National Federation of Glaziers

27/07/2026

Serving everyone in the glazing industry.
Another year flies by.
Here is our Annual Report
I hope you will support us. - the more members we have the lower the cost of membership!

The pace of change affecting glazing businesses shows no sign of slowing. Whether it is new regulation, rising employment costs or an increasingly difficult trading environment, it has never been more important for our industry to have a strong, independent voice representing the interests of specialist glazing companies.

Regulation Without Evidence

One of our greatest concerns remains the relentless increase in regulation imposed upon our sector. Good regulation should be based upon sound evidence, clear scientific reasoning and demonstrable benefits.

Too often, however, our industry is presented with requirements that appear to lack a robust scientific foundation, while placing additional costs and administrative burdens on businesses that are already operating within tight margins.

As a Federation, we will continue to challenge proposals where the evidence is weak and ensure that the practical experience of glazing professionals is heard during consultations. Regulation be balanced and should improve outcomes—not simply create additional bureaucracy.

Tackling Late Payment

Late payment continues to be one of the most damaging issues facing small businesses throughout the construction supply chain. Cash flow is the lifeblood of every glazing company, and when larger organisations delay payment, it is smaller firms that bear the financial burden.

We have been pressing Government to take stronger action against persistent late payers, particularly those seeking public sector work. We are pleased to report that progress has been made in this area, with greater emphasis being placed on payment performance when awarding Government contracts. While there is still more to do, this represents an important step in the right direction.

Supporting Businesses Through Rising Costs

The recent increase in the Employment Allowance to £10,500 per year will provide welcome support for many employers, helping to offset some of the increases in National Insurance costs.
However, significant challenges remain.

We continue to lobby on behalf of members regarding the impact of business rates, where many glazing businesses continue to face disproportionate costs. Finding ways to reduce this burden remains one of our priorities.

Employment Rights Bill

The proposed Employment Rights Bill also remains firmly on our agenda. While protecting employees is an important objective, it is equally important that legislation recognises the realities faced by smaller employers.

We appreciate many of our members simply do not have the resources available to larger organisations to absorb additional regulatory and financial obligations.

We are therefore working to try to ensure that the Government considers proportionate measures which protect small employers from the most onerous unintended consequences of the legislation.

A Challenging Market Ahead

There is no disguising the fact that the construction sector faces significant headwinds. As economic conditions tighten and property prices are widely expected to soften later this year, competition is likely to intensify further.

Many of our members have spent decades building respected, financially responsible businesses.

Unfortunately, responsible businesses often find themselves competing against companies willing to submit uneconomic quotations simply to win work. Too often, the inevitable result is business failure, leaving employees, subcontractors and suppliers unpaid, while the individuals behind the company reappear under a new trading name.

This cycle damages confidence throughout the industry and unfairly penalises those businesses that operate responsibly. We believe stronger measures are needed to discourage this behaviour and promote a level playing field for reputable contractors.

Your Federation

The National Federation of Glaziers exists to represent established, professional glazing businesses. We will continue to challenge poor policy where necessary, engage constructively with Government, and ensure that the voice of our industry is heard.

Your support gives us the strength to continue that work. We encourage members to share their experiences and views with us, particularly on the increasing regulatory burden, as real-world evidence from businesses remains one of the strongest tools we have when influencing decision-makers.

Together, we will continue to work towards a fairer, stronger and more sustainable future for the glazing industry.

Website: www.nfoglon.org.uk Email: [email protected]

The National Federation of Glaziers Ltd- a company limited by guarantee. Registration No. 15847098

Serving the Glazing Industry and the Consumer since 1991

Discover the National Federation of Glaziers, where excellence and integrity meet. Find professional glaziers near you, join our trusted community, and access high-quality glazing services across the industry.

14/05/2026

10/05/2026

✭✭✭✭✭✭From Anthony Jones at NFG✭✭✭✭✭

Net Zero vs Reality: When Regulation Becomes the Problem, Not the Solution
National Federation of Glaziers – Policy Position
The UK accounts for just 1–1.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet continues to pursue one of the most aggressive regulatory regimes in the world. Since 1990, emissions have already fallen by more than 50%—driven primarily by the decarbonisation of electricity generation, not by ever-tightening product regulations.
That success should prompt reflection. Instead, the policy response has been to double down on complexity, as predicted in 2002 when Building Regulations were imposed upon window installations.
For the glazing sector, the message from government is clear: more rules, more reporting, more cost. What is far less clear is whether any of this is delivering meaningful additional environmental benefit.
Against this backdrop, the National Federation of Glaziers (NFG) believes it is both reasonable and necessary to ask: are increasing regulatory demands on the glazing sector delivering proportionate environmental benefit?
A Regulatory System That No Longer Works
Glazing businesses are now expected to navigate an expanding web of requirements: Building Regulations Parts L, F and O, PAS 2035/2030, Environmental Product Declarations, and lifecycle carbon reporting and now the complex Future Homes Standard.
Each initiative is defensible in isolation. Taken together, they form a system that is increasingly incoherent, particularly for SMEs that do not have the luxury of in-house compliance teams.
The most obvious failure is the unresolved contradiction between Part L and Part F. One demands tighter, more energy-efficient buildings; the other requires increased ventilation. Policymakers have created the conflict, but it is installers and manufacturers who are left to absorb the cost, manage the risk, and make it work in practice.
This is not a joined-up but fragmented policy, with the consequences are being offloaded onto the supply chain.
The Reality Gap
There is also a fundamental flaw at the heart of the regulatory model: it is based on how buildings perform in theory, not how they perform in reality.
U-values and thermal metrics are measured under controlled, static conditions. Real homes are neither controlled nor static. Householders open windows, adjust ventilation, and behave in ways no model can fully predict.
Yet policy continues to tighten requirements based upon unrealistic “as-tested” performance, with little regard for “as-used” outcomes.
This raises a serious question: are we regulating for real-world impact, or for compliance on paper?
Pricing People Out of Net Zero
The cost implications are no longer marginal—they are systemic.
For glazing firms, compliance now requires ongoing investment in testing, certification, consultancy, and administration. For SMEs, this is not an inconvenience; it is a growing threat to viability.
Those costs are then passed on to households.
At a time of housing shortages, stalled retrofit rates, and persistent cost-of-living pressures, government policy is actively increasing the cost of energy efficiency improvements. Schemes such as ECO4 (£4 billion funded through levies on energy bills) compound the problem, asking consumers to pay more upfront for measures they may not be able to afford.
The outcome is predictable: reduced uptake, slower retrofit, and a widening gap between policy ambition and delivery.
You cannot deliver net zero by making it unaffordable.
Chasing Marginal Gains at Any Cost
The glazing sector has already delivered substantial gains in thermal performance. Modern glazing systems are dramatically more efficient than those of even 20 years ago.
But the law of diminishing returns now applies. Each additional increment of performance comes at significantly higher cost and complexity.
Policymakers need to confront an uncomfortable reality: the easy gains have already been made. Continuing to push for ever tighter product standards risks chasing marginal improvements at disproportionate cost.
Undermining UK Industry
There is also a broader economic risk that is being ignored.
As regulatory pressure intensifies, so too does the incentive to shift production overseas to markets with lower compliance costs. This is the classic pathway to carbon leakage.
The result? UK manufacturing declines, imports rise, and global emissions remain unchanged—or even increase. This is not climate leadership. It is economic self-harm dressed up as environmental policy.
Time for Political Honesty
The glazing sector supports net zero. It has already played a significant role in reducing emissions and stands ready to do more.
But the current regulatory trajectory is not sustainable.
What is required now is not another layer of regulation, but a fundamental reset—one that prioritises effectiveness over optics and delivery over bureaucracy.
That means:
• Ending the realistic approach to regulation and resolving conflicts such as Part L versus Part F.
• Subjecting new rules to rigorous, transparent cost-benefit scrutiny
• Basing policy on real-world performance, not laboratory assumptions
• Recognising that SMEs and consumers ultimately bear the cost of regulatory ambition
The political establishment must confront a simple truth: more regulation does not automatically mean more progress.
If net zero policy continues to ignore cost, complexity, and real-world behaviour, it will fail—not because the ambition is wrong, but because the approach is.
The risk now is clear. In the name of accelerating delivery, government is putting in place a system that may ultimately prevent it.
Website: www.nfoglon.org.uk
Email: [email protected]
Serving the Glazing Industry and the Consumer since 1991

Discover the National Federation of Glaziers, where excellence and integrity meet. Find professional glaziers near you, join our trusted community, and access high-quality glazing services across the industry.

07/05/2026

WE have taken a position on the current over-regulation we are seeing burdening glazing businesses:

Net Zero vs Reality: Is Regulation Undermining Delivery in the Glazing Sector?
National Federation of Glaziers – Policy Position
The UK is responsible for just 1–1.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet it is pursuing one of the most aggressive decarbonisation agendas in the world. Since 1990, emissions have already fallen by more than 50% driven largely by the transition away from coal and the decarbonisation of electricity generation, not by increasingly complex product-level regulation.
This raises a fundamental question for policymakers: are we now over-regulating at the margins, while missing the bigger picture?
For the glazing sector, an industry that has already delivered major improvements in building energy efficiency, the answer is increasingly obvious. The current trajectory risks imposing disproportionate cost and complexity for diminishing environmental returns.
Against this backdrop, the National Federation of Glaziers (NFG) believes it is both reasonable and necessary to ask: are increasing regulatory demands on the glazing sector delivering proportionate environmental benefit?
A System Under Strain
The regulatory framework facing glazing businesses has expanded rapidly. Building Regulations Parts L (energy efficiency), F (ventilation), and O (overheating), PAS 2035/2030 retrofit rules, Environmental Product Declarations, and lifecycle carbon reporting, and the Future Homes Standard.
Individually, each policy has a rationale. Collectively, they are creating a system that is increasingly difficult to navigate, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises, which make up the majority of the sector.
The most immediate example is the unresolved conflict between Part L and Part F. One drives tighter buildings with lower U-values; the other demands increased ventilation. In theory, these objectives can be balanced. In practice, that burden falls squarely on installers and manufacturers.
This is not smart regulation.
Policy vs Reality
There is also a growing disconnect between how performance is measured and how buildings actually function.
Thermal efficiency metrics are based on controlled test conditions; sealed units, closed vents, stable environments. Real homes do not operate like this. Householders open windows, adjust ventilation, and behave unpredictably. The result is that “as-tested” performance can differ significantly from “as-used” outcomes.
Yet policy continues to tighten targets based on theoretical models, not lived reality.
If regulation is not grounded in real-world performance, it risks becoming an exercise in compliance rather than a driver of meaningful environmental improvement.
The Cost of Complexity
For glazing firms, compliance is no longer a secondary issue; it is a core business cost. Meeting regulatory requirements now demands ongoing investment in technical expertise, certification, consultancy, and administration.
These costs do not disappear. They are passed directly to consumers.
This matters. The UK is already facing a housing shortage, an urgent need to scale up retrofit, and sustained cost-of-living pressures. At the same time, schemes such as ECO4, a £4 billion scheme funded through levies on household energy bills, are adding further financial strain.
The result is predictable: as costs rise, uptake falls.
If energy efficiency measures become unaffordable, they will not be delivered at scale, no matter how ambitious the policy framework.
Diminishing Returns
The glazing sector has already made significant strides. Modern double and triple glazing, low-emissivity coatings, and improved frame technologies have delivered substantial reductions in heat loss.
But as standards continue to tighten, each incremental gain becomes more expensive and more complex to achieve.
Policymakers must now ask a difficult but necessary question: are we still targeting the most effective opportunities for emissions reduction, or are we chasing ever smaller gains at ever greater cost?
Economic Consequences
There are also strategic risks. Increasing regulatory pressure raises the likelihood of carbon leakage, with manufacturing shifting to countries with lower environmental standards.
This does not reduce global emissions; it simply relocates them. At the same time, it weakens UK industry, increases reliance on imports, and undermines economic resilience.
In pursuing net zero, the UK must be careful not to export both its emissions and its manufacturing base.
A Call for Reset
The National Federation of Glaziers supports the UK’s net zero ambitions. The sector has been a key contributor to progress to date and remains committed to improving building performance.
But the current approach is becoming unbalanced.
What is needed now is not more regulation, but better, realistic regulation; grounded in evidence, aligned across policy areas, and deliverable in practice.
This should include:
• Rigorous, transparent cost-benefit analysis before introducing new requirements
• Urgent alignment between Part L and Part F to remove conflicting obligations
• Greater emphasis on real-world performance, not just laboratory metrics
• A policy framework that recognises the operational realities of SMEs and the financial constraints facing households
The glazing sector is not resisting change. It is warning that the current path risks undermining the very outcomes policymakers are trying to achieve.
Net zero will not be delivered through regulation alone, and certainly not through regulation that outpaces practicality.
Without a course correction, there is a real danger that policy designed to accelerate progress will instead slow it—by driving up costs, reducing participation, and limiting delivery where it matters most: on the ground.