Solaglas Windowcare News

Solaglas Windowcare and SGP raise over £3,800 for Rainbows

In the past month, Solaglas Windowcare and SGP have jointly raised over £3,800 for Leicester-based children's hospice Rainbows.

Solaglas was introduced to Rainbows by customer SGP and, on hearing of the extraordinary work the charity undertakes, decided to make them their nominated charity for the rest of 2010.

Rainbows provides support for children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions. The incredible team of people help to relieve symptoms, improve quality of life, support parents and siblings through their bereavements and care for children until the end. The charity is currently trying to raise funds to complete building works to a new extension for teenagers and older children.

Guests at the Solaglas Windowcare annual golf day in June dug deep and raised over £1,500 for Rainbows through activities including a ‘hole-in-one’ draw, world cup sweepstakes, a raffle and a teddy auction. Suppliers and local companies generously donated gifts for the raffle, and two remarkable guests fought hard for the teddy, pushing the bid up to £250. The winning bidder donated the teddy back to the charity whereupon the second bidder snapped him up, raising an unbelievable £500 in total.

On Saturday July 10th, a team of employees from Solaglas and SGP undertook a sponsored ‘3-peak challenge’ in Yorkshire. The challenge started on the Saturday morning with Pen-y-Ghent (south face), followed by Whernside and finally, Ingleborough. A distance of just over 25 miles, it took the team an impressive 8 hours and 22 minutes to conquer. The team's efforts were rewarded by over £2,300 worth of sponsorships from customers, suppliers, colleagues, friends and family. Donations are still being accepted online at: www.justgiving.com/solaglas3peak.

Solaglas Windowcare has additional fundraising activities planned for 2010, including a sponsored relay on October 7th as part of the company's International Environmental, Health and Safety Day.

Solaglas Windowcare wins prestigious Saint-Gobain health and safety awards

Solaglas Windowcare was recently presented with a prestigious award for a health and safety initiative by parent company Saint-Gobain at their annual Diamond Awards.

The award was presented to Kevin Thornhill (Maintenance Services Manger), Jon Cornforth (EHS Manager) and their Working and Heights project team. The team came up with a simple, yet highly effective way to completely mitigate the risk of their engineers falling from height from vehicles. Previously, ladders were secured on top of the Solaglas Windowcare vehicles and engineers had to climb a ladder at the back of the vehicle to then pull the ladders down. Following an extensive review and successful pilot, the team are now rolling out a completely new layout, meaning that ladders will be safely stored within the vehicle. Not only does this completely cut out the risk of falling, but it also means the ladders are stored securely.

Managing Director, Ian Davy, commented: “as a business we have worked hard over recent years to develop a strong health and safety culture. Jon has driven this culture change by encouraging employees across the business to become involved and engaged with health and safety. The transformation has been remarkable and health and safety is now a mindset rather than an aside. Although the development is incredibly pleasing, we are aware that health and safety will always require investment and that we are only at the beginning of our journey.”

Today, parent company Saint-Gobain collectively employs 16,500 people in the UK and Ireland, of which Solaglas Windowcare employs approximately 325 people across the UK. The UK and Ireland Safety Diamonds Awards took place at The Ricoh Arena in Coventry and the event secured the highest attendance to date, showing the huge importance placed on health and safety within the Saint-Gobain group.

Solaglas Windowcare boosts 2010 growth plans with new business wins

Yorkshire-based window repair and replacement expert Solaglas Windowcare has secured a number of new contracts for its Commercial division.The Rotherham-based company, part of Saint-Gobain Group, has secured circa £600,000 worth of new business through contracts secured with Costcutter, CBES Facilities Management (part of CBES Construction Solutions) Little Chef and Barnardos.These new contracts will be serviced by Solaglas Windowcare’s Commercial division which will provide clients with a highly experienced team offering a 24-7 emergency service for incidents involving break in, vandalism, ram-raid or accidental damage.

Managing director, Ian Davy commented: "We are delighted to have had such a successful start to 2010. By responding to our clients’ needs and increasing our presence within the commercial glazing sectors, we have been able to increase our customer portfolio significantly. For us, the key to sustainable growth is in taking a long-term view. We will do this by continuing to focus on providing excellent service, understanding the demands on clients, making it easy to do business with us and of course, keeping a watchful eye on costs and profitability."

Darren Pallett, Head of Property for Little Chef commented: "We were very impressed by Solaglas Windowcare’s dedicated team, levels of service and UK-wide coverage. Business continuity is crucial for Little Chef and 24/7 emergency glass repair and installation is an important factor to ensure we deliver the highest level of maintenance and service to our restaurants and customers. I am confident that our new partnership with Solaglas Windowcare will be a long and successful one.”

Solaglas Windowcare is the UK leader in the repair and replacement of windows and doors on behalf of major organisations including those from the insurance, commercial and public sectors. Currently, the business has 325 employees and last year reported turnover of over £23.5m. The company’s extensive portfolio of clients includes major insurers, loss adjusters, major brokers, facilities management companies, building maintenance companies, government agencies, local authorities, hotels, passenger centres and retailers.

Solaglas Windowcare maintans excellent service levels during the UK's big freeze

Yorkshire-based window repair and replacement expert Solaglas Windowcare was able to offer its customers an almost 100% operational service during the worst weather the UK has experienced for more than 30 years. Throughout the adverse weather, the company braved the arctic conditions and managed to maintain its pledge of offering a 24 hour, 7 days a week, 365 days a year service across the entire country.

Solaglas Windowcare implemented a number of activities to ensure business continuity despite experiencing staff shortages and minor vehicle accidents as a consequence of the severe driving conditions. A comprehensive communications plan was executed from its Rotherham headquarters, reporting service updates to all stakeholders regarding the weather conditions, road closures, delays and other incidents affecting the company’s 325 employees.

Ian Davy, Solaglas Windowcare managing director commented: “We always pride ourselves on delivering the best possible service to our customers. I am both pleased and proud of the attitude and conduct of everyone here at Solaglas Windowcare in keeping the company fully operational during the terrible weather. I’d like to thank all our employees for their dedication during this time; it is a real testament to the ethos and values of the service we always strive to provide our customers. Let’s hope we don’t experience another bout of bad weather this bad for another 30 years or more!”

Solaglas Windowcare works with a number of companies in the insurance sector, including Davies Group, which were pleased that service levels were maintained during the bad weather. Vanessa Greatbatch from the Davies Group commented: “The recent adverse weather conditions put a tremendous strain on many organisations and affected their ability to deliver a normal service. At Davies Group, we were able to provide our clients excellent levels of service with the help of our dedicated network of partners including Solaglas Windowcare, who really did go that extra mile to help our customers in their time of need.”

Solaglas Windowcare is an industry leader in the repair and replacement of windows and doors on behalf of insurance companies, commercial and public sector clients, making major savings compared to equivalent replacement costs.

Solaglas Windowcare wins International coaching accolade

Glass replacement and installation expert Solaglas Windowcare has been awarded a prestigious international award, the 2009 International Coach Federation Prism Award, recognising the work it has accomplished on its employment development programme.

The International Coach Federation (ICF) is the world’s leading organisation dedicated to advancing business coaching. The organisation nurtures relationships with companies globally to encourage effective employee coaching programmes.

In what is a truly remarkable achievement for the Saint-Gobain-owned company, Ian Davy, Solaglas Windowcare managing director, was presented with the award by ICF President Karen Tweedie at the 2009 ICF Annual International Conference that took place in Orlando, Florida on 4 December 2009.

Over the past 18 months, Solaglas Windowcare has made major commitments to its employee training programmes, in particular its Field Manager Development Programme in which the company worked closely with PCC accredited coach Stewart Twinn. It was for this project that the Rotherham-based company received the ICF International Prism Award.

Ian Davy, Solaglas Windowcare managing director (pictured above) commented: “We are absolutely delighted to have won this prestigious award. Past recipients have included the BBC, NASA, Deloitte and Touche and IBM, so to be amongst these global business giants is a fantastic accomplishment. “We pride ourselves in our innovative approach and employee development and training and this award is testament to the high standards continually attained by our employees.”

Gary E Boyler, ICF Executive Director stated that it was the company’s ability to embrace emerging trends, build community, demonstrate innovative management and effectively verify outstanding return on investment. He added, “The documented impact of coaching within an organisation is crucial to our profession and we are extremely proud to recognise Solaglas Windowcare as a recipient of the 2009 Prism Award – the honour is well deserved.”

Solaglas Windowcare is an industry leader in the repair and replacement of windows and doors on behalf of insurance companies, commercial and public sector clients, making major savings compared to equivalent replacement costs.

Over the past year, the Saint-Gobain-owned company has grown its Commercial Glazing and Maintenance Services activity and continues to work on behalf of retailers, facility management companies and the UK’s largest insurers and claims intermediaries.

Solaglas Windowcare employees raise £2,915 for charities

Over September and October, big-hearted employees at Solaglas Windowcare gave up their time and efforts to raise much needed funds for a series of designated charities.

First off, on September 6, daredevil Keren Dennett, operations field manager at the company took to the skies and completed a tandem parachute jump courtesy of Target Sky Sports at Hibaldstow Airfield in North Lincolnshire. In doing so Keren raised over £650 for the British Heart Foundation.

Then, on September 20, national customer services compliance manager Phil Langham took part in the BUPA Great North Run. Phil completed the gruelling 13.1 miles in a highly credible 2 hours 36 minutes and in the process raised over £700 for Leukaemia Research.

Finishing the month off on a high, Jon Cornforth, health, safety and environment manager, along with Darren Dickinson, customer services director and a team of walkers (including Darren’s 11-year- old son Declan) completed the’ Three Peaks of Yorkshire’ walk on September 26.

The walk is a 25-mile hike over the peaks of Ingleborough (723metres, 2,372 ft), Whernside (736m, 2,415ft) and Pen-y-ghent (694m, 2,276ft). Jon, Darren (and Declan) completed the walk in just 9 hours 58 minutes, raising £1,065 for the Macmillan Cancer Trust.
On October 30 dozens of employees donned pint outfits and pink high-visibility vests to promote ‘ Wear it Pink Day’, raising more than £500 from sponsorship and donations for the Breast Cancer Campaign.

Solaglas Windowcare, part of the Saint-Gobain Group, actively supports and encourages its employees to raise money for charities and, where possible, play an active role in the business and charitable life of the local communities in South Yorkshire.

Solaglas Windowcare in the pink to help beat breastcancer-

Employees from glazing repair and replacement specialist Solaglas Windowcare donned pink tutus, feather boas, cowboy hats (and just about anything pink they could get their hands on) to raise money for breast cancer awareness on Wear it Pink Day last Friday (October 30).

The 345-strong workforce created a pink glow at its Hellaby base, near Rotherham by wearing pink outfits – the more outrageous the better – with all those doing so donating money to the charity.

To raise as much cash as possible for the Breast Cancer Campaign, staff took part in a range of activities during the day including a pink raffle and a pink cake sale with employees bringing in homemade pink cakes, buns and biscuits to sell to colleagues.
One brave male employee even collected sponsorship for agreeing to have his legs waxed on the day!

Over 40 of Solaglas Windowcare’s office team and factory workers (mainly men!) wore special neon pink ‘Wear it Pink’ high visibility jackets all day to really get the message across, with all proceeds from the sale of the jackets going to the Breast Cancer Campaign.
When all monies are collected, the business expects to have raised more than £500 from the day’s events.

Ian Davy, Solaglas Windowcare’s managing director commented: “We welcomed the opportunity to get involved in this fantastically fun and worthy day. Everyone here jumped at the opportunity to be a part of the Wear it Pink Day and we hope to raise badly needed funds to promote the amazing work that the Breast Cancer Campaign does each day.”

Pictured are employees at Solaglas Windowcare getting into the swing of Wear It Pink Day.

Solaglas Windowcare Awarded Again

For the second year running, Solaglas Windowcare has achieved success in the prestigious Rotherham Business Awards, organised by the Barnsley and Rotherham Chamber of Commerce.

The glazing repair and replacement specialist was highly commended in the Innovation in Business Award which was sponsored by Sheffield Hallam University, while Sharron Pearce, transport supervisor (pictured) was a finalist in the Employee of the Year Award, sponsored by Morthyng.

The awards took place on Friday 23 October at a glittering ceremony held at the Magna Centre, hosted by BBC presenter Harry Gration.
Ian Davy, Solaglas Windowcare’s managing director commented: “We are delighted to have again been successful in the Rotherham Business Awards. These commendations in both the Innovation in Business and Employee of the Year awards are particularly important to us as they reflect on our innovative approach and the high standards attained by our employees.“

Chris MacCormac, president of Barnsley and Rotherham Chamber of Commerce said: “Once again, the evening was a superb occasion. It was fantastic to see so many companies celebrating their achievements after a difficult economic year.”

Over the past year, the Saint-Gobain-owned company has grown its Commercial Glazing and Maintenance Services activity and continues to work on behalf of retailers, facility management companies and the UK’s largest insurers and claims intermediaries.

Acting on Corporate Manslaughter Legislation

More than a year since the Corporate Manslaughter Act came into force, one of the British Hospitality Association’s (BHA) Patron Suppliers is warning that many businesses are still leaving themselves open to prosecution.

Glazing repair, replacement and refurbishment specialist Solaglas Windowcare provides surveys and reports to enable businesses in the hospitality sector and others to comply with current legislation.

In 2007 the Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act 2007 was brought in to make it easier to bring companies to justice over the death of employees.

The Act actually states that an organisation is guilty of corporate manslaughter if the way in which its activities are managed or organised causes a death and amounts to a gross breach of a duty of care to the person who died. In fact, it would be a substantial part of the breach in the way activities were organised by the company’s senior management. In English law duty of care states that harm must be a ‘reasonably foreseeable’ result of the defendant’s conduct.

So, what can an organisation do to comply with the law and guard against falling foul of the legislation?

MD Ian Davy says that glazing and doors are areas of property that can sometimes be seen as having a lower priority in the maintenance routine.

"These are areas that present major risks to employees, especially in the case of tilt and turn windows and the restrictors that are often bypassed, presenting danger to employees.

" It is extremely important that organisations with responsibility for properties always use a recognised company with a track record in providing auditable and professional maintenance services. By not having a preventative maintenance program you could be putting lives at risk.”

Solaglas Windowcare is offering BHA members which operate hotel groups a free window A FREE hotel window safety check to ensure compliance with current legislation (limited to 25 rooms at one location). More information is available in the member offers section of the BHA website or by contacting Gerard Brierley, Sales Manager (Maintenance Services) on 0870 870 7171 or email gerard.brierley@saint-gobain.com.

Fact File

When did the new Act come into force?
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act was given Royal assent on 26 July 2007. The offence came into force on 6 April 2008 and is called corporate manslaughter in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and corporate homicide in Scotland.

Are there any new duties or obligations under the Act?
There are no new duties or obligations under the Act, nor is the new offence part of health and safety law. It is, however, specifically linked to existing health and safety requirements.

What do organisations need to do to comply?
Most organisations take their obligations under health and safety law seriously and are not likely to be in breach of the new provisions. Nonetheless, they should keep their health and safety management systems under review, in particular, the way in which their activities are managed or organised by senior management.

Where does health and safety legislation come in?
Under the Act, health and safety legislation means "any statutory provision dealing with health and safety matters" so it will include transport (road, rail, river, sea, air) food safety and workplace safety as enforced by HSE and local authorities.

Who will investigate and prosecute under the new offence?
The police will investigate suspected cases of corporate manslaughter/homicide.

Will directors, board members or other individuals be prosecuted?
The offence is concerned with corporate liability and does not apply to directors or other individuals who have a senior role in the company or organisation. However, existing health and safety offences and gross negligence manslaughter will continue to apply to individuals. Prosecutions against individuals will continue to be taken where there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to do so.

What penalties will a company or organisation face?
Penalties will include unlimited fines, remedial orders and publicity orders. A remedial order will require an organisation to take steps to remedy any management failure that led to a death. The court can also impose an order requiring the company or organisation to publicise that it has been convicted of the offence, giving the details, the amount of any fine imposed and the terms of any remedial order made.

Is the Act retrospective?
No, the Act came into force on 6 April 2008 and will only apply to deaths that occur from that date.

Solaglas Windowcare guides organisations through the implications of Regulation 14
Take a look around your premises. How much of the structure contains glass features, walling, walkways, doors, staircases or entrance canopies? Not considering the traditional use of glass in frames, glass has become a key feature of hotels, restaurants and other high-traffic premises.

Do you know there a little-known set of Health and Safety regulations that covers glazing in the workplace – called HSWA Regulation, which owners need to know about?
Since 1975 the Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) has required employers to comply the health and safety of anyone who may be affected by their work activities. So, if glazing constitutes a risk, reasonably practicable measures need to be taken to deal with it.
The HSWA does not specifically mention glazing, but in 1993 the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations came into force to implement the EC Workplace Directive. Regulation 14 applies to a wide range of workplaces including hotels, restaurants and places of entertainment.

The duty to comply with the regulations will usually fall to the employer. However, people other than employers may be duty holders under the regulations if they have control of a workplace to any extent such as owners of buildings (basically anyone who has responsibility for a building’s ongoing maintenance).

What Regulation 14 requires
Every window or other transparent or translucent surface in a wall, partition, door or gate should, where necessary for reasons of health or safety, be of a safety material or be protected against breakage and be appropriately marked or incorporate features to make it visible.
The regulation only expects action "where necessary for reasons of health or safety". So building owners, facility managers and management agents need to assess every window or other transparent/translucent surface in a wall, partition, or door to establish whether there is a risk of anyone being hurt if people or indeed objects come into contact with it.
If there is a risk then action is needed to comply with the regulation to:

• prevent people or objects coming into contact with the glazing, or

• upgrade it so that if it breaks, it breaks safely, and

• mark large expanses of glazing in some way so that people know it is there.

Assessing the risk
The assessment needs to take into account location of the glazing, the activities taking place nearby, the volume of traffic and pedestrians and whether there have been any previous incidents. Glazing in some locations may present a higher risk, such as in doors and panels; shoulder level height glass surfaces; in windows, walls and partitions, where any part of the transparent or translucent surface are at waist level or below.

So what can building managers do to comply?
A full audit will highlight area the businesses can do to avoid the risk of glazing being broken. Some might include simply replacing glazing with a product that meets the criteria or could identify cost-effective ways to ensure building owners are not exposed to looking at change traffic routes or installing safer products. Whatever the solution (and there are many) the role that glazing plays in making a building look modern and bright, means that Regulation 14 is one piece of EC legislation that just cannot be filed in the ‘nice to do’ drawer.

Glazing specialist bucks the trend and strengthens sales team
Nationwide emergency glazing, repair and replacement company Solaglas Windowcare has announced exciting plans to further invest in its growth within the Commercial Glazing and Maintenance Services sectors by expanding its sales team.

The Saint-Gobain owned company is continuing to invest in its people by strengthening its 15-strong sales team with the appointment a Commercial Sales Account Manager to focus on the retail glazing sector and a Sales Manager for the Maintenance Services sector to expand its push into the government and public sectors.

The glazing specialist’s Sales and Marketing Department’s expansion will enable it to build upon the expert knowledge within the team to further enhance its service, offering and providing even better value to its customers.

Managing director, Ian Davy, commented: “These are very exciting times for us and growth is very much part of our strategy. Whilst many companies are making cut backs we are investing in our future with these appointments.To achieve our goals we identified that we needed to re-structure and build a focussed sales and marketing team that was capable of delivering future growth. The appointment of sales and account managers in key areas is an important element of building our presence in our target markets.”
Solaglas Windowcare employs some 340 people, serving clients across the UK and Ireland through a network of highly-skilled engineers, the majority of which are directly-employed.
To find out more about the positions being offered call the Recruitment Line on 01709 310122 or email resourcing@solaglaswindowcare.co.uk.

Solaglas Windowcare achieves highest health & safety standard

Solaglas Windowcare, the Saint Gobain-owned glazing and frame repair, replacement and refurbishment specialist has joined a select group of some 400 UK public and private sector organisations by qualifying for accreditation to the Contractors’ Health & Safety Assessment Scheme (CHAS).

CHAS recognises the highest levels of practice and aims to improve standards and reduce duplicated as suppliers’ compliance with health and safety practice is accepted by all CHAS buyers.

Accreditation means that the Rotherham-based business operates to the highest standards of health and safety practice. Achieving the standard will streamline the process when pre-qualifying for private and public tenders. It also provides a high level of confidence for clients that their service provider meets the required health and safety standards.

The process of accreditation involved a wide-ranging review of the company’s health and safety policies. These include how the business communicates its policy and operate procedure in relation to personal protection equipment (PPE), fire procedures, welfare and transport, manual handling, and risk assessment. The audit also looked at how the business ensured compliance with policy through training and audit.

The CHAS auditors also examined the provisions that Solaglas Windowcare takes when working at height. A recent project involved replacing large glazing units at a height of 30 metres on the exterior of the Urbis, one of Manchester’s most distinctive glass structures.

Ian Davy, managing director said: “It is very gratifying to attain this most stringent accreditation because our entire systems and policies were exposed to extreme scrutiny and audit – and passed the test. Any claims we made in relation to health and safety practice and policy had to be documented and evidence shown to the independent auditors. It involved at least three weeks of intense qualification and audit as we opened the business up to the independent assessors.”

Mr Davy added: “We work on behalf of some of the largest insurers in the UK and have high-profile commercial clients in the defence, public, retailing, hospitality and transport sectors and we recognised that accreditation was becoming a frequent requirement of these clients.”

How the business deals with its own contractors is also covered in the accreditation. The senior management team at Solaglas Windowcare has stated that it would prefer the companies who work on their behalf to have CHAS accreditation to ensure standards are maintained at every link in the supply chain.

The process and management of Solaglas Windowcare’s route to accreditation was led by Jon Cornforth, Health, Safety and Environment Manager.

In addition, the business has also met the requirements for membership of Constructionline, the Government's national register for suppliers. In the same way CHAS offers a tool for use in the health and safety element of pre-qualification, Constructionline provides the pre-qualification tool for use in financial standing, technical references and other areas. The CHAS management group supports the principles of a single register and so works jointly with Constructionline.

Solaglas Windowcare directly employs 340 people at its main office in Hellaby, near Rotherham and at its branches in Dartford, Preston, Portsmouth and Kingston-upon-Thames.

CHAS is established as the market leader for health and safety pre-qualification in the UK. It is a non-commercial scheme available to suppliers (those who provide goods and services) and to organisations (buyers) looking for suitably competent suppliers. CHAS assesses health and safety for all types of suppliers, from care services to demolition contractors, designers and consultants.

The aim of the scheme is to save time and resources by avoiding unnecessary duplication in the first stage of competence assessment; the CDM Core criteria. In 1997 a group of health and safety and procurement professionals from across Great Britain worked with the Association of London Government (ALG) to develop CHAS. In 2002 CHAS became a web-based system. There are three stages in the assessment process from the time a supplier applies for a CHAS assessment, through to working for a buyer:

The CHAS assessment: if a supplier passes this assessment they have shown they can adequately manage health and safety.
The employer (buyer) checks a supplier has the ability, experience and resources to carry out the specific work they have applied to do. The buyer will look at things like method statements, specific risk assessments, references, examples of previous similar work, training and available resources.

Monitoring the supplier when they are doing the work. Buyers will check suppliers are managing the work safely, carrying out the method statements properly, have enough resources, liaising properly, managing the site effectively and providing enough supervision.
The level of assessment at stages 2 and 3 are normally proportionate to the level of risk they carry. Buyers have a responsibility to monitor suppliers, making sure they are working safely, in order to protect staff and everyone who may be affected by the work.
About Constructionline (www.constructionline.co.uk)

Constructionline is the Government's national register for suppliers. In the same way CHAS offers a tool for use in the health and safety element of pre-qualification, Constructionline provide the pre-qualification tool for use in financial standing, technical references and other areas. The CHAS management group supports the principles of a single register and so works jointly with Constructionline. Both CHAS and Constructionline have their own independence and identity but the schemes are linked.

Health & Safety in practice

Solaglas Windowcare expands into Ireland

Emergency glazing specialist, Solaglas Windowcare, has announced that the company has expanded its 24/7 UK wide operation to cover Southern Ireland.

The Saint-Gobain owned company, which is currently targeting High Street Retail clients with emergency boarding up and reglazing has responded to requests from UK-based clients to provide an efficient and cost-effective service in Southern Ireland

The service started on 1 June although the company has spent six months putting in place a national network of contracted and vetted emergency glaziers to ensure coverage for retail businesses throughout the whole of the country.

The glazing network will be managed from the company’s base in South Yorkshire, using the existing workflow systems to ensure that quality and response standards meet those provided to commercial clients in the UK.

The company is also able to provide a national 24-hour locksmith service throughout Ireland as an additional service enhancement.

Announcing the move into Southern Ireland, managing director Ian Davy commented: “As a business we have made excellent progress in the commercial glazing sector, building relations with leading high-street retailers, facility management companies and public sector agency clients with a national repair, replacement and refurbishment service delivered to a high standard. This decision to expand makes sense as we make our services available to UK-based businesses with outlets and operations based in towns and cities across Ireland.

“ We are confident that we will run a competitive service across the country at the same quality that our clients enjoy in the UK.”

Solaglas Windowcare directly employs 340 people at its main office in Hellaby, near Rotherham and at its branches in Dartford, Preston, Plymouth and Kingston-upon-Thames. The company plans to expand its British network of branches.

The company’s portfolio of clients includes major insurers, loss adjusters, facilities management companies, building maintenance companies, government agencies, local authorities, hotels, passenger centres and retailers. Last year the business reported turnover of over £23m.

Award judges recognise success in training and development

The success of a programme to develop skilled managers has been highlighted in a national award scheme that celebrates the best in human resources practice.

Glazing specialist Solaglas Windowcare was a finalist in the Best Talent Management category of the HR Excellence Awards held on June 30 at a glittering black-tie event in central London. The company was shortlisted alongside McDonalds, Barratts Developments and the world's largest media services group Zenith Optimedia, which was the eventual winner of the category.

The leading glass, frame, door and conservatory repair, replacement and refurbishment specialist impressed judges with the commitment that they had made to their employees through the implementation of their innovative Developing Management Potential (DMP) programme. The scheme provides the support and training to spot talent and uncover the company’s future managers. The HR Excellence Awards is hosted by HR Magazine and have established themselves as one of the key events for the human resources industry. The judging panel included senior HR figures from Vodafone, KPMG Europe and Moneysupermarket.com.

Ian Davy, managing director, Solaglas Windowcare said: "it was a great to be recognised for our achievements and be placed alongside such high-profile businesses in this national award scheme. It also underlines our strategy of having well-trained, motivated employees with access to development programmes. This is essential to sustaining our growth and creating a competitive advantage."

Solaglas Windowcare currently employs 340 people, at its main office near Rotherham and at branches in Dartford, Kingston-upon-Thames, Preston and Portsmouth. In 2005 it successfully gained the Investors in People Standard in December 2005 and following an audit by IIP, was renewed this year.

Solaglas Windowcare joins the British Hospitality Association

Solaglas Windowcare is pleased to announce that it has become a member of the prestigious British Hospitality Association (BHA).
The company has been granted Patron Supplier status by the BHA, which has a membership that includes some 9,000 hotels, 11,000 restaurants and 19,000 contract catering units.

Patron Suppliers provide members with an ever-widening range of goods and services at prices which would not be possible for most individual members to obtain themselves.

" We are delighted to welcome Solaglas as a Patron Supplier," said BHA chief executive, Bob Cotton. "This is one more invaluable service that our patron suppliers provide to our members. Solaglas Windowcare's service is vital in times of urgent need and I'm sure will be much appreciated by members."

The successful application to join the BHA further boosts Solaglas Windowcare’s profile as the business seeks to extend its reach into the commercial sector.

Managing director, Ian Davy said: “Now, more than ever, businesses with high footfall are looking for an efficient service to ensure damage to their premises is secured quickly and repairs made to the highest standards – ensuring the safety of employees and customers. In the current economic climate, it is also important that repairs, replacement and refurbishment to glass and doors do not inconvenience guests or interrupt normal operations too much.”

Solaglas Windowcare employs 340 people serving commercial sector clients through a nationwide network of highly skilled, directly employed engineers and glaziers from Its UK-based contact centre and factory, with the support of bespoke real-time workflow system.

Solaglas Windowcare shortlisted for Prestigious Award

Solaglas Windowcare, has been shortlisted as a finalist in a prestigious award for innovation in human resources practice.

On June 30, the South Yorkshire-based company will go head-to-head with international brand McDonalds, Barratts Developments and the world's largest media services group Zenith Optimedia, for the Best Talent Management award at a prestigious black-tie event at the London Hilton on Park Lane in London.

The leading glass, frame, door and conservatory repair, replacement and refurbishment specialist impressed judges with the commitment that they made to their employees through the implementation of their innovative Developing Management Potential (DMP) programme. The scheme, which is gaining interest across parent company Saint-Gobain, provides the support and training to spot talent and uncover the companies managers of the future.

While many companies make headlines with restructure and contraction, Solaglas Windowcare continues to invest in and maximise the potential of their employees and increase the flow of internal opportunities and promotion through the use of the programme. Running over a 12-month period, the scheme has been well-received by those taking part and significantly contributed to the improvement in the company’s performance over the last year.

Ian Davy, managing director at Solaglas Windowcare, said: “Being shortlisted for the HR Excellence award is testament to how committed we are in providing our employees with the support to develop their skills as effective leaders within the business which is vital for the continued success of the company. The DMP programme ensures that we get the best out of our employee’s and in turn they feel motivated and valued by us.”

Solaglas Windowcare currently employs 340 people, at its main office near Rotherham and at branches in Dartford, Kingston-upon-Thames, Preston and Portsmouth.

In 2005 it successfully gained the Investors in People Standard in December 2005 and following an audit by IIP, was renewed this year.

Communications day sets out Solaglas Windowcare's vision
Glass repair and replacement specialist Solaglas Windowcare has marked a busy and successful year with an event to update employees on the business’s strategy as it goes for growth.

A communications day event was staged for the business’s office-based teams based at Hellaby, near Rotherham and gave more than 300 people the opportunity to find out more about the business strategy and ask directors searching questions in an open forum format.
Solaglas managing director Alistair Higgins opened the event which was held at nearby historic Hellaby Hall.

The first part of the day featured presentations from directors: Ian Davy, managing director, Tim Barnes, finance director, Patrick Kent, human resources director, Darren Dickinson, call management director and Alan Martin, sales director. Each presentation focussed on the theme: ‘Going from Good to Great’.

In the second, attendees went into individual sessions with department heads who delved into more detail about what they should aim to achieve over the next year, and what they needed to do to be seen as ‘great’.

Ian Davy commented: “We have been through a demanding but rewarding past 12 months, with a host of changes and extra challenges for our people. The communications day was a great opportunity to recognise our achievements to date and, for everyone, set out the set out the strategy for success as we enter new markets and develop innovative practices and processes. The theme of good to great underlines our overall strategy. We have great ambitions for this business, but it can only be achieved if we welcome change, drive for the highest quality of service and become the most efficient operator in the market.”

Alistair Higgins added: "Solaglas Windowcare is very clear about its priorities, and I felt these were well communicated on the day. I was also impressed by the straightforwardness and honesty of some of the questions - displaying the very qualities of engagement and professionalism I tried to promote in my talk. It was an exceptionally well-organised day, reinforcing the view I already have of a motivated business determined to reach its objectives. I enjoyed the sessions, and left feeling optimistic about the future for the business."

On the run up to the event the organisers asked engineers to put forward an example of how they went beyond the call of duty over Christmas. The winner was awarded with a night in a luxury hotel.

When the prize was awarded the winning engineers asked for the prize to be raffled off to office and field staff, with the money raised donated to the hospice that a fellow engineer had stayed in before he passed away.

The winning case study is below:

Going the extra mile for a customer in distress
“A call came in from a lady whose door had been damaged. The flat door had been boarded up so she was unable to access her flat. The customer was quite distraught and needed someone to fix the door as her son would be returning from hospital the next day.

Engineers Richard Willetts and Jamie Miles were on their way to Liverpool on a normal Friday morning for their days’ work when the call came in for them to make a detour and go to the lady’s home in Barnsley. On arrival, the pair assessed the work and found that a double-glazed unit had been broken and the door was boarded up, leaving no access in or out of the flat.

As it was vital for the lady to get into her home, the engineers took the boarding down and made the entrance safe. They then ordered the parts for the door and window to be made and ready by the end of that day. After a full day spent on other jobs in Liverpool, the engineers then drove back to the main office in Hellaby late on Friday evening to collect the parts before travelled to Barnsley to complete the work. The woman was so overwhelmed with the speed of the service and the help given to her at a stressful time.”

Ian Davy said that for him, this comment summed up what Solaglas Windowcare is all about. “We are an open and honest business with a team of people who will ask questions and genuinely care about the running and success of the business they are part of.”

Business Leader Offers Advice on Thriving in a Downturn
Business people in South Yorkshire were given an insight into the strategies a company in the region is adopting to ensure that it not only survives the current economic conditions, but actually thrives.

Business Link hosted the Survive and Thrive event in Rotherham on April 22 with Ian Davy, MD at Rotherham-based glazing repair and replacement specialist Solaglas Windowcare.

Ian Davy gave a genuine and down-to-earth account of how the company had grown to be a leader in the emergency glazing market through organic growth. Since 2002 Solaglas Windowcare's turnover has increased, doubling to £23m in the past four years. The company now employs 340 people and has four branches across the country and a main office and manufacturing facility in Hellaby, near Rotherham.

Part of global giant Saint-Gobain, the business provides repair, replacement and refurbishment for the country’s largest insurers and intermediaries. Increasingly, they have clients in the retail, public sector, facility management and hospitality sectors.
Mr Davy outlined the challenges the business had faced over the last year and how they managed to overcome them.

The event also featured a presentation from Sharan Gohel, senior consultant at QED Consulting in Doncaster, about talent management and managing change in the current economic climate.

Solaglas Windowcare benefits from retail boost
Glass repair and replacement specialist Solaglas Windowcare is reporting a significant uplift in revenue arising largely from increased exposure to new markets.

The Rotherham-based company, part of Saint-Gobain Group, says sales income increased by 84% in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same period last year.

Managing director, Ian Davy commented: “By responding to our clients’ needs and increasing our presence within the maintenance and commercial glazing sectors, we have been able to increase our income significantly.

"For us, the key is to make this growth sustainable in the long-term. We will do this by continuing to focus on providing excellent service, understanding the demands on clients, making it easy to do business with us and of course, keeping a watchful eye on costs and profitability."

Solaglas Windowcare provides nationwide window and frame repair, replacement and refurbishment. Currently, the business has some 340 directly-employed staff and last year reported turnover of over £23m.

The company’s extensive portfolio of clients includes major insurers, loss adjusters, facilities management companies, building maintenance companies, government agencies, local authorities, hotels, passenger centres and retailers.

Last year the business completed a major rebranding exercise and established four specific operating sectors for growth: Insurance Services, Commercial Glazing, Maintenance Services and Call Management. A recent restructure of the business’s sales and marketing department saw the appointment of three new sales managers.

Glass specialist makes senior appointments as part of sales restructure

National glazing company Solaglas Windowcare, part of the Saint-Gobain Group, has appointed three specialists to head new sector teams as part of an overall restructure of its sales and marketing operation.

Andrew Betteridge becomes sales manager for the Insurance Services sector, Gerard Brierley is sales manager for the Maintenance Services sector and David Thomas joins the company to head up sales in the Commercial Glazing sector.

Betteridge’s team will focus on securing and retaining major contracts with insurers and claims intermediaries, while Brierley will focus on further expanding growing business with property owners, facility managers and government agencies.

Thomas brings with him years of experience at outsourcer Capita and Rainbow International, the restoration company. He will cement and develop ongoing relationships with retailers as the company seeks to establish itself as a major national provider of emergency boarding-up and re-glazing services.

Last year, the Rotherham-based company carried out a re-branding exercise and clarified its offering to Insurers, commercial clients and public sector agencies by establishing four key sectors for growth – Insurance Services, Commercial Glazing, Maintenance Services and Call Management.

Managing director, Ian Davy commented: “Since we carried out the successful restructuring of our business into four operating sectors we have been developing our sales and marketing strategy to ensure we are capable of meeting our ambitious growth plans for each revenue area and are able to professionally manage a dramatically increased customer base.”

Left: (L-R) David Thomas, Gerard Brierley and Andrew Betteridge.

Solaglas Windowcare named Rotherham's Business of the Year

Leading glass and frame repair and replacement company Solaglas Windowcare has scooped the top award in the 2008 Rotherham Business Awards, held on October 24.

The company was named Business of the Year by the judging panel, highlighting major investments in training, technology and a commitment to excellence.
In a successful evening attended by a range of businesses in the area, the company also gained two further awards – 'Investing in Skills' and 'Excellence in Busines's and was runner-up in both the 'Customer Service' and 'Innovation in Business' categories.

Ian Davy, managing director at Solaglas Windowcare said: "We have made great strides over the past six years, had sustained year-on-year growth and attracted major clients, so we are particularly pleased to walk away with these awards, especially against such tough competition.This success has been underpinned by a commitment to providing our clients and their customers with an unrivalled level of service, delivered from the initial instruction right through to the service delivered on the ground."

The Rotherham Business Awards is organised by the Rotherham and Barnsley and Rotherham Chamber of Commerce. The winners were announced at a glittering black-tie event held at MAGNA near Rotherham.

For more information about the awards, visit www.brchamber.co.uk.

Solaglas Windowcare latest strategic appointment to target retailers
Glass repair and replacement specialist Solaglas Windowcare has strengthened its high street retail business team with the appointment of Alison Christensen as customer liaison manager.

Alison joins the Saint-Gobain-owned business after spending 25 years at former market-leader Greenberg Glass Group as customer services manager, where she was responsible for the relationship with major nationwide retailers. In her new role she will act as the interface between the business, its retailers and FM clients, ensuring the company delivers on its service standards and achieves retailers’ exacting KPI’s.

On her appointment, Alison said: “Solaglas Windowcare is committed to this sector and keen to secure long-term relationships with major retail multiples and their FM companies. My role will be to work with teams across the business to ensure we remain focussed on meeting their needs. I am looking forward to this client-facing role that gives me a great opportunity to get out and meet people I have dealt with for more than 20 years.”

Sales director Alan Martin added: “We now have one of the most experienced commercial sector business teams in the industry. In Alison we have someone who has a unique insight into the retail sector and who brings with her years of building strong relationships with clients.”

Recently, Solaglas Windowcare launched a campaign entitled: ‘Let us Come to Your Rescue’ targeting major high street retailers with 24-hour glass and door emergency board up and replacement & repair services. This campaign has been well received by the industry and the company continues to grow its share of this competitive sector.

Praise for Solaglas Windowcare Employees
Ian Davy, managing director at Solaglas Windowcare is among those who have praised employees who received accolades and awards from the judges at the 2008 British Glass Charter Awards. The company was successful in three of the 12 award categories. Mr Davy highlighted efforts to maintain the high levels of performance in health and safety across the company by Sharron Pearce who received the safety initiative of the year award and Phil Langham who won safety representative of the year.

He said: “We need to keep health and safety at the top of the agenda and adopt a zero-tolerance policy right across our operation. We are doing some great work to achieve this and although we cannot be complacent, we are moving to a position of leadership within our industry and through the enthusiasm and commitment of our staff we are spreading best practice – as recognised by British Glass.”

British Glass judges commented: “Working towards stringent targets, Solaglas Windowcare is committed to working, not only with companies within their group, but with the wider glass industry to share best practice and support initiatives. The company is committed to making health and safety everyone’s responsibility by providing commitment from the top-down, training, objectives, involvement by all and the sharing of best practice.”

Sharron Pearce: Driving safer practice on the road
Transport supervisor Sharron Pearce was nominated by Tim Barnes (financial director) for a scheme to monitor and improve the driving behaviours of engineers who serve clients and customers across the country. Solaglas Windowcare employs some 150 engineers, many of which work remotely from its main office in Rotherham. They drive Ford Transit-sized vans to carry out their duties and typically spend up to a third of their time on the road. Sharron recognised that most health and safety efforts and initiatives were focused on making ‘fixed’ workplaces safer (i.e. production and distribution units, offices), whereas there was less focus on the mobile environment.

Sharron aimed to make engineers more aware of their driving performance in relation to safety and the regular care of their vehicles.In taking this forward, she acknowledged that to change behaviour she had to measure and show people what was happening, encourage them to change and then monitor the impact. Sharron set out the key indicators of driver behaviour:
• Speeding
• Average cost per mile
• Number of accidents and type/extent of accident
• Cost and frequency of van maintenance in relation to mileage
• Parking fines and points on driving license.

Each driver was scored against these criteria and those drivers in the bottom 25% (quartile) were shown the areas that were affecting their scores such as driving at unsafe speeds or having frequent small accidents.

Sharron continues to monitor their progress through this scoring methodology. For any persistent bottom quartile drivers she plans to introduce further tracking equipment into vans to monitor driving behaviour such as hard braking into corners, rapid acceleration and dramatic steering changes. The initial impact was an improvement in behaviour between July and August 2008 in terms of attaining sensible speeds. With a robust process in place, Solaglas Windowcare expects to see further improvements in driver behaviour, which over time will result in its drivers being safer on the roads and generate the benefits of lower fuel costs, reduced maintenance and accident costs. British Glass judges said: “Sharon was instrumental in the implementation of a thorough Transport Management System with robust monitoring of speeding, average costs-per-mile, accidents, cost and frequency of maintenance, fines and points-on-license. A special mention should also be given to Graham Miller and the site team for their involvement and support of the Transport Initiatives.”

Phil Langham: Outstanding commitment to health and safety
National Customer Service Compliance Manager Phil Langham received the safety representative of the year award, In his nomination Darren Dickinson, Customer Services Director highlighted Phil’s outstanding commitment and contribution to health and safety (H&S) practice.

This commitment was challenged last year when a change in job description and responsibilities meant Phil faced the challenge of understanding the business’s operational performance, in-line with customer Service Level Agreements (SLAs). However, Phil’s increased operational knowledge fuelled his appetite for understanding health and safety all levels. Commenting, the judges said: "Phillip has been instrumental in helping the company win over staff in health and safety matters and brings an element of humour to health and safety, which helps to enthuse others and get the message across to all staff."

Jon Cornforth – Health Safety and Environment Manager added: “Phillip Langham is a very popular member of staff and someone who has been instrumental in helping the company win over staff on health and safety matters. He brings an element of humour to H&S, but also gets the message across.

"We could be seen to focus on the operational staff, as this is where most of the risk lies within our business, but Phil always ensures that office staff are fully represented and that he responds to their issues. He attends every H&S meeting and brings solutions rather than problems and often brings a fresh approach to the discussion."

Jon added that Solaglas Windowcare held a Health and Safety Day in May 2008, which aimed to promote Environment, Heath and Safety (EHS) issues throughout the workforce.

"Phil was instrumental in making the day a success. He also stands in for me at Saint-Gobain EHS meetings and I am confident that Phil will ensure our message gets across. I will be re-structuring our health and Safety committee in 2009 but Phil will be at the top of the list for remaining on the committee. His enthusiasm shows me on my ‘difficult days’ that it is worth all the effort to keep chipping away."

Solaglas Windowcare has underlined its commitment to health and safety by coming away with wins in three categories of the 2008 British Glass Charter Awards.

Over 150 representatives from the UK glass industry attended the annual health and safety conference and awards ceremony held on Thursday (November 6) at Bagden Hall near Wakefield.

The Saint-Gobain subsidiary picked up awards in three of the 12 categories. These included Best Safety Initiative for a programme led by transport supervisor Sharron Pearce that monitors the safety performance of the company’s 150 engineers and seeks to promote safer practices.

National Customer Service Compliance Manager Phil Langham received the safety representative of the year award, and for the second year running, the company was named best safety performer in the over 250 employees’ category.

The company’s submissions to the awards were led and coordinated by Jon Cornforth, health, safety and environment manager.

Ian Davy, managing director said: “We are delighted to be recognised by the industry for our achievements in taking health and safety within our business to a new level. The nature of our business means achieving the highest levels of health and safety practice is paramount. To this end we have introduced initiatives that reinforce our position of leadership and innovation in this sector.”

British Glass actively promotes the achievement of high standards of health and safety management in line with other key aspects of business activities.

The GLASS Charter (Goal: Less Accidents, Safe Sites) was launched to help all organisations within the Glass Industry remain focussed on the importance of health and safety within the workplace.

Solaglas Windowcare has helped to maintain Saint-Gobain's excellent performance at these annual awards.
Solaglas Windowcare employs 400 people serving commercial, insurance and public sector clients nationwide.

Glass Specialist Goes Further to be Greener
Glass specialist Solaglas Windowcare, based in Hellaby, is putting recycling front of mind for its South Yorkshire employees, urging its 400-strong workforce to take control of the company’s waste collection by implement green practices throughout the workplace.

The firm has formed an environmental committee made up of 12 people from management, administration and operations to identify opportunities to recycle waste and reduce the company’s carbon impact.
Employees at the building, which houses a full manufacturing facility, are being urged to recycle, not only aluminium cans and paper, but also plastics and polystyrene. Food waste is also being collected to be turned into compost.

The Saint-Gobain-owned company has since put into place a process to recycle off-cuts from the manufacturing process used to produce double-glazed units, timber, aluminium and uPVC window frames.
In pursuit of a paperless environment it is also reducing the number of bins it supplies to offices and encouraging administrative staff to reuse waste paper where possible. They estimate this will save over 120 plastic rubbish bags being discarded each day, or 43,800 over a year.

Ian Davy, managing director at Solaglas Windowcare is giving his full support to the scheme and said: “As a responsible business, we recognised that we needed to have a clear strategy in place and do our bit to reduce the impact on the environment. This includes investing in more efficient machinery combined with effective disposal and re-use, where possible, of our manufacturing waste – without compromising on the quality of products.

“ Engaging the support of our employees is vital to creating a greener workplace, and we are investing in methods to make recycling at work as easy as doing it at home.”

Golf Day 2008 – Results
Solaglas Windowcare’s annual Golf Day was held at the fantastic MacDonald Hill Valley Hotel and Golf Club, in Shropshire and included an optional ninehole Stableford team event in the morning, lunch, an eighteen-hole individual Stableford in the afternoon and dinner.

Golf Day Winners