in modular construction. As I was preparing this week’s newsletter, this story crossed my desk, complete with a time lapse video, that I thought may interest you. The first four houses...
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell considers the various elements of the FIT Show that will attract visitors to the NEC next month. With less than six weeks to go, the FIT Show has unveiled its seminar programme, which looks pretty attractive in its own right. There have been a number of standalone events over the past decade or so, which...
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell raises a glass to the fundraising efforts of Supalite’s Nina Colquhoun. Glass Times recently won a charity football tournament organised by Supalite’s Nina Colquhoun. Nina, finance director at Supalite, is raising money for Rock FM's Cash For Kids Charity. She is running the London Marathon for them, and this football tournament was part of the...