This Week's News

A new landmark for London Western Europe’s tallest building is inaugurated

Western Europe’s tallest building, The Shard, was formally inaugurated in London last Friday by His Excellency Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassem Bin Jabor Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar and HRH the Duke of York KG. The event marks the physical completion of the exterior of the building – which is fast becoming one of the most recognisable London skyline silhouettes.
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Olympic ban lifted

A ban on more than 75,000 companies -including many from the glass and glazing sector - publicising their work on the Olympic Games is to be lifted.

Business leaders were furious that firms who worked on building the stadium and the Olympic Village could not promote their involvement for 12 years, under restrictions imposed by the International Olympic Committee. But last week, after a report by Sir John Armitt, chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority, recommended the ban be lifted in September, once the Games were over, the Government agreed to back the business campaign.
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Securing the main event

Grouphomesafe has announced that it will be one of the main event sponsors at the G12 Awards in November. When making the announcement, CEO Darren Waters commented: “As one of the leading component suppliers to the door and window industry worldwide, it is only fitting that we should support the most prestigious awards event in the UK glass and glazing industry.

“It is very important to have outstanding achievements recognised and the G12 Awards do just that, raising the whole standing of our industry. I urge all companies involved to enter and publicise the things we do well
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First winner of the SGT – Alastair Pilkington Award

Dr John C. Mauro of Corning has won the first SGT – Alastair Pilkington Early Career Award. Dr Mauro received the Award from Mrs Ros Christian, Sir Alastair’s daughter, and Mr Brian McMillan, immediate past president of the Society of Glass Technology, at the opening ceremony of the ESG (European Society of Glass Science and Technology) conference in Maastricht last month.  The winner also presented a lecture on his work during the conference programme.

This Early Career award is intended to promote creativity and excellence in studies related to glass. In association with the Sir Alastair Pilkington’s family, the Society of Glass Technology plans to make this award biennially and thereby commemorate the most significant Glass Technologist of the twentieth century.
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At Synseal "zero" now means "Hero"

Synseal Extrusions has achieved its ambitious target of ‘zero waste to landfill’ making it one of the most environmentally friendly companies in the industry.

The ‘zero waste to landfill’ objective was established with the aim of reducing the company’s overall environmental impact, and strengthening its audited ISO 14001 certification. It was a tall order for a high volume PVC-U extrusion company, due to the nature and variety of waste produced on site.
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Fensa plans quick and easy transition to compliance

Following publication by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) of its new requirements for glazing industry Competent Person Schemes (CPS), all Scheme operators are required to comply by assessing existing registered glazing installation companies against the newly extended and ‘improved’ processes. FENSA will shortly be issuing a number of guidelines and instructions to help installers through this assessment change from the existing to the new process. This will simplify the procedure and minimise administration time involved for registered companies.
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Eurocell wins Recycler of the Year Award

Advances in post-consumer PVC-U recycling have lead to Eurocell winning the National Recycling Awards 2012 ‘Materials Recycler of the Year (Large)’ category.

Eurocell was the only PVC-U systems company to gain recognition at this year’s event, which was held at The Lancaster hotel in London last week.

Former England Rugby star and Strictly Come Dancing competitor Austin Healy presented the award to Eurocell at the ceremony, which was attended by leading organisations from across the UK.
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iPhone/iPad App from Rockdoor

In an industry first, leading composite door manufacturer Rockdoor has launched a brand new innovative iPhone and iPad App to help homeowners to find the perfect door for their home.

Using this new App, customers can take a photograph of their home and visualize what different doors styles, colours and glass designs look like in position before making their decision using Augmented Reality (AR) technology. Once captured, the images can be shared with family and friends via social media and email so customers can gain a second opinion quickly and easily.

The App, available for free from the App Store or via www.rockdoor.com/app, has been developed exclusively by Rockdoor to support their recent introduction of the Ultimate, Elite and Select Series Rockdoors, which offer industry leading security and thermal efficiency.
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Fifty Shades of Grey:
The Movie

When the team at MyBuilder.com heard about female commuters, housewives and mother getting excited about something called Fifty Shades of Grey we assumed it was a new set of colour swatches.
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Liniar included in fastest growing companies list

HL Plastics producers of Liniar has been included in the Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200 table for 2012.

The Fastrack tables identify the fastest growing companies in the UK, and HL Plastics are delighted to have been included. The company which manufactures the Liniar system is delighted to be recognised as one of the fastest growing companies in the UK and is promising to keep growing!
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‘Heroes in a half shell’

Swish Building Products has signed up to support a new project to provide a new home to two Giant Tortoises and give young construction apprentices a leg-up in the industry along the way.

Delivered as part of the national ‘build a bungalow’ scheme 13 students from, the Alfegar Centre, Rugeley, Staffordshire Young Apprentices in Construction program, signed up to build the new reptile ‘des res’ at the Rodbaston campus of South Staffordshire College.

The site includes a small zoo (or animal zone), which is open to the public, housing the five tortoises. Four Sulcata tortoises and a Leopard tortoise now in their 30s and 40s but capable of living to more than 100 years old live at the college. The tortoises’ had started to outgrow their current accommodation which then provided the opportunity for a new build.
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Window Woman to the Rescue!

Tradelink, the trade fabricator celebrating 20 years in business this year, has helped one installer customer, Window Woman, come to the rescue of a homeowner to whom increased security was more important than ever.

Bruce Morley, Business Development Director at Tradelink explains: “One of our customers, Window Woman in Kettering, was called upon to install some new windows and doors at a property that had recently suffered an armed burglary. As a result highly secure products were of paramount importance, although the consumer also ideally wanted windows and doors that were thermally efficient and aesthetically pleasing to fit in with the property.

Tradelink was able to offer the perfect solution from its wide range of products. The property’s existing timber work was painted green so our Kommerling Chartwell Green profiles were a great match. We were also able to offer our Heatguard Plus high performance sealed units for excellent energy efficiency which was especially useful because the project included a large glazed area. Most importantly for this particular project however, the customer could benefit from our Homeguard high security door lock.
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