8 | NOVEMBER 2019
News
Read online at www.proinstaller.co.uk
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.
With a record number
of Member companies
in attendance, over 100
delegates witnessed pres-
entations 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 Mem-
bers unanimously approved
the 2018 accounts (which
showed an increase of
£278k in Members’ funds’)
and also re-elected the Fed-
eration’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 extreme-
ly 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 chang-
es 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
Stephen and Karen Byers
of RITEC, receive the GGF
Award for Outstanding
Contribution to the Industry
insights on the uncertain
world of today’s politics. In
his speech, Kevin (who’s
covered politics at Westmin-
ster for 11 years) comment-
ed that he’s never known
the House of Commons to
be as toxic and divisive as it
is at present.
After the event, Kevin
commented, “I thoroughly
enjoyed attending Members
Day. It was a great experi-
ence and the contributions
from the various speakers
were very informative.”
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 ener-
gy-saving products and on
the installation of windows
and doors as an energy-sav-
ing 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.
On his experience of
Members’ Day, Andrew com-
mented, “I was delighted to
have had the opportunity
to present on the subject of
energy efficiency to such
an impressive gathering of
many of the senior people
involved in the glass and
glazing industry. It also
gave me a chance to really
appreciate why this industry
has been so successful for
so long.”
Anda Gregory, Managing
Director, GGF Commercial
delivered an excellent up-
date on the progress of the
GGF’s subsidiary companies
(FENSA, BFRC, GGFI, RISA
and Borough IT) and gave
an airing of the FENSA TV
advert which has captured
the interest of many in the
industry, as well as tens of
millions of homeowners in
the UK.
Anda shared her thoughts:
“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 business-
es, presenting alongside
fascinating speakers on a
variety of topics of impor-
tance and interest to our
members. I’m always struck
by how fortunate we are to
have such passionate and
committed members of the
trade federation.”
Fire safety and the immi-
nent changes to building
regulations were the next
topics to be presented by
Peter Capelhorn, Chief
Executive of Constructions
Products Association. Peter
superbly delivered a chro-
nology 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, responsi-
bility and process as well as
regulatory changes.
Following the presenta-
tions, Members of the GGF
Board took to the stage to
take questions directly from
the membership. Moderat-
ed by Kevin Schofield, the
questions fielded, ranged
from the GGF’s governance,
finance, technical resource
and training. The panel con-
sisted 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.
The day ended on a
lighter note with two special
awards. Firstly to RITEC
International for their
outstanding contribution
to the industry, asinnova-
tors 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.
www.ggf.org.uk