THIS MONTHS KEY ARTICLES...

PAGE 8 - GQA APPOINTS STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIPS MANAGER

GQA Qualifications, has appointed Dan Brown as Strategic Relationships Manager...

PAGE 11 - MORE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & SUPPORT AT VBH VBH, the company behind the popular greenteQ hardware brand, reports an expansion in the levels of technical support that they offer customers.

PAGE 12 - GLAZERITE WELCOMES NEW ADDITION TO SALES TEAM

The Glazerite UK Group has appointed a new sales manager as part of its ambitions for growth.

PAGE 18 - NEW ANODISED FINISHES FROM GREENTEQ

The popular Alpha resi-door handle set is now available in two anodised aluminium finishes. This brings the number of available finishes to 12!

PAGE 29 - TECHNOFORM USING THERMAL EDGE BOND SOLUTIONS

Technoform have developed a portfolio of hybrid spacers for the glass & glazing market

PAGE 46 - IMPROVING PROFIT MARGINS WITH THE RIGHT SOFTWARE When it comes to organising business, fenestration can be a very complicated and demanding sector.

PAGE 62 - DETAILS MATTER SAYS COASTAL

Recent years have seen a huge rise in the popularity of heritage Crittall® style, industrial-look doors and windows fit.

PAGE 65 - SWAN SELECTS SHEERLINE TO TRANSFORM SCHOOL Sheerline’s Prestige range was recently chosen to replace aging sash windows in a large grammar school in Kent.

PAGE 69 - WARNING – FAKE CSCS CARDS IN CIRCULATION

GQA Qualifications has identified a new style of fake CSCS card that is currently in circulation.

All eyes seem to be on the building and construction sectors right now, how the turmoil in the economy will affect business and home life when it comes to investments and bills? With so many stories of dire choices between food and heat we are all looking for positive indications.

For the housing market things have been boding well with the price of an average UK property rising by 8.3% in the 12 months to July 2022. Zoopla’s, Andrew Michael stated that a typical UK house now costs £256,900, which is an increase of £19,800 over the past year.

However, some consider house prices in the UK will fall by at least 10% next year, due to mortgage companies pulling deals and raising interest levels to heights not seen since the major financial crisis in 2008. Rising inflation and increasing costs could well mean property prices will fall, but Rightmove does not consider that house prices will crash, predicting they could remain 5% higher than they were at the end of 2021.

According to some mortgage specialists, house prices will rise by 5% this year, but these will probably stall and sales could fall to a 10 year low. For construction and ultimately fenestration, this will mean that homeowners will look to invest once again in their own homes until the market stabilises.

Despite prices bearing up against the current economic rollercoaster with low-mortgages, help-to-buy schemes and good employment levels all having previously bolstered the property ladder at entry level, this could all soon change.

For the glazing sector it bodes well however, as it would appear that housebuilding was one of the main forces behind growth in construction, although civil engineering projects have really gathered momentum in the commercial sector.

But the industry is yet to feel the full brunt of Brexit despite some advantages gained - such as control of our borders and waters; control of our own money (moving quickly on), helping us to regulate in a more proportionate way that works for our British businesses; All of these will continue to help us to put money back in our own pockets….. quite how we are now taxed on that is another story.

The use of glass in construction and architecture continues to help create some of the world’s most impressive structures. Its use over the years really distinguishes it as a material like no other that not only makes a building distinctive in appearance but which continues to have a vital involvement in the energy efficiency of buildings and the lives of its occupants.