Pro Installer May 2014 - Issue 14 | Página 5

5 PRO INSTALLER MAY 2014 PRO NEWS @proinstaller1 Fensterbau Frontale 2014 FIT on steroids! Clearview directors Steve Sidebottom and Robert Exley were among the many UK visitors to this year’s Fensterbau Frontale in Nuremberg. Here, Steve outlines his impressions of this major, international event where the array of products exhibited is matched only by the incredible and lavish hospitality throughout the show. This was my second visit to Nuremberg, but this year, both myself and my business partner, Rob Exley, decided to go along – partly to check out product innovations for the Clearview Group, but partly also because we are planning our first-ever Exhibition at the NEC in September 2016, and as this will be our first venture into the Exhibition arena, we wanted to absorb some of the ideas behind these well-established and successful events. Admittedly, our first Exhibition – Lockex 2016 based around our successful publication, The Locksmith Journal, will not be on the grand scale of Fensterbau, but we found it very useful. Fensterbau Frontale announced increased overall numbers [108,000] and increased visitors from the UK, clearly showing that even when the major UK industry event, The FIT Show at Telford in June, and Fensterbau Frontale, were scheduled for the same year (for this time only) they are still very successful. The major exhibitors at Nuremberg seemed to stick to the ‘tried and tested’ approach of wall to wall hospitality, with the Bitburger freely flowing. There were, however, many examples of innovative products – if you looked hard enough. So back to the hospitality, after-show parties were in full swing: we were only there for two days, but we managed to fit in the VEKA, REHAU, and UK network- ing events hosted by Vision publications, GGF and The Building Centre. The consensus of opinion seemed to be that it was definitely worthwhile making the effort to attend, even in the face of difficult travel and access to Nuremburg from the UK - and sky-high hotel prices. Andrew Scott of Purplex Marketing, a regular Clearview contributor and a first time visitor to Nuremberg commented, “The ROTO traditional German evening, which they run for three nights for 450 invited guests each night in a nearby restaurant marquee was a great night, thanks must go to our generous German hosts. “The products on show were both interesting and different with the emphasis clearly on the EU market, and not particularly the UK. But then that’s what the FIT Show is for - and we are certainly looking forward to being at Telford in June.” “I was particularly interested in the NEW Rehau GENEO Inovent, marketed as the first ‘breathable window’ - a self-ventilating and intelligent heat recovery window designed for complete comfort. Most impressive.”