FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS – JON SKINNER

The family of our late friend and colleague Jon Skinner, have announced his funeral arrangements.

A service to celebrate the life of Jon is to be held at Cookhill Village Hall, Alcester B49 5JS on 18th January at 12.30pm. Followed by refreshments and the opportunity to reflect with the family at Redditch Golf Club, Redditch B97 5PJ.

Family flowers only.

Donations, if desired, to Doctors Without Borders and Acorns Children’s Hospice.

Jon Bednall

Chief Executive Officer

Epwin Group Plc

The UK Pavilion at Fensterbau Frontale 2018, hosted by the Glass and Glazing Federation (GGF) will have five new co-exhibitors joining the six original companies at the world’s largest international trade fair for the window industry.

After debuting the UK Pavilion within Fensterbau Frontale for 2016, the GGF says it has more than doubled the size of the Pavilion for 2018, with 200m² reserved to provide a designated area for 12 British companies to co-exhibit.

The five new co-exhibitors who have signed up to be part of the UK Pavilion include:

• Hoppe (UK)
• Made for Trade
• Reddiplex
• Roseview Windows
• Window Ware

James Lee, GGF director of group marketing, said: “We are delighted to welcome the five new co-exhibitors on board. We received a lot of interest after the event in 2016 so planned for a greater presence in 2018.

“Each of the five ‘new’ companies joining us, will add more to the UK Pavilion with a greater range of products and demonstrations on show.”

Fensterbau Frontale 2018 takes place in Nuremberg on 21-24 March.

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Prefix Systems have just made a significant investment in a new state of the art colouring facility, which includes a mix on demand paint system, at their head office in Blackburn and it will form part of their sales strategy for 2018 and beyond.

While much of the window and door industry have been talking colour for the last 18 months, Prefix are now supporting this with a facility to manufacture conservatory and lantern roofs, along with Verandah glazing bars and end caps in literally hundreds of different RAL colours. Heritage colours, urban influences and even one-off projects can now be embraced by the company, with stocks of black and anthracite grey being held across several product ranges.

For conservatories and glazed extensions, Prefix can colour any extrusion, injection moulding, or vac formed product. Greater quality control, consistency of supply and new sales opportunities have been the rationale for this important investment.

It’s also very much a project inspired by customer demand as co-director Chris Cooke points out: ‘Colour is one of the biggest talking points in the glazing and fenestration sectors. The days of just a few woodgrains and colours are now long gone and we are now able to produce fully manufactured products in a vast array of colours and with a 10-year finish guarantee.

He continued: ‘Our new colouring facility will provide customers with consistent supply, quality finish and with a quick turnaround from all four branches. We have a reputation for customer excellence and so this latest investment will again be testament to our commitment to service.’

For further information on Prefix Systems visit www.prefixsystems.co.uk, or call the head office on 01254 871800. You can also add to their considerable following on Twitter @prefixsystems.

Image Above: Neil Baker, Senior Engineer

As a business with innovation and technical excellence at the centre of its ethos, REHAU places great importance on having first class technical experts in-house to support with the ongoing development of its product range.

With a traditional background in engineering and product design Neil Baker is one of REHAU‘s technical team. Having worked for the company for nearly 20 years Senior Engineer Neil has been part of the launch team for many projects – including the fire rated products, the AGILA fire door and the RAUFERNO fire window. 

He said: “I have been in the industry for a number of years working across a wide range of areas. Prior to joining REHAU my experience included working for a hardware manufacturer within the windows industry. My experience on the design of hardware underpins my understanding of hardware implications within the industry – something that is particularly critical with fire rated products.”

Another area that is a key consideration to Neil is product accreditation, design and engineering of a product that will meet the necessary legal requirements and industry standards. 

“When it comes to design there is a compromise between theoretical design and practicality,” said Neil. “Simplest is often best, although not always the most obvious, and this is where we really place our customers at the centre of the design equation.”

Neil’s role also sees him liaising with customers to provide advice and support regarding the specification and installation of a system. His expertise in practical engineering enables him to empathise with the customers position, whether this is providing advice for a fabricator manufacturing the product or for local authorities via the REHAU network at the specification stage of a project.

Another side to Neil’s experience is demonstrated through his work on REHAU‘s fire rated products, firstly the RAUFERNO window, and now the AGILA Fire Door. This was one of many projects that the technical team saw through from design and development, to manufacturing, culminating in product roll out and training. 

“My background means that I was able to both theoretically design the fire door, as well as practically build the final product. This is helpful when it comes to the manufacture of the product and the training stage for our  customers. 

“As with all our products there are requirements for security, performance and appearance, but the fire doors have an additional purpose of being essential to the safety of residents – often in larger multiple occupancy buildings. The fire door differs at the assembly stage to a standard door or window with a dedicated package including additional fire protection components. This added complexity makes it critical to understand the full process. My experience and skill set lend themselve well to this.” 

The expertise of REHAU staff, such as Neil, enables the business to continue pushing for further innovation in key product areas and provides first class, industry rated solutions that tick all the boxes for the fabricator, installer, developer, authorities and the end user. 

To watch our fire door safety video or for more information about REHAU’s AGILA Fire Door visit www.rehau.uk/agila

Fensterbau Frontale, the successful trade show for windows, doors and façades, is getting ready for its anniversary year. From 21 to 24 March 2018 it will return to Exhibition Centre Nuremberg, where it has been held for the last 30 years. Following a record-breaking event with 110,581 visitors in 2016, preparations for the next round are now in full swing. Roughly six months ahead of the trade show, around 95 percent of the stand areas have already been reserved. Interested companies that would still like to secure a place will get all the information they need at: www.frontale.de/application

Fensterbau Frontale is the leading international show for windows, doors and façades. Every two years, window and façade manufacturers, carpenters, architects and the specialist trade descend on Nuremberg to find out about the latest profile systems, structural elements, glass in architecture, fixing equipment, safety equipment, machines, installations and much more. The exhibition is accompanied by a supporting programme. The floor plans are now online and provide an initial taste of what’s to come at the anniversary round of Fensterbau Frontale: www.frontale.de/floor-plan

Forum with Lounge and Job Board – For the first time in 2018, NürnbergMesse is organising a forum in Hall 3A that will focus on current industry issues like digitalisation in the trades, building automation, safety and practical tips for tradespeople. Experts will explore these and other topics in TED-style presentations over the course of the trade show. The adjacent Fensterbau Frontale Lounge offers an opportunity to network and relax, while the Job Board brings together employers and potential recruits.

The Call for Papers for the Fensterbau Frontale Forum will be open until 5 February 2018. Interested speakers can propose a topic and apply for a slot at email frontale@nuernbergmesse.de

Fensterbau Frontale 2016 exceeded all expectations thanks to the high calibre of the products on display and information provided. The verdict of the 794 exhibitors from 37 countries was excellent, with 95 percent rating the event positively overall. Nearly all respondents were able to reach their most important contact groups, 94 percent made new business contacts, and nine out of ten are expecting follow-on business from the show. Around two thirds of exhibitors considered the volume of visitor traffic and professional calibre of visitors to be good or very good. Visitors to Fensterbau Frontale – primarily window manufacturers (62%), component suppliers (11%), shutter and sunshade technicians (10%) and joiners and carpenters (9%) – mirrored the positive picture painted by exhibitors: around 95 percent were satisfied with the range of products and solutions on display at the stands, while 9 out of 10 visitors rated the benefits of their trade show visit equally highly.

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The Scottish house building sector is performing well despite the political and economic pressures threatened by Brexit, according to independent Scottish law firm, Gillespie Macandrew, which claims to have transacted nearly £148 million worth of new build plot sales in the last 12 months.

Reportedly acting on behalf of three major housebuilders with developments spanning across the Central, East and West of Scotland, Gillespie Macandrew says that its housebuilding team was involved in almost 700 plot sales across 27 developments, with house prices selling between £112,892 and £470,991.

According to current figures by the Scottish Government, 6,953 private new build homes were built in the first half of 2017 (January-June) across Scotland, a rise of 7.5% compared to the same period in 2016.

Harry Smith, head of housebuilder and construction at Gillespie Macandrew, said: “The Scottish housebuilding sector is continuing to remain upbeat, despite uncertainties stemming from Brexit.

“The demand is there for house buyers looking to get on the first rung of the property ladder; take the next step in to owning a bigger home or even downsize. Investors too are keen to strengthen their property portfolios with buy-to-let investments.

“However, demand is greater than supply which is why Ministers need to take stock and tackle Scotland’s chronic housing shortage.”

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The Glass and Glazing Federation (GGF) has announced the appointment of Shaun McAllister as managing director as the federation continues to build its senior management team.

With over 30 years’ experience in the home improvement industry, Shaun is said to bring a ‘wealth of knowledge and core industry experience’ to the federation.

Shaun has been associated with several glass and glazing companies including G.F Kite, Weatherseal, Mumford and Wood, and the Anglian Group.

In 1983, Shaun started life in the industry as a fabricator before undertaking numerous roles throughout the fenestration supply chain including working as an installer, surveyor, installation manager, divisional operations manager, regional sales manager and from 2007 to 2016 as conservatory director at the Anglian Group.

Said to be best known for his work with Anglian Group, Shaun started with Anglian Windows as a commercial installer in 1991 before becoming a surveyor and then installation manager. In 1994, he became a depot installation manager responsible for revenues of over £6m per annum. In 2000, as conservatory manager, Shaun helped establish Anglian’s first dedicated conservatory installation centres based in Basingstoke and Crawley. In 2003, he became Anglian’s national conservatory manager responsible for conservatory revenues of over £80m per annum.

In 2006, he moved to a divisional operations managerial role responsible for installations across the South West of England.

In 2007, Shaun fleetingly left Anglian to join Mumford and Wood where he established their installation division only to return to Anglian in 2008 as conservatory director where he headed up the conservatory, driveways, garage conversions, flat roofs and solar products divisions.

Most recently, Shaun has undertaken secondments within Anglian as diverse as regional sales manager for the South East to overseeing the integration of a new survey and manufacturing software system.

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