Is
Jeff Howell the New Esther Rantzen?
The
business to business trade media has a duty to be frank and fearless in
raising issues where more discussion is needed, and reporting 'bad' news
alongside the good, without fear or favour. These are the basic principles
of a free press.
However, B2B reporting is all about facts and ill-informed opinion with
little or no research has no relevance to the trade media - particularly
when most of that media is published monthly.
An inflammatory article which was hawked around most of the trade media
(and turned down by all except one) has been 'leaked' to the national
press - haven been given credence by its publication in a trade magazine
- and has been picked up by the PVC-U window industry's modern nemesis
Jeff Howell, a bricklayer by trade.
Anyone with any time in the double glazing industry will remember the
name Esther Rantzen. She demonised the industry so effectively that the
repercussions are still being felt: programmes like Watchdog still single
out double glazing companies and make our industry look worse than others,
which it isn't.
Without government intervention, the window industry, through its trade
associations and industry bodies such as the GGF and the BPF, have led
the home improvement and construction sectors in curbing the excesses
of aggressive doorstepping and telesales canvassing, introducing bone
fide insurance backed gurantees, successfully implementing FENSA,
not to mention industry led installer, training, and customer satisfaction/feedback
schemes. The double glazing industry has a lot to be proud of.
With the replacement window market in serious decline, the still healthy
conservatory market is about the only sector keeping everyone afloat,
but it is hardly the kind of boom industry which attracts the get rich
quick types: building regs or not, conservatories are a technically complex
product which have managed to escape widescale public discontent and there
have not been a string of disastrous failures, nor has there been an Esther
Rantzen type nemesis to rock the boat.
Until now, that is.
Are
Conservatories Dangerous in the Event of a Fire?
Jeff Howell is a building expert who writes for The Telegraph and generally
takes the side of the building trade when writing about the window industry
(particularly the PVC-U window industry). If you pause to consider the
fact that the conservatory industry has effectively killed off the traditional
'extension', and reflect further that conservatories are built and installed
by the window industry, completely bypassing the traditional builder,
you can understand why Jeff has an axe to grind.
So what a gift from heaven when a window industry trade journal published
an article (written by a building control officer under an assumed name)
whose sole purpose appears to be to attack the conservatory business.
To quote Jeff Howell's article in last Monday's Telegraph:
'A recent article in the glazing industry journal Fenestra, written anonymously
by a local authority building surveyor, has led to cancelled orders and
withdrawn advertising by conservatory manufacturers, and has even reportedly
threatened the share price of one multinational company'.
Jeff
Howell asserts that 'in many cases the construction of a conservatory
has compromised the fire safety of houses, to the extent that lives have
been put at risk.'
This is a wild and inaccurate claim. It appears to have been a belief
shared by the ODPM, yet when the Conservatory Manufacturers Association
asked for evidence the ODPM could not back it up. The CMA asked the Fire
Service and its Research Establishment for statistics where conservatories
had been associated in any way with fire casualties in recent years: there
was one death in the UK where there was any link and the link was not
causal.
As a result, Chief Fire Officers now feel that conservatories offer a
practical escape route from a burning building rather than it being seen
as a barrier to escape. We won’t know if the ODPM will be persuaded
by facts and experts such as these, as the basis for some of its proposed
changes to the legislation seemed based on ‘what if’ rather
than actual problems that needed to be addressed, but let’s hope
that reason will prevail.
The
Conservatory vs The Extension
Jeff makes his hostility towards the conservatory market very plain:
'I have previously written in this column that conservatories are not
always the good investment that some people assume, however. Estate agents
and valuers report that a conservatory - even one costing many thousands
of pounds - might add little, if anything, to the actual sales value of
a house.
'Many readers have also discovered that their conservatories are too hot
in the summer and too cool in the winter - and independent research has
shown that the average conservatory provides a comfortable living environment
for only two hours per day, unless it is artificially cooled or heated.'
This is patent rubbish. As window and conservatory industry expert, and
marketing specialist Mike Rigby says:
'A properly constructed and installed conservatory will invariably speed
the sale, and generally does add to the sales value of the house. Buyers
appreciate the extra space and opportunity for an enhanced lifestyle.
'Conservatories with shading and protection from the sun, proper heating
and or air conditioning, and adequate ventilation enable homeowners to
use them to the full. Some buy conservatories with these facilities built
in, others add them gradually.
'Conservatories without any of these facilities are of course limited
to Goldilocks weather - when it is not too hot and not too cold. But damning
all conservatories by the limitations of the most basic is plain silly,
or malicious'.
Does
PVC-U Still Embrittle?
Jeff Howell continues to attack the PVC-U window industry, still using
outdated arguments such as 'plastic embrittles'.
An article on his website includes this state of the art thinking:
'Sealed double-glazed window units are all doomed to eventually mist up
between the two panes. The timescale should be twenty-ish years in a perfectly
made and installed window. But in poorly made ones it can be a lot less.
Five months has been reported. And the law of entropy means that the PVC
frames themselves will also decay. PVC inevitably becomes discoloured,
and brittle, and, because of its high thermal expansion coefficient, it
can even crack.'
At the risk of being off message here, in the wake of our commitment to
the Kyoto Protocol, how many products can you name which are legally (let's
leave morally out of it) required to last forever. Cars? Fridges?
As window expert Jay Webb comments:
'Jeff says plastic embrittles. Yes, certain formulations do vide
the old Marley gutters. [which problem they solved] But the better German
formulations from the leading companies, Veka, Rehau, Kömmerling,
have installations going back 50 years, still sound, not brittled and
serving well. Kömmerling particularly has German publicity programmes
about these attested by the local mayor and principals from the local
councils.'
Is Timber 'Better' than PVC-U?
It
is clear where Jeff's allegiances lie: 'timber, being a living thing,
can last for centuries. It just needs a bit of tender loving care' he
says, further stating that the maintenance free claim of the PVC-U window
industry is ludicrous. Well, having to rub down, fill, undercoat and paint
wood every few years against an occasional squeegy job which you can ask
your window cleaner to do: in terms of maintenance, it's a no-brainer.
Andrew Agar, Managing Director of Oxford Trade Frames Ltd says about Jeff
Howell: 'Building expert he may be but window expert he is most certainly
not. How Jeff Howell can manage to get a fee for spouting such utter drivel
is beyond me when even a cursory glance around the web would disprove
almost all of his assertions.'
And PVC-U's Environmental Credentials?
Jeff Howell also accuses the PVC-U window industry on its environmental
credentials.
Jay Webb says: 'Howell goes right off the rails about energy saving and
insulation value. Plastic embodies more energy in the making than wood.
But its energy saving properties meet or can if skillfully constructed
slightly exceed those of timber. That skill costs money. In the main,
Richard Harris of Sandbergs who has written a book for CWCT on this rates
the better versions of both products frames' U values as approximate.
What makes the difference is the glass. Saving money with either product
hangs on the glass specification - and it helps to have either product
correctly installed to BS 8213 which precious few do.'
Andy Agar again:
'With
regard to recycling, PVCU waste has a value which will increase as oil
prices rise, we are obliged to show a full circle recycling policy when
tendering for ‘partnering contracts’ there are several points
with regard to the removal of metal parts that have technical or economical
issues but it can all be done depending on the economic value of the end
product.
'I do not pretend to be a timber window expert but my practical experience
has shown that 100 year old frames being replaced were significantly less
rotted that ten year old counterparts typical of most builders merchants.
I personally would say if the property suits PVC-u then use it and if
not don’t.'