44 | JULY 2018
Business
Read online at www.proinstaller.co.uk
DRONES COULD ADD £42BN TO UK
GDP BY 2030 - PWC RESEARCH
Over 76,000 drones could be in the UK skies in 12 years’ time
Drone technology has the
potential to increase UK GDP
by £42 billion (or 2%) by 2030,
according to new research from
PwC.
The research estimates there
will be more than 76,000 drones1
in use across UK skies by 2030.
More than a third of these (36%)
could be utilised by the public
sector (including in areas such as
defence, health and education).
There are significant opportuni-
ties for economic gains across all
sectors, but the GDP uplift gener-
ated by drones is forecast to have
the largest impact on the whole-
sale and retail trade sector with
an increase of 2.5%, amounting to
around £7.7bn.
President reflects on progress
during tough times
In the last two years the Glass and
Glazing Federation (GGF) has received
wide coverage in the trade media for many
successes as well as for some high profile
departures.
Since 2016, the GGF Board on behalf of
its Members has devised a long term stra-
tegic plan. This plan is now being imple-
mented to ensure the GGF remains as the
leading trade body in the glass and glazing
industry.
The strategic plan addressed all areas of
the GGF and its subsidiary companies and
entailed departmental and management
re-structure.
As with any significant structural change
in an organisation, it is inevitable that staff
will join and leave during the transition. It
is unfortunate that some personnel decided
to leave and also disappointing that some
appointments haven’t worked out the way
the GGF Board had initially expected. How-
ever it is reassuring that most of the key
long term GGF staff remain with the GGF
and its group of commercial companies
and are consistently delivering the benefits
and service our Members and customers
deserve.
The report finds that drone tech-
nology could help the UK achieve
up to £16bn in net cost savings by
2030 through increased productiv-
ity. The technology, media and tel-
ecoms (TMT) sector stands to save
the most by using drones, with a
potential net saving of £4.8bn by
2030.
Drones have
‘ the
potential to
offer a powerful
new perspective
for businesses
across a variety
of industries
’
Across the UK PwC estimates
there will be 628,000 people
working in the drone economy
by 2030. New types of jobs to de-
velop, build, operate and regulate
drones will be needed, as changes
in productivity and consumer de-
mand resulting from drone usage
create jobs.
Elaine Whyte, UK drones’ leader
at PwC, commented:
“Drones have the potential to
offer a powerful new perspective
for businesses across a variety of in-
dustries, delivering both productivi-
ty benefits and increased value from
the data they collect. The UK can
be at the leading edge of exploiting
this emerging technology”.
https://www.pwc.co.uk/
GLAZING SUMMIT ATTRACTS
400 INDUSTRY LEADERS
From some quarters, criticism has been
levelled at the GGF Board, though it must
be emphasized that GGF Board Members
have been elected by the GGF Members to
make decisions for the benefit of the broad
GGF Membership.
Though admittedly this transitional
period has been difficult at times, the GGF
Board, the staff and our Members are to be
commended for their continuous great work
across many areas. Substantial progress has
been made in the last two years and today
we are starting to see the benefits with
record numbers of companies joining and
staying with the Federation. featuring some of the industry’s most influ-
ential people.
Discussions ranged from materials and
products to technology and innovation, with
the final discussion of the day focused on
mergers and acquisitions.
The keynotes included Jade Greenhow
from Insight Data who gave an expert
overview of the industry and outlined
further consolidation across all sectors.
Jade also highlighting product trends and
changes within the supply chain with the
rise of trade-counters and local builders
now capturing more market share from
traditional double-glazing installers.
One of the UK’s leading economist’s Dr
Walter Boettcher from Colliers Interna-
tional gave a powerful presentation on the
UK economy and construction sector after
Brexit.
The conference was a ‘who’s who’ with
CEOs and stakeholders from the indus-
try’s most influential companies attending,
with combined UK annual sales of over £1
billion.
http://www.ggf.org.uk www.glazingsummit.co.uk
The inaugural Glazing Summit con-
ference was held on 22nd May and was at-
tended by 400 business leaders from across
the glass and glazing industry.
The conference had 9 sessions including
key-note speakers and panel discussions