Glass half full or half empty?

Lots of reaction to the Budget and more than a small dose of vitriol for George Osborne’s efforts from the Glass and Glazing Federation who said it’s ‘uninspiring and empty’, with Nigel Rees, GGF Group Chief Executive commenting, “It’s hard to find anything of great significance to our Members in this Budget and we’re disappointed that incentives to homeowners to make their properties more energy efficient are non-existent. On the manufacturing front, we hope the updated Enhanced Capital Allowance for designated energy-saving technologies will include glass and glazing products. The only other possible positive on energy efficiency is the proposal to bring forward the compensation for indirect costs for small scale feed-in tariffs by one year. This may assist our energy intensive flat glass manufacturers, but is a relatively tenuous benefit in what is sadly an empty and uninspiring Budget for our industry.”

However, with a more balanced view, Richard Halderthay, UK Director of Communications for Saint-Gobain said: “The budget was primarily about keeping the overall economy on track and a solid economy is a necessary foundation for a prosperous construction sector.” He also welcomed the plans outlined in the Budget to provide support for infrastructure saying: “There were some good signs for the sector, mainly around infrastructure and transport spending, and it was interesting to see the regional focus coming to the fore. The new Help to Buy ISA will help to stimulate home buying and then home improvement spending.”

Richard Dawson, professor of earth systems engineering at Newcastle University and director of the iBUILD Infrastructure Research Centre, said: “It is good that the Chancellor has recognised the importance of investing in infrastructure in this Budget – in times of austerity it is easy to cut back on such investment, but infrastructure helps drive economic growth, creates jobs and offers many social benefits.”

So are you a ‘glass half full, or glass half empty’ kind of person? At least we aren’t going the way of France, or indeed a host of other European countries.

Contact me at chris@fenestrabuild.co.uk or call me on 07850 267223.

Enjoy this edition of the newsletter and as always, feedback is most welcome.

Chris Champion
Editor
Send me your comments: chris@fenestrabuild.co.uk