Shadow boxing

The fact that Safestyle has chosen a new CEO with a £30million corporate turnaround on his CV is hardly surprising considering the circumstances it finds itself in. The challenge for Mike Gallacher is how do you set about tackling an arch-rival that is apparently building its entire premise around shadowing your own business model. To an outsider’s guess, the most obvious answer must be that you do something your shadow cannot copy, but then he may have other ideas. We are far from alone in saying we will watch with great interest.
Read Story

Also this week, we have a thought-provoking letter from Sam Yiend of Teal reminding us that the most common cause of death in fire-related disasters is not the fire itself but smoke inhalation, and calling on the industry to recognise this fact in designing fire-rated systems. Read Letter

Also, the matter of the skills gap is being addressed in a new strategic initiative aimed at encouraging new entrants to join the industry, especially those at the beginning of their career path. Read Story

We hope you enjoy this week’s issue.

Chris Church Editor

Please send all your news stories to news@the-glazine.com

This Week's News

Gallacher steps in at Safestyle for ‘performance improvement’

Safestyle UK has confirmed that CEO Steve Birmingham has retired and is being replaced by turnaround specialist Mike Gallacher.

Birmingham, the former MD who became CEO after the company’s flotation in 2013, will remain as an executive director until he leaves the company at the end of the year.

Gallacher, a former British Army officer who has also held a number of roles at Mars Inc, was most recently CEO of dairy firm First Milk Ltd where he delivered a major turnaround leading to a £30 million boost to profitability in two years.

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Eight-year record drop in house prices

UK house prices fell by 3.1% last month over March – the biggest monthly fall since 2010 – amid declining home sales and almost record low levels of homes on the market, according to the latest Halifax House Price Index published today (8 May).

The year-on-year figure was up however but with a 2.2% increase markedly lower that the 2.7 in the year to March. The quarterly change was marginally down by 0.1%.

Halifax managing director Russell Galley said: "We’ve seen annual house price growth ease from 2.7% in March to 2.2% in April. House prices in the three months to April were 0.1% lower than the previous three months. Both the quarterly and annual rates have fallen since reaching a recent peak last autumn, with these measures providing a more stable indication of the underlying trend than the monthly change.

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BRE names new head
of BREEAM

BRE Global has announced the appointment of Dr Shamir Ghumra as the new Director of BREEAM, the international portfolio of sustainability standards (including CEEQUAL and Home Quality Mark).

Formerly Director of Sustainable Products at BRE, Dr Gumhra has a strong background in ethical construction, leading on the development of BRE Global’s Ethical Labour Standard BES 6002 as a way for organisations to evaluate and eradicate modern slavery from their supply chains.

Shamir said “I am very pleased to take on this role as Director of BRE Global’s flagship sustainability certification scheme BREEAM which is now being actively applied to buildings in over 70 countries around the world. I look forward to meeting and working with our many partners, assessors and international clients as we collectively use BREEAM to Build a better world together benefitting people, businesses and our planet."

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Skills initiative launched

Corgi Fenestration is to sponsor the new Building Our Skills initiative from GQA Qualifications, a strategic initiative designed to help bridge the widening skills gap in the fenestration industry and encourage new entrants to join the industry.

“Corgi Fenestration is strongly supportive of this initiative from our qualifications partner GQA Qualifications,” said CEO Chris Mayne.

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Next stop – 13million

Fensa has kicked off its 16th anniversary celebrations and is already preparing for the next milestone – its 13millionth registration, which is expected some time soon.

Director of membership Chris Beedel said: “It’s a fantastic testament to the thousands of installers who choose the Fensa brand to represent trust and quality installations to consumers. We strive to provide the best customer service to our members and homeowners and will continue to do so.

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We Have Email

From: Sam Yiend,
Director, Teal Products

The tragedy of the Grenfell Tower disaster last year has quite rightly put fire safety back at the top of the industry’s agenda where it belongs. Since these devastating events last June, manufacturers, suppliers, installers and end-users have all been questioning not only the quality of their fire-rated products, but also their performance.

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