Editor’s Viewpoint

MANAGING EDITOR

TERRY SMITH EMAIL: tsmith@hamerville.co.uk

DEPUTY EDITOR

LEE JONES EMAIL: ljones@hamerville.co.uk

GROUP ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER

CRAIG JOWSEY TEL: 07900 248102 EMAIL: craig@hamerville.co.uk

NORTHERN ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER

IAN DUFF MOBILE: 07810 353525 EMAIL: ian@hamerville.co.uk

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

DONNA BOOTH

GROUP PRODUCTION MANAGER

CAROL PADGETT

DIGITAL MANAGER

JASMINE SMITH EMAIL: jsmith@hamerville.co.uk

DIGITAL ASSISTANT

LUCY HARDING EMAIL: lharding@hamerville.co.uk

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER

KARL CLARK

PRINTED BY

WALSTEAD PETERBOROUGH

PUBLISHED BY HAMERVILLE MEDIA GROUP

Regal House, Regal Way, Watford, Herts WD24 4YF Tel: (01923) 237799 Fax: (01923) 246901 Email: pb@hamerville.co.uk

Professional Builder is a business magazine for firms and individuals involved in all aspects of the building industry. It is available nationally –free to the trade through leading builders’ merchant outlets. © 2022

To be removed from this magazine’s circulation, please call 01923 237799 or email circulation@hamerville.co.uk.

Subscriptions to Professional Builder are available at the following rates: UK: 1 year (11 issues) –£30.00 post paid Europe & Overseas: 1 year (11 issues) –£50.00 post paid Airmail: 1 year (11 issues) –£65.00 post paid

viewpoint

PEOPLE IN GLASS HOUSES...

The irony will be completely lost on them, of course, but after a few months of apparent winter hibernation you can safely assume that the Insulate Britain mob are already planning their latest attention seeking wheeze. And, if they have clapped their eyes on a new report into the potentially harmful effects of unwanted solar gain in our homes, then we have a pretty good idea where they will soon be focusing their self-righteous posturing.

So, as both the ambient and political temperature rises once again, don’t be surprised over the next few weeks if you come home from work to find some distinctly strange people in your back garden, stuck most firmly –believe it or not –to your old conservatory. OK, so we jest just a bit, but it’s fair to say that this previously ubiquitous home improvement is now considered a sun trap in the very worst way, a major factor, apparently, in our changing climate.

New regulations being brought in from June of this year will mean that conservatories will need to show that they don’t create unwanted solar gain as part of a raft of measures to future proof homes against 40ºC summers. For now, at least, the regulations will apply just to conservatories in new builds which, as a consequence, face complex and expensive modelling to show that they will not become too hot in summer and limiting the use of trendy floor to ceiling glass. It’s all part of a government commitment to improve domestic ventilation and reduce emissions by 30 per cent, which will in effect limit window sizes according to which direction they face, and whether the home is likely to overheat. At present conservatories that are unheated and separated from the house are “As the latest victim to come under thought to be exempt but within the industry the scrutiny of the climate change the death knoll is already being sounded for the once ever so popular property add on, doomsters, the humble conservatory making them a premium product, and is of course an easy target, but again unaffordable on cheaper new properties. it seems an unnecessarily heavy-All of these new dictates are based, of course, on the prediction that 40ºC summers handed approach to something that are soon going to be commonplace in Britain. left alone was already in the process No doubt many of us will recall similar prophecies being made more than a couple of radical change by itself.” of decades ago that the UK would soon be enjoying summers akin to those of the south of France and pretty much the consensus then was “bring it on!” Certainly, anyone who has holidayed in Britain in subsequent years would confirm that very little seems to have actually changed. Sure, there has been the odd record breaker but our summers remain predictably grey and distinctly changeable.

In fact, extreme weather events have been happening since records began but, like everything else these days, they are massively hyped across the media. A seasonal storm is now an apocalyptic weather bomb, 90 degrees heat is accompanied by dire warnings for the unwary, and many floods the direct result of building in the wrong place. And, of course, every incident is now captured on a mobile device to share with the world. It always strikes us as somewhat odd how anyone can confidently reconcile the credibility of long-term predictions when even the most sophisticated multimillion computers employed by the Met Office consistently fail to accurately predict what will transpire in the next 24 hrs!

As the latest victim to come under the scrutiny of the climate change doomsters, the humble conservatory is, of course, an easy target, but again it seems an unnecessarily heavy-handed approach to something that left alone was already in the process of radical change by itself. The poorly insulated, PVC, polycarbonate roofed conservatory of yesteryear has clearly long since had its day. Almost since inception the cry has gone out that they are too hot in summer, too cold in winter and the industry has responded in due course with new materials and designs.

The conservatory has been evolving for more than 50 years and ultimately the customer decides whether it is fit for purpose and votes accordingly with their wallets. For many homeowners, a properly installed conservatory has long been regarded as a very cost-effective way of providing useful additional space in modest circumstances and over the years a lucrative line of business for professional builders. The problem clearly rests with the thousands of existing conservatories not the ones being installed currently to much higher specifications.

Unfortunately, the sledgehammer to crack a walnut approach would appear to be at play once again here and, whilst common-sense is now in short supply in so many aspects of everyday life, it really has gone completely out of the window this time!