FIT SHOW REVIEW
Kevin Buckley, GGF Group Chief Executive. Information source – “GGF 2018 Research”.
GGF Shares Industry Insights At FiT Show
It was barely one hour into the FIT Show when Kevin Buckley, GGF Group Chief Executive provided visitors to his opening seminar with some food for thought, as he shared the GGF’s findings from the extensive research conducted by the Federation in 2018. The GGF’s market research set out to gauge market sizes and trends, but just as important, it was devised to give Members a platform from which the GGF could listen to expectations and concerns and enable the GGF to look for solutions to help companies prepare for changes in an ever-evolving business environment. The GGF surveyed hundreds of leading companies in the UK market asking for their views on business growth, the barriers to growth and also their perspectives on key issues affecting the industry. Here are the key highlights and commentary from the presentation. On business growth in 2019: • Over half of companies in the UK industry expect to grow • A quarter expect no growth • One in ten companies expect a decrease in business 46 WINDOW NEWS JUNE 2019
On employment in the industry:
• 31% of companies expect to increase their number of employees • Over 50% expect their workforce to remain at the same level On the barriers to growth • 4 in ten companies felt increasing competition in the market would prevent growth • One third felt there could be a reduction in demand for their products 40% felt their business would • struggle to grow because of the lack of available skilled labour • Almost half of those surveyed (46%) believed economic uncertainty would be a barrier to business growth. During his presentation, Kevin commented on the pending issue of the UK leaving the European Union. “We are acutely aware of the issues ahead including the potential impact of Brexit with or without a deal. Concerns such as increased skilled labour shortages, potential materials shortages and of course the maintenance
of technical standards have been high in our priorities. The GGF has been extensively involved in discussions with government and other construction trade bodies on this subject. We have been cascading information to our Members and the wider industry via trade, political and the broader media to help the industry prepare for the worst-case outcomes. However, the most useful advice I can offer is, “be prepared”. There’s a lot of information out there and the GGF is helping members to navigate and understand it.” Energy efficiency was the next area addressed by Kevin as he revealed the following in his presentation. • Over half of companies experienced an increase in energy efficiency business in 2018 • The sector that experienced the highest increase was residential replacement with almost three quarters of companies seeing an increase. • The main barriers to growth for energy efficient products were: • Over half believed lack of govern ment initiatives was a factor • Lack of consumer awareness of the benefits of energy efficiency (just under half of respondents felt this was a cause preventing growth in the sector) • Just over one third felt Government policies and legislation didn’t endorse energy efficient glazing In light of these results, Kevin added, “The GGF is highly proactive on the promotion of energy efficiency and healthy homes. There’s a great deal going on behind the scenes and we’re involved in; the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Energy Efficiency, roundtable discussions with local and national Government departments and holding dialogue with Ministers to local councillors through to senior civil servants. We