Home Editors Comments Page 14
Posted On - 30/01/2019
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell discusses the rise in popularity of trade counters. A recent conversation with a systems supplier revealed that it will be working more closely with trade counters this year. This was basically an acknowledgement that this route to market – targeting builders in particular – is one to be ignored at your peril. According Insight Data,...
Posted On - 23/01/2019
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell wonders if bad news is always bad news. Read a news story once, and you view it as negative. Read it a second time, and you may well see the positive side to it. Today’s news often gets bundled up with an unhealthy dose of opinion, so it is often difficult for the reader/viewer/listener to...
Posted On - 16/01/2019
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell avoids any mention of Brexit. Since our attention is probably elsewhere today, I thought I would give space to a slightly more offbeat story that landed in my inbox this morning. Please don’t try to draw comparisons between this and the current news headlines. Keith White, managing director Aluplast in the UK, has become a...
Posted On - 09/01/2019
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell reports on Veka Recycling’s fully operational site in Wellingborough. About ten years ago I visited Veka’s recycling site in Germany, which, even by today’s standards, was an advanced operation, and it gave me a good idea where the industry was heading in terms of environmental responsibility. The drivers then were similar to now: a general...
Posted On - 19/12/2018
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell is checking his windows for leaks. Many suppliers to the window industry shut down completely over Christmas. However, not everyone has that luxury, and those involved on the homeowner-facing side of the industry – particularly builders – will wonder what it is about this time of year that makes everyone’s houses fall apart. Indeed, according...
Posted On - 12/12/2018
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell highlights an important development following the Grenfell Tower fire. Sales of GRP fire door blanks and prepped fire doors have now resumed, following the self-imposed industry-wide ban which resulted from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry investigations and subsequent bi-lateral fire door testing initiated by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) Government tests on...
Posted On - 05/12/2018
AluFoldDirect was crowned Fabricator of the Year at last Friday’s G-Awards, while Double R picked up the award for Glass Company of the Year. AluFoldDirect also took home the Training and Development award. AluFoldDirect was recognised for its Aluminium Installer Training Academy where installers can learn to fit the Everything Aluminium range, become an accredited Infinium installer, or just have...
Posted On - 28/11/2018
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell looks ahead to Friday’s G-Awards. In two days’ time, the great and the good of the industry (plus a few hangers on, like me) will descend on the Hilton Hotel on Park Lane for the G-18 Awards. Award-winning comedian and author Mark Watson will host the presentation. Mark is Time Out Critic’s Choice and his...
Posted On - 21/11/2018
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell reveals that the former owner of HL Plastics, Roger Hartshorn, has new plans for the glazing industry. I’ve lost count of the times people have said to me: “Once you are in this industry, you’ll never leave.” I have to admit, if you see a person leave one company then they will soon pop up...
Posted On - 14/11/2018
Glass Times editor Nathan reports from a Building Our Skills conference where the growing gap between the supply of and demand for skilled labour was discussed in detail. A week ago, I attended a conference organised by Building Our Skills at Liniar House in Derbyshire. Its purpose was to inform Building Our Skills supporters of the campaign's progress and provide details of...
Posted On - 07/11/2018
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell recently attended the opening of Pyroguard’s new glass processing facility in St Helens. On Monday I visited Pyroguard in St Helens to take part in the official opening of the company’s new factory, which will produce made-to-measure toughened fire-resistant glass units – a product that was previously imported from France. In a presentation to customers...
Posted On - 31/10/2018
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell shares more thoughts from this year’s Glasstec. Last week’s newsletter and leading comment were posted from Glasstec in Germany, and the summary of my first morning there was (and I paraphrase) “uncertainty over Brexit, but lots of confidence”. Which sounds like a big contradiction, but what it actually means is that despite Brexit, people are...
Posted On - 24/10/2018
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell reports from this year's Glasstec in Düsseldorf. I often find that with large events expectation is the enemy of success. However, within five minutes of walking the halls at Glasstec it is obvious the show has not lost any of its confidence as a vital strategic international event - which is exactly what I was...
Posted On - 17/10/2018
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell tries out new welding technology. The flush sash has become something of a defining product in recent years, almost becoming a byword for the evolution of the PVCU window. Dan Gill’s R9 window was certainly the trendsetter in this movement, but while that window has many features, its flush-fitting sash was its defining element, and...
Posted On - 10/10/2018
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell welcomes a new delivery service. At the Glazing Summit in May, Yale’s Paul Atkinson said (and I still have the notes here in that handy orange notebook they gave out to delegates) that millennials are the ones who will buy into smart locking technology, if the older ones among us struggle with the thought of...
Posted On - 03/10/2018
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell reports from Aluplast’s international conference. Cardiff was the destination for Aluplast’s international conference this week, playing host to delegates from countries as diverse as Mexico, Greece and Indonesia. Indeed, in between the presentations on machinery, hardware and IT, conversations with delegates implied that the influence of PVCU on global architecture was growing. It was also...
Posted On - 26/09/2018
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell is still waiting for the prefab home revolution. Do you remember watching that episode of Grand Designs in 2004 (yes, 2004) where an elderly couple bought a Huf Haus, which was manufactured in Germany and built on site by the Germans? If I remember rightly, the one sticking point in the whole project was the...
Posted On - 19/09/2018
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell weighs up negative reports with positive new stories. There is a lot of uncertainty regarding the possible effects of Brexit. It hardly needs me to say it – there seems to be little other news at the moment. Yet, it is still worth highlighting the fears that some in the construction have. This week, the...
Posted On - 12/09/2018
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell considers the skills crisis. Four of our top stories this week paint a picture that we are becoming all too familiar with. On the one hand, residential and commercial opportunities are presenting themselves despite the fear over Brexit, while on the other, a lack of skilled workers is hitting the industry hard, driving up wages in the process....
Posted On - 05/09/2018
We have a story this week from the FIT Show saying it is ‘throwing its weight’ behind its newest feature: Visit Glass. There has always been a small glass element at the FIT Show, with companies realising that there is enough of a crossover between the window and the glass markets to make the investment worthwhile. Furthermore, some companies have...
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