Renegade Conservatory Guy

Old Roots; New Routes - the great double glazing industry debate?

I love it when a plan comes together!

On a previous post about the climate change and the double glazing industry debate I pointed out that the forthcoming meeting between the great and good from the industry was probably not completely representative. I was mostly concerned that I wasn’t invited

But, I also sent a letter to the two most respected industry glazing websites out there - the Glazine and Fenestration News.

The Glazine didn’t feature my letter, possibly due to the excitement of the G07 awards, but Fenestration News decided to feature the letter in its editorial.

Well, it seems I’m not the only one to feel that the debate is not representative of the industry as a whole. Michael Gannon, Graham Bailey from Business Micros, Andrew Glover at West Yorkshire Windows, Barry Dunlop and others agreed with my sentiment.

You can see the letter and the comments at http://www.fenestration-uk.com/forum/forumtopic.aspx?id=30

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Energy Efficient Windows really make a difference!

Over 23% of heat lost from the home is lost through poorly insulated windows. And while one third of Britain’s housing stock still has only single glazed windows it means that, as a nation, we are throwing away some £1.5 billion every year, and pumping needles CO2 into the atmosphere. I have been arguing for a while now that the benefits of Energy Rated windows should be recognised by our Government, but that’s another story…

Thermal imaging technology was recently used by Lister Trade Frames, a competitor who needs applauding for creating images which clearly show the difference Energy Efficient windows really make!

The picture above shows the original single glazed bay window. The image below shows the difference in installing an A Rated uPVC double glazed window:

Photographs of the bay window clearly show the amount of heat being lost (recorded in white and red) before the installation. Afterwards, the picture has dramatically changed showing very little heat lost to the outside recorded by the cold blue in the picture.

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Global composite doors - will Synseal shake up the uPVC door market?

There’s no doubt that the last time Synseal launched a new ‘Global’ product, they revolutionised our industry - with the Global conservatory roof.

They became the first company to challenge the stranglehold of Ultraframe on the conservatory market, and created real competition, which has clearly been for the better for the conservatory industry and conservatory buyer. Ultraframe will no doubt disagree as they had a mesmeric fall from grace, sales plummeted, profits slumped, the share price crashed and they got taken over! And Ultraframe had been the big cheese!

So now Synseal are on the brink of launching the Global composite door. What are the implications for the uPVC door market?

Well, like the conservatory roof market at the time, composite doors are simply too highly priced at present. We would love to sell more composite doors to the end user, but the price is too high, so we sell our usual standard uPVC doors to customers who don’t want to pay £1200+ for a front door!

Now, I’ve not seen the doors yet - although I understand there are 16,854,220,800 different design options! The launch date is very soon, and I will come back to you with my thoughts when I’ve seen them.

But, if they are anything like as good as the Global roofs, then other composite door companies will be panicking!

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Double Glazing petition update

Yesterday, I was in a bit of a bad mood about the 5% VAT on double glazing petition, but after having a lie down, I decided to email my contacts to make sure they were aware of it.

The deadline is 20th October 2007, so there’s less than 3 weeks to go.

Anyway, after my email, and other people passing the email on the petition went from 676 signatures to 741. This is still a long way short of where it needs to be to have any effect on Government policy I suspect, but if everyone sent a similar email to all their contacts we would get some momentum!

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What is wrong with the double glazing industry?

I can’t understand it!

We’re in an industry that has been struggling along for years, and we’ve now got an opportunity to change things for the good of us all - and what do most people do?

NOTHING!!!

At the time of writing, the Number 10 petition to reduce VAT on Energy Saving Recommended Windows to 5%, has only got 676 signatures on it. How many people are there in this industry - thousands and thousands!

There’s a few individuals who are doing their bit to motivate individuals in the industry to sign the petition, noticeably the Glazine, Andy Ball and Andy Jones from Edgetech, the GGF, Synseal and Sam Kennedy at Spectus.

I understand a few people may have not wished to put their name to the petition as they don’t use Super Spacer. So what? If the Government took notice of this petition it has the potential to give the industry a real boost, something we would all appreciate. But at the moment it looks like the industry is not behind the petition.

By uniting behind this petition, this is a real opportunity for our industry to show that we care not only about climate change, but also that we are a forward thinking industry, continuously improving our product range.

Why should people replace their first generation of uPVC windows if the next generation of uPVC windows are not noticeably different?

If you haven’t signed the petition yet, then what are you waiting for? And, why not tell your work colleagues about the petition and what it could mean for them.

It takes seconds to fill in the form, and you get an email back from the Prime Minister:

5% VAT petition

I’m going to go and have a lie down now, and calm myself down

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