The inaugural Glazing Summit conference was held on 22 May and was attended by 400 business leaders from across the glass and glazing industry.
The conference had nine sessions including key-note speakers and panel discussions featuring some of the industry’s most influential people.
Discussions ranged from materials and products to technology and innovation, with the final discussion of the day focused on mergers and acquisitions – including panellists David Leng from Customade Group and Rob Crews from Momentum Corporate Finance sharing their views on private-equity backed businesses.
Other speakers throughout the day included Andy Jones from Synseal, Paul Atkinson from Yale, Chris Alderson from Edgetech, Window Ware’s Samantha Nuckey and Russell Yates from AluK.
The keynotes included Jade Greenhow from Insight Data who gave an expert overview of the industry and outlined further consolidation across all sectors. Jade also highlighting product trends and changes within the supply chain with the rise of trade-counters and local builders now capturing more market share from traditional double-glazing installers.
One of the UK’s leading economist’s, Dr Walter Boettcher from Colliers International, gave a powerful presentation on the UK economy and construction sector after Brexit, with encouraging data showing an underlying strong economy.
The conference was organised by Insight Data and Purplex Marketing. CEO, Andrew Scott, commented: “This was breaking new ground, the industry has never had a major business conference but as the market matures and becomes more professional, a platform for CEOs and business leaders to come together, learn and share information has become paramount.
“With several different sectors represented and a diverse range of companies of every shape and size it is impossible to provide content relevant to every delegate on every session, but our aim was that delegates would take away at least some valuable pearls of wisdom and connect with industry leaders – and from the feedback this was definitely achieved.”
According to organisers, the conference was a ‘who’s who’ with CEOs and stakeholders from the industry’s most influential companies attending, representing combined UK annual sales of over £1 billion. A VIP ‘leaders dinner’ followed in the evening, with after-dinner speaker and iconic businessman, Gerald Ratner, gaining a rapturous applause.
“As the first conference of its kind, there was much to learn,” concluded Andrew. “We welcome all feedback which will help us shape the event, if the industry feels it should be a regular fixture.”
For more information please visit www.glazingsummit.co.uk
