This Week's News

UK inflation hits new four-year low

British inflation fell to its lowest in more than four years in February, dipping further below the Bank of England's target and easing the pressure on Britain's living standards.
Consumer prices rose 1.7 percent on the year in February, as expected, down from January's 1.9 percent - which had been the first time in over four years that it fell below the BoE's 2.0 percent target.

The gap between inflation and average wage growth is now at its narrowest since April 2010, the Office for National Statistics said. The last time British wages consistently grew faster than inflation was in early 2008, it added.

Before December last year, annual inflation exceeded the central bank's target every month since December 2009, eroding the spending power of households and making falling living standards a key battleground of 2015 elections.

Easing price pressures have underpinned the view the central bank can keep monetary policy loose for a while without the risk of triggering inflation even as the economy recovers rapidly. However, the Bank is keenly aware of rising house prices which are increasing at their fastest pace in more than three years.

In February, the BoE said it would look at a broader range of measures of slack in the economy than just the unemployment rate when considering whether to raise borrowing costs, and that it was in no rush to raise interest rates.

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GGF “Mixed feelings” on Budget 2014

The GGF had “mixed feelings” after Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, announced his 2014 Budget.
The Budget promised a raft of positive measures for SMEs, manufacturers and exporters but the Federation felt the Chancellor could have done more to support the recovery in the construction industry and in particular the need to improve the energy efficiency of the UK’s building stock.

Nigel Rees GGF Group Chief Executive commented: “Of course we are delighted to hear the Chancellor’s measures to help SMEs with plans such as the creation of the Builders Finance Fund and the doubling of the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA). It was also good to see the Government’s intention to fund the regeneration of housing estates and we welcome the extension to the “Help to Buy” Scheme.

“However, we are disappointed that there was no movement on the VAT rate on home improvements, repair and maintenance work. In addition, the distinct lack of incentives in this Budget to encourage homeowners to invest in energy efficient home improvements was quite incredible; particularly when you consider the extremely poor uptake of the Green Deal and how ambitious the Government was four years ago with its plan to reduce carbon emissions.”

Giles Willson, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Technical Affairs commented; “It was positive to hear the Government’s support for apprenticeships and I hope our industry will take advantage of these measures. I was also pleased to hear the Government are working on proposals to tackle fuel poverty and it will be interesting to see the new strategy after the threats of cuts last year to the ECO (Energy Company Obligation) and other energy green levies.”

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Clear toughened glass benefits demonstrated for BBC Watchdog

Toughened glass features in the BBC’s new “Watchdog Test House” series this week (11.45am on Thursday 27 March) courtesy of independent research, testing, analysis and design specialist Glass Technology Services Ltd (GTS).
 
The episode – one of a series of 15 hosted by newsreader Sophie Raworth – will focus on toughened ‘safety’ glass construction products used across architecture and glazing - and the rigorous safety and performance requirements that must be met before the product can be CE marked and made available on the European market.
 
Philip Marsh, Business Development Manager at GTS comments: “The programme makers contacted us to provide expert, independent insight into the relevant product standards and to film the physical tests and assessments needed to meet stringent safety and performance requirements for glass.


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Government intervention to finance small house builders welcomed

The Chancellor’s Budget announcement of a £500 million Builders Finance Fund for small house builders will provide a major boost for housing supply and has been welcomed by the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).

Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, said: “Access to finance is a major stumbling block for viable SME house builders so this government intervention is much needed as many major banks are still reluctant to lend for small residential developments. This additional support will provide the necessary finance to small house builders and help increase the overall supply of new housing through a well-functioning SME sector.”

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Kommerling asks a Triple Question

Kömmerling are the latest high profile company to join the Triple Glazing Question debate, which will be held at the Ricoh Arena on 10th April 2014. The company will be also taking the opportunity to show off their impressive new aluminium clad AluStar system in a triple glazed format on stand 18.

Triple glazing is nothing particularly new for Kömmerling’s profine Group, given their standing as one of Europe’s most technically advanced PVCu systems companies. In Germany triple glazing is far more widely used, although window styles are typically tilt and turn, with systems such as KBE System 88 capable of u-values as low as 0.6 W/m2K. This is in contrast to the history and Britishness of casement windows, which dominate the UK market in a double glazed variant.

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A durable soft coat alternative to hard coat Low E glass

Guardian Glass UK is pleased to announce the launch of ClimaGuard DS, an advanced soft coat Low E glass which has similar durability and performance to alternative hard coat Low E options. Historically, hard coat Low E glass has been known to have a slight brown colour distortion with an element of haze when viewed from particular angles, as the sun’s light catches the coated surface. Guardian’s new ClimaGuard DS is an offline, magnetron sputter-coated Low E glass, which offers similar attributes to its hard coat Low E rival, without the brown colour distortion or issue relating to haze.

ClimaGuard DS can be treated much more like a hard coat glass and doesn’t require edge deletion (the process of removing a perimeter of the coating from the glass surface before manufacturing into an insulting glass unit) and has a robust coating, allowing it to be processed and manufactured like hard coat glass.

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Interbar and Fittings to complement Thermobar Warm Edge Spacer

Thermoseal Group, manufacturer of warm edge spacer, has released a new range of internal spacer bar and fittings in sizes 11.5mmx18mm and 15.5mmx18mm that will allow customers to simulate traditional multi-pane Georgian windows with Thermobar.
 
By creating a grid of Thermobar Interbar (sometimes referred to as Muntin bar), sealing it within a unit and then attaching a Georgian Surface Mount bar to the outside of the unit, customers will be able to create the appearance of a multi-paned window.
 
Thermobar Interbar has been developed using similar technology to Thermoseal Group’s Warm Edge products, consequently the Interbar offers a superior thermal efficiency than traditional aluminium Interbar systems.  Interbar fittings have also been developed alongside the new Interbar profile in order to achieve a seamless fit whilst ensuring that the colours match perfectly. The adjoining centre keys (cruciform) and edge keys have been reinforced with stabilising bars to optimize the rigidity of the unit.  The bespoke centre keys also come with the option of round buffers to eliminate the chance of rattle within the unit.

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Reducing the Carbon Footprint for Fifth Consecutive Year

As part of its continuous commitment to improving environmental performance, Swish Building Products has once again cut its carbon footprint, seeing a decrease of 27.4% since 2008; well ahead of the industry target set by the Government.

The company’s electricity consumption proved to be the biggest saving, down 26.2% on the base line year of 2008. In real terms that is equivalent to the average annual consumption of 1000 UK homes; that’s 100 more than in 2012.

The last couple of years have also seen the low maintenance building product specialist make a dedicated effort to improve its delivery performance. While it was 11% more fuel efficient in 2012 than 2008, it wasn’t until 2013 that these efforts were fully realised. Swish Building Products is now 21% more fuel efficient when delivering its products to its customers, that’s an improvement of 10% in just 12 months.

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100 more tickets are released for Triple Glazing Question

100 more tickets are released for Triple Glazing Question. Hosts Edgetech UK, has added more places as the first 500 have already been booked, three weeks before the live debate on 10 April.

“When we first arranged the Triple Glazing Question, we thought 500 places would be more than enough,” says Andy Jones, managing director for Edgetech UK. “But as we saw the number of bookings increasing we arranged with Ricoh Arena to increase numbers to the maximum the room will take.
“High levels of interest in the topic are coming from the whole industry. If volumes for triple glazing take off, like they have in Europe, there are real issues for the supply chain.

“But far from everyone is positive. There is much debate about the performance of triple glazing compared to double glazing and scepticism about the benefits.

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Householders' security fears answered following lock snapping exposé

Householders concerned about the security of their homes are calling in locksmiths, installers and security professionals for advice following a BBC TV Watchdog Test House exposé on the vulnerability of locks on most domestic PVC-u and composite entrance doors.
 
The BBC TV consumer programme revealed that many burglaries that occur in the UK each year are carried out by criminals snapping the Eurocylinder within the door lock, a process that can take just seconds.
 
However, there is help at hand. The programme informed householders that there are now cylinders that resist snapping, such as those tested to Kitemark TS 007 standard. This standard has been developed by the Door & Hardware Federation (DHF) and the Glass & Glazing Federation (GGF), in consultation with Secured by Design (the Association of Chief Police Officers' crime prevention initiative), the British Standards Institution (BSI), and other leading industry organisations.

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Further Response to the 2014 Budget……..

The British Glass Manufacturers’ Confederation welcomes last weeks Budget announcements – particularly the focus on supporting the growth of the UK manufacturing sector through cuts to energy costs, investment in innovation for SMEs and providing further grants for apprenticeships.

However, whilst the reforms announced will ease the pressure on Britain’s energy intensive industries in general, the glass industry itself, which employs 7,000 directly in the UK and over 45,000 in the supply chain, is not deemed eligible. For example, the Government has said they will extend the compensation for energy intensive industries for the cost of the Carbon Price Floor and EU emissions trading system to 2019-2020, however, the glass industry is not entitled to benefit from this unless they widen the terms to include us.


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