GGF Safety Glazing Awards 2007

The 5th Annual Awards for outstanding contributions to the glass and glazing industry took place in December at Bredbury Hall, Stockport. The Safety Glazing Award 2007 was attended by over 60 members of the GGF.

The event was combined with presentations by guest speakers from industries within and related to the glass and glazing sector.
Mr John Clark, http://Glasstint.co.uk, opened the event with a warm welcome note by highlighting how this prestigious annual event began life as an offshoot from the GGF’s Safety Glazing Group meetings.

He explained that the Safety Glazing Group is a specialist product group within the GGF and it was established to unite the various groups within the GGF that relate to glass processing and its components. The aim was to increase understanding of how glass products and their components work together, and how synergy between possibilities and limitations can be realised to provide foresight such that the Safety Glazing Group could be leaders in the industry.

As the Safety Glazing Group evolved in both size and significance, it became clear that an awards event would be useful to assist with raising the important issue of safety glass while recognising individuals for their significant and outstanding contribution to the glazing industry in the field of safety, in addition to their normal responsibilities of running and maintaining their businesses. The awards encourage and reward exceptional performance in the different areas of Safety Glazing, whether this is for that particular year, or over a long period of time. The awards could also allow for other specific or general exceptions which to the award evaluators represent some outstanding reason for awarding.

The following presentations were then made:

Curved Glass Design Considerations – Steve Brammer, Chairman, Curved Glass Group
Regulations 14 – 15 H&S in the Workplace – Ian Penfold, Bekeart
Balustruding Design: Glass in Barriers – John Colvin, Glass Consultant
Project Green – Micky Sulston, GGF
Proskills – Neil Robinson, Proskills
Polymeric Film Energy – The future – David Cox, Chairman, EWFA
Dan Evers – Media Marketing
Edge Tapes & Scratching – Colin Bain, Chairman IGMG & GGF
Marking of Safety Glass – Brian Waldron, Chairman, GGF Standards Committee

As John Agnew, Chairman, Glazing Executive, GGF, commented during the closing of the presentations, ‘There are two main strands that appeared throughout the presentations; Regulations and Solar Gain. Regulations tend to be either out of date, new or are being revised. Solar gain and carbon footprint is high on the global agenda and will be a theme with us for years to come. There is a tsunami of legislative change and the glass and glazing industry has an enormous role to play within this, bringing glass up to date and improving CO2 emissions of homes. Glass has enormous opportunities for growth and development and as an industry we all stand together moving forward. The GGF will continue to act as the interface between legislators, Government and industry. In the future, this Safety Glazing Award event will continue to grow and develop.’

The award winners were announced by Steve Rice, Director of Glazing:

Gary Pritchard BJB Windows - for his development/contribution to the SME Sector
Alistair Kellock, Danway Fusion Glass – for his development/contribution to Middle East Region of the GGF
Nigel Rees, Chief Executive, GGF – for his development/contribution to The Fenestration Industry
Delcan Moore, UK Health & Safety Manager, British Glass and Health and Safety Advisor, GGF – for his development/contribution to Health and Safety Executive.

The event ended with an evening dinner that was held at Bredbury Hall. The raffle that took place raised £500 which was donated to Cancer Research

As we look to the future, the GGF will develop a new Best Practice Guide on Safety Glazing. Like previous Practice Guides on Fire Resistant glazing, conservatories and window installation, it will provide the industry with definitive guidance on all aspects of safety glazing including issues relating to toughened and laminated glass and safety film.

On the themes of solar gain and sustainability, the GGF will build on the work undertaken in 2007 to set out the industry’s environmental credentials, during 2008 the GGF will focus on educating and informing consumers about window energy ratings and how by installing higher performance windows, consumers can help save our planet. On the BFRC front, GGF will continue to support BFRC as the scheme develops and takes its message to the consumer. The BFRC will be working to launch a new energy ratings scheme for doors.

If you would like you to join the Safety Glazing Group or for further information, please contact Steve Rice on srice@ggf.org.uk or telephone 07710 553 743