Pro Installer August 2013 - Issue 05 | Page 59

PRO INSTALLER AUGUST 2013 59 @proinstaller1 PRO BUSINESS Offering CE Advice to all Tradelink, the trade fabricator with 20 years’ experience of understanding installers’ needs has long advised that by far the easiest way to go about ensuring compliance with CE marking is to purchase frames fully glazed from a trusted fabricator partner who can take on all the hard work. The company has been fully ready for CE Marking for some time now and is passing this onto its installer customers. Equally, however, Tradelink understands that choice is an essential part of conducting business, and there are those who will want to shop around for their glass and frames. To that end, it has available a Guide to CE Marking which provides enough information to learn to CE Mark within the hour! The guide contains everything from simple templates for the Factory Production Control Procedure to guidance on labelling, as well as examples of all documents necessary to complete each task in the CE Marking process. Managing Director, Jim Moody comments: “Our Guide to CE Marking contains everything you need, to learn how to CE Mark within the hour, and it is available to everybody. We have also set up a dedicated email address for CE Marking queries.” For a copy of the guide, visit www.tradelinkdirect. co.uk, e-mail: cemarking@ tradelinkdirect.co.uk or call 01354 657650. ‘Our Guide to CE Marking contains everything you need, to learn how to CE Mark within the hour’ Fourth round of Regional Growth Fund announced The government has announced selected projects and programmes for the fourth round of the government’s Regional Growth Fund. Selected projects and programmes for the fourth round of the government’s Regional Growth Fund (RGF) have been announced by the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg. The Deputy Prime Minister announced that 102 companies and projects that applied for funding have been successful, following the most competitive round of the Fund so far. The companies will take a share of a £506 million pot of funding to attract significant private sector investment and create thousands of jobs across the country. The half a billion pounds of investment will help to rebalance the economy by supporting these 102 different projects and programmes from all sectors, small businesses and local partnerships across England, helping them to expand their operations, create new jobs and stimulate private sector growth. Visiting Toyota in Derbyshire – one of the companies that will receive a share of the money, the Deputy Prime Minister said: “The different projects and programmes from this round will leverage £2.8 billion of additional private sector investment and create or safeguard 77,000 jobs. When added to the success of the first three rounds this represents a total of £15 billion private sector investment. The 102 selected companies and intermediaries were selected through a competitive process from a list of 309 applications, which asked for over £1.9 billion. Government strengthens building energy efficiency standards The government has bolstered energy efficiency standards for new homes and non-residential buildings amid criticism that the changes don’t go far enough. Following a lengthy consultation period, new houses will have to improve efficiency and reduce emissions by 6% more than the 2010 regulations state and 9% more for offices and other nondomestic buildings. The government hopes the plans will help it progress its plans for zero carbon homes by 2016, an idea reaffirmed in this year’s budget. Announcing the plans, parliamentary under secretary of state Baroness Hanham said: “Strengthening these requirements takes the next step towards our zero carbon ambitions, will contribute to national emission reduction targets and help to lower people’s fuel bills. The changes are projected to deliver savings of £16 million per year to business and 6.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.” Industry groups are not entirely satisfied with the outcome from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). “The uplift is less ambitious than any of the options originally consulted upon – even less than Government’s previously ‘preferred options’, particularly for non-domestic buildings,” said John Alker, director of policy and communications at the UK Green Building Council. “However, the fact there is any uplift at all is good news,” said Alker. “There can be no excuses for the length of time this has taken, but finally industry has the clarity on Part L that it craves,” he said. Source: Solar Power Portal Send your real-life work-based stories, industry questions and business annoyances to [email protected]