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AUGUST 2013 PRO INSTALLER
PRO BUSINESS
www.proinstaller.co.uk
Retail window firms can step into the digital age
AN EXCITING new website aimed specifically at SMEs within the glazing industry has been launched by digital specialist The Consultancy.
The Glazing Vault offers companies a variety of ‘off the shelf’ solutions, which are both cost-effective and tailored to meet their customers’ needs.
The online offering enables companies to easily custom build their own website with individual sections they feel are most relevant to their own business. By logging onto www. theglazingvault.com, visitors have the option of taking an existing website theme and turning it into the site they want by choosing the colour, text, layout and products that best fit their own business requirements. And where a bespoke online presence might cost several thousand pounds, the package created by The Consultancy will start at £799 with a small annual hosting charge. Richie Thornton, director of The Consultancy, said: “This package is userfriendly, very competitively priced and most importantly, modifiable to meet each individual customer’s needs. They can choose the colour theme they want, how they’d like the site to look and what sections they want included; so it is essentially customised for them without setting them back a small fortune.”
www.theglazingvault.com
Green Deal will ‘takeoff’ in the autumn, says industry expert
The Green Deal has come in for significant criticism in recent weeks, due to the DECC statistics for the first six months which showed only four approved schemes have been put in place.
“The big challenge we face is the sniping and unwarranted criticism, which could de-rail the whole scheme,” commented Paul Joyner, director of Sustainable Building Solutions, Travis Perkins Group. “Yes, mistakes have been made, not least in terms of managing expectations by underpromising, but this is a long-term scheme designed to deal with the issue of this country’s ageing and poorly insulated housing stock, not a short-term fix.” Joyner revealed he was confident all the criteria for success would shortly be in place. “I was asked recently by an installer when he would be able to access Green Deal finance. I told him finance will be widely available and much easier to access in the autumn of this year – that is the key date that the Travis Perkins Group and our partner and Green Deal provider, Toriga, are working towards. What’s more, I am confident that, once the finance is in place, the Green Deal will really take-off.”
Business rates need radical overhaul
The survey, which polled 2,425 FSB members, found that a fifth of respondents pay full business rates, with three in 10 firms receiving some form of rates relief, such as small business or rural rate relief.
However, the FSB is concerned that seven per cent of respondents paying business rates say they pay more in rates than in rent. A further six per cent say their rates and rent costs are about the same. The FSB believes the business rates system is cumbersome and overly complex, and would like to
The business rates system needs a radical overhaul as almost one in 10 respondents to a Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) survey say they are paying more in rates than rent. ‘a fifth of respondents pay full business rates, with three in 10 firms receiving some form of rates relief’
see the Government take a formal review to make it simpler and fairer, as it is doing with other taxes. While business rates generate a huge sum for Treasury, it is a tax not related to economic activity and this needs to be addressed. With another inflationary rise due to be calculated in September the FSB wants to see the Government change the inflation index used to calculate annual increases from the RPI to the CPI to bring it into line with other government policies. The FSB believes that changing the indexation in this way, as recommended by Mary Portas, could help small firms on the high street. www.fsb.org.uk
Source: Energy & Environment Management