22nd May was the date of the industry’s very first Glazing Summit, hosted by Purplex and Insight Data up in Solihull.

Once again, I attended with both my The Window Company (Contracts) and GGF hats on, and I would have to say, from both perspectives, I was very impressed.

With no FIT Show happening this year, it was a really positive move to give the industry a forum to meet and debate the key issues affecting us all, and there were certainly enough senior level people attending to indicate that many shared my view.

I thought the format of the day worked really well with a good mix of panel debates, expert presentations and networking opportunities and a nicely informal dinner in the evening. Whoever booked Gerald Ratner as the after-dinner speaker deserves a special mention because he was hugely entertaining – who knew you could make a living recounting the time when you owed the bank £1bn?

A couple of things could be improved I think though – perhaps the questions to the panellists could be less staged next time around and the audience pressed a bit harder for comments. Chris Champion from Glass News did a great job in the afternoon chairing the debates, and I’d like to have seen him drawing the audience out a bit more too.

It would make sense of course for the Glazing Summit to become a regular fixture in the window industry calendar in the years when the FIT Show doesn’t happen. On the basis of this one, I would certainly attend again – definitely a hit.