Clearview National November 2019 - Issue 216 | Page 70

GLASS&SEALEDUNITS
GGF Members’ Day a great success
» » THE GLASS AND GLAZING
Federation (GGF) annual
Members’ Day conference held
on 26 September at Hilton
Olympia in Kensington, was
hailed a great success by GGF
senior staff, Members and
Board directors. More than 100
delegates witnessed presentations
from four leading voices from the
fenestration, construction, politics
and energy sectors.
John Agnew, GGF President,
welcomed all in attendance and
opened the conference with
GGF Annual General Meeting
(AGM), at which all Members
unanimously approved the 2018
accounts (which showed an
increase of £278k in Members’
funds’) and also re-elected the
Federation’s financial auditors and
bankers.
The AGM was followed by an
outline from John Agnew as he
addressed the key areas where
the GGF will focus its activities
in the future and highlighted
the Federation’s extremely strong
position not just financially, but
also as the trade body leading the
way on the technical front and
as the voice to Government, on
major topics such as changes to
building regulations, fire safety,
skills and training and energy
efficiency.
Without further ado, the
proceedings moved on to the
keynote presentations and a
welcome to Kevin Schofield,
Editor of Politics Home who
shared his sharp insights on
the uncertain world of today’s
politics. In his speech, Kevin
(who’s covered politics at
Westminster for 11 years)
Stephen and Karen Byers
of RITEC, receive the GGF
Award for Outstanding
Contribution to the Industry
commented that he’s never known
the House of Commons to be
as toxic and divisive as it is at
present.
The next presentation from
Andrew Warren also proved to
be insightful, as he highlighted
the problems of Government
addressing climate change and
the need for greater energy
efficiency in construction.
Andrew also raised the unfairness
of the current rate of 20% vat on
glass and glazing energy-saving
products and on the installation
of windows and doors as an
energy-saving measure. In his
speech, he explained how the UK
government has always said the
VAT banding was a European
Union decision and out of their
hands, but pointed out that this
will no longer be an excuse for the
Government once the UK leaves
the European Union.
Anda Gregory, Managing
Director, GGF Commercial
delivered an excellent update
on the progress of the GGF’s
subsidiary companies (FENSA,
BFRC, GGFI, RISA and Borough
IT) and gave an airing of the
70 » N OV 2019 » CL EARVI E W- UK . C O M
FENSA TV advert which has
captured the interest of many in
the industry, as well as tens of
millions of homeowners in the
UK.
Afterwards, she commented.
“It was a pleasure to speak at
this year’s Members’ Day on
the excellent progress that we’ve
made with the GGF’s commercial
businesses. I’m always struck
by how fortunate we are to
have such passionate and
committed members of the trade
federation.”
Fire safety and the imminent
changes to building regulations
were the next topics to be
presented by Peter Capelhorn,
Chief Executive of Constructions
Products Association. Peter
superbly delivered a chronology
of events leading up to the
Government Inquiry into the
Grenfell Tower fire tragedy and
the subsequent Hackitt Review
and Report. In his presentation,
Peter highlighted how all in the
construction industry must brace
themselves for real change in
culture, responsibility and process
as well as regulatory changes.
Following the
presentations,
Members of the
GGF Board took
to the stage to take
questions directly
from the membership.
Moderated by Kevin Schofield,
the questions fielded, ranged
from the GGF’s governance,
finance, technical resource and
training. The panel consisted of
John Agnew, GGF President,
Mark Austin, Vice President,
David Thornton, Chair of the
GGF Home Improvement
Executive, Tony Smith of the
Glazing Executive and Steve Rice,
GGF Managing Director.
All questions were answered
openly and transparently and the
general feeling was that the GGF
is a great position to move on
to even bigger and better things
and with greater confidence and
assurance than ever before.
After the forum, the day
ended on a lighter note with
two special awards. Firstly to
RITEC International for their
outstanding contribution to the
industry. John Agnew presented
the award and in his speech
mentioned that RITEC were
the innovators and pioneers of
glass surface modification with
their ground-breaking non-stick
liquid solution that protects glass
surfaces and enables glass to clean
itself.
After RITEC’s award, it
was the turn of the Flat Glass
Manufacturer’s Association, which
celebrates its 50th anniversary this
year. The GGF recognised the
FGMA for its outstanding service
to the industry.