This Week's News

GGF “Frustrated” With GDHIF Changes

Following the news piece in last weeks’s Glazine on the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund the GGF is frustrated that glazing is still not high on the agenda.

The Government recently announced that more people will get help to improve the energy efficiency of their homes through a new release of the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund (GDHIF).

From 9am, Wednesday 10 December, the scheme re-opened to new applications, with up to £5,600 available to households in England and Wales to help with the cost of installing energy saving measures such as solid wall insulation, double glazing, boilers, cavity wall and floor insulation.

Up to £30 million in vouchers are now available and details of further releases will be announced on a quarterly basis with the next release expected in February 2015. This is part of the additional £100 million for household energy efficiency measures announced in October 2014 which is in addition to the £450 million already allocated to household energy efficiency over 2014 – 17.

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Another record month for Deceuninck and its customers

Deceuninck’s sales in October were up a record 27% compared to the same month in 2013. This is a big step on Deceuninck’s path to its top three target, set by group CEO Tom Debusschere at the FiT show 2014.

Deceuninck has recently opened a state-of-the-art 110,000 square foot warehouse, developed a series of bespoke customer marketing tools and continued to provide high standards of customer service to its fabricators and their installers. All of this is contributing to customers’ growth and therefore Deceuninck’s, according to Sales Director Rob McGlennon:

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Concern Over ECO2 Plans

The Government is extending ECO (Energy Company Obligation), introducing a new obligation period from April 2015 to March 2017, termed ‘ECO2’. The Electricity and Gas (Energy Company Obligation) Order 2014 (the ‘ECO2 Order’) sets out the requirements for ECO2. As administrator of the scheme, Ofgem will publish guidance for energy companies, and are consulting on changes to the scheme where they are exercising their discretion in administering new legislative provisions, or where they are making further improvements to their current ECO policies.

As part of the stakeholder engagement for this consultation, Ofgem is inviting expressions of interest for a number of workshops that will be run in w/c 5 January 2015 and w/c 12 January 2015. Each session will feature an introductory presentation on the full list of changes and, to maximize the success of the workshops.

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Record sales in final quarter of 2014

Phoenix Doors, part of the MASCO UK Window Group Ltd, has reported record-breaking sales of its GRP composite doors and PVC-U door panels in the final quarter of 2014. Sales in October were the highest recorded in the firm’s 21-year history.

The Cambridgeshire-based manufacturer regularly produces more than 600 composite doors per week with door panel production averaging around 1,350 per week. Demand for panels continues to hold steady, according to Haydon Statham, Sales Director of Phoenix Doors.

He comments: “November 2014 was not as high a figure as October because it was three working days shorter. But incoming orders on a daily basis were actually higher than in October.

“October 2014 has broken all records with the biggest-ever sales figures for one month in the company’s history. It’s fair to say it’s been our best run-up to Christmas and these record sales levels, naturally, have been matched by record production performance. Our employees in both composite and panel production deserve the utmost praise for their hard work in helping to make this happen.

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Record Attendance at the 2014 Glassman’s lunch

The UK Glass industry’s version of Dionysus gathered recently to enjoy the annual ritual madness that is, the Glassman’s luncheon.

This is somewhat of a misnomer these days, as the Glass God’s of Grape were joined by many ‘Glass Aphrodite’s’ to raise a glass to an industry that continues to thrive in difficult trading conditions.

A record attendance of 116, crammed into Bangers in the City of London and shared stories with industry friends, colleagues, and competitors alike.

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Small Builders Back Government’s New Homes Plan

The Government’s flagship ‘Starter Homes’ initiative launched this week by the Prime Minister has been welcomed by the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), with a number of FMB house builders already pledging their support.
 
Brian Berry, FMB Chief Executive, said: “We back the principle of this scheme which aims to enable more new homes to be brought forward and targeted at first time buyers, who are a crucial section of the market. The Government’s recognition of the importance of boosting supply from smaller house builders has been underlined by recent announcements extending the Builders Finance Fund to smaller sites and setting a ten unit threshold on affordable housing and tariff style planning obligations. It is crucial that the Starter Home initiative will also be open to firms and sites of any size.” 

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Up-selling to drive growth in 2015

Up-selling will be a key path to growth for the fenestration industry in 2015, according to Andrew Swift, technical advisor for foam sealants supplier ISO-Chemie.

He believes that while confidence remains high within the construction market, and window companies in particular have enjoyed a good year for sales, margins have not been as high as hoped and in some quarters, remain extremely tight.

“Increasing margins would appear to be a big challenge for the fenestration industry, as well as finding new ways to up-selling as we go forward in the coming years.

“Looking ahead, the new minimum technical competency (MTC) standards should separate the professionals from the cowboys but only if the sector is policed properly - if at all. But there’s also a strong onus for installers to look to add even more value – and boost margins – through new ways of up-selling to customers.

“One way to do this is to deal with the gap around the window to wall joint, which is currently un-regulated. I fully expect this to become a focus for 2015 as more and more start to look at seriously tackling the issue.

Andrew Swift says that for the last few years the main topics in the industry have been off site construction, air tightness and energy savings but this is now changing.

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Accelerating Growth Plans With Warehouse Expansion

Avocet Hardware has signalled its intent for 2015 by doubling the capacity of the warehouse facilities at its Brighouse headquarters in West Yorkshire.

The company has added an additional 10,000 pallet spaces, which when combined with a number of important new distribution deals, and a significant investment in stock earlier this year, means next day delivery is now available across any product ordered from Avocet before 4.30pm Monday to Thursday and 3.30pm on Fridays.

Avocet also anticipates an additional 20 warehouse jobs being created as a result of the expansion in 2015.

Rythm Jain Saigal, a director of Avocet Hardware, said: “We have been building the business steadily ever since we took it over in 2012 and all this hard work can now be seen coming to fruition.”
 

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GGF Marks Great Progress In Scotland

The GGF raised its profile at the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood, Edinburgh in the first week of December with three jam packed days that included a GGF exhibition, meetings with over 20 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs), input at the Scottish Cross Party Group Meeting on Fuel Poverty in Traditional Buildings and an exclusive GGF Members lunch and tour in the Garden Lobby of the Parliament Buildings.

Alex Gray, Chairman of GGF Scotland commented, “It’s been an amazing week and so important for the profile of the GGF to be raised in Scotland’s political arena. Sincere thanks to Margaret McCulloch MSP and Nigel Don MSP who helped facilitate the GGF’s Exhibition and arranged the lunch and tour of The Scottish Parliament buildings for our Members.”


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