Ghosts of the past

A few of the darkest ghosts of our industry’s past provided a truly terrifying Halloween spectacle this week, as words like overcharging, pressure-selling, cold-calling and ‘vulnerable homeowners’ brought back all the stereotypes that have haunted window businesses good and bad for so long.

Such headlines are thankfully becoming more of a rarity but this week’s case serves as a reminder that it has never completely gone away, and perhaps never will. At least, the scale of the fines and costs handed down show that the authorities are taking the matter every bit a seriously as they ever did. Read Story

Elsewhere this week, of course, the Budget has been thoroughly dissected and digested by the media but in general it has a few, albeit not overgenerous, titbits for all parts of the construction sector. Read Story

Also there were some rather concerning thoughts to emerge from Bohle’s Glass Safety Day, including a worrying statistic about millennials in the workplace. Read Story

However, amid a few nasty tricks and one or two economic treats, we hope you enjoy this issue.

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

£150,000 fines and costs for ‘overcharging, pressure selling and cold calls’

A home improvement company and three directors have been hit with over £150,000 in fines and costs after a court heard how they vastly overcharged vulnerable homeowners and used pressure selling and consistent cold calls.

Christopher Davies and Paul Birks, both of Newcastle-under-Lyme, and Jason Walchester of Stoke-on-Trent, who traded as Ecoseal Home Improvements Ltd, were each fined £5,000 at Stafford Crown Court and ordered to pay £5,000 costs after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing. The company was fined £35,000 and ordered to pay nearly £93,000 costs.

Read more

Claire Miller moves to head marketing at Rehau

Customade Group marketing director Claire Miller this week announced that she has left the group to become marketing director at Rehau.

Claire, who became director last year after first joining the group in 2014, tweeted on Friday: “Today I said goodbye to Customade Group. The journey of growth has been phenomenal and that is down to the hard work, dedication and focused thinking of the brilliant minds amongst them!

Read more

FMB praises Chancellor’s ‘positive steps’

The Federation of Master Builders has applauded Chancellor Philip Hammond for taking ‘positive steps’ to address the housing crisis and ‘breathe new life back into the high streets’, as well as committing £1billion to guarantee capacity to support lending to housebuilding SMEs.

Chief Executive Brian Berry said: “It is important that the Chancellor has recognised the importance of investing in our high streets. He has announced a £675 million Future High Streets Fund to allow councils to rejuvenate town centres. It is estimated that as many as 300,000 to 400,000 new homes alone could be created by making use of empty spaces above shops on our high streets. This is space just waiting to be turned into residential accommodation. There is a pressing need to re-invent many of our town centres in light of changing patterns of retail and leisure. The Government should be applauded for its ambition to safeguard the life of our high streets.

Read more

Quarter of millennials ‘ignoring H&S guidance’

A quarter of all millennials are putting themselves in danger by not following Health & safety guidance in the workplace, delegates heard at the first Bohle Glass Safety Day.

John Bradshaw of training provider MRG Services said that by 2020 they would make up 75% of the workforce, adding that they had completely different expectations in the workplace requiring specific direction and expectations of increased support for mental as well as physical health from their employers.

Read more

Call for hardware input
to CE marking plans

The Guild or Architectural Ironmongers is calling on manufacturers to take part in its contribution to the status of CE marking as part of a review of the Construction Products Regulation (CPR).

It is asking door hardware professionals to participate in a short survey. The results will be shared with BSI Committee B538/4 and ultimately with CEN Committees in Europe.

The CPR is periodically reviewed and as part of this, there is due to be a revision of Mandate M101 for doors, windows and construction hardware.

Read more