Clearview National December 2016 - Issue 181 | Page 18

INDUSTRYNEWS

Is your business prepared for the
future of home improvement?
»»THIS IS THE QUESTION THE
Consumer Protection Association is asking
its members and installers across the industry,
as a shift in how today’s homeowners live
shapes the future products needed to meet
their needs.
Very few new scheme planning consents
are for single-use, as homeowners like the
sense of community offered through mixedused developments, which can include
various combinations of office, industrial,
retail, leisure and residential.
Jeremy Brett, Director of the CPA, says
with this new way of living comes a change in
what homeowners will come to expect from
new products.
He commented: “The next wave of
developments needs to appeal to, and
meet the needs of ‘millennials’. We’ve
previously spoken about how smart, energy
efficient homes are at the top of the list for
millennials, but so is a sense of community
and space.”

Whilst the focus has traditionally been
on energy rated windows, Jeremy says this is
now par for the course in home improvement
and that installers need to look at additional
benefits that will meet future expectations,
such as security and smart technology, instead
of solely focusing on immediate desires.
One of these benefits is also soundproofing.
The UK population is forecast to rise by 10m
in the next 25 years – but the supply of new
housing has already fallen well behind the
numbers required to meet today’s demand, let
alone that of the future.
Because of this, houses will be built closer
together and expand into areas previously
seen as undesirable because of noise pollution,
such as airports and railroads.
“Cities are becoming more crowded,
building works and the surrounding
transport links to accommodate an exploding
population makes for one busy, noisy place
to live, which is setting up a market for noise
reduction products in the near future,” says

Jeremy. “As they say, the early bird catches
the worm. We encourage installers to prepare
now rather than be playing catch-up when
the market really hits.”
The CPA is the UK’s leading provider
of IBGs and Deposit Protection, and is
recognised by consumers as one of the most
trusted resources for finding accredited and
vetted installers.

A year in action

»»THE VEKA UK GROUP IS
celebrating the resounding success
of its new website, a little over a
year since it first went ‘live’.
Simon James, Head of
Marketing for The VEKA UK
Group explains: “The website is a
crucial way for us to engage with
both trade and consumer markets,
and the stats we have seen over
the past year demonstrate how
well it has fulfilled both those
functions.

“We have noticed a sizeable
shift in installers and fabricators
using the website to access
information, where previously
they might have called our
technical helpline. Of course,
there’s no substitute for talking
one-to-one with an expert and
we’re always happy to help and
advise, but we have found that
the majority of phone queries
we used to receive are now being
resolved online.”

18 » DEC 2016 » CL EARVI E W- UK . C O M

Andy Foulkes, Production
Manager for Listers Trade Frames
is a regular visitor to the site:
“We find the website very easy
to use; it’s great because it’s all
there at the click of a button.
We use the site for technical
information, technical drawings
and new products. The other
brilliant thing is, any updates or
technical changes, we get an email
notification.”
Chris Reeks, Sales and
Marketing Director for Mercury
Glazing Supplies agrees: “We find
the site very useful for most of
the information we require. The
technical download section is
particularly handy, answering a lot
of our questions immediately and
– in doing so – saving time for our
sales and processing teams.”
Chris Widdowfield of SWC
Trade Frames explains how

the site particularly supports
him in his job: “I use the site
for information downl