NEWS | Round-up NEWS IN BRIEF
• Franke laid on afternoon tea at The Dorchester in London for the winner of its My Wonderful Bakes competition – Mel Crumpton from Benfl eet in Essex. The contest ran on Facebook and Twitter.
• Bespoke furniture maker Charles Yorke has launched volume fi ve of its Book of Furniture to mark its 20th anniversary. It features new ranges and details of its history and design processes.
• Italian appliance maker Fulgor Milano, which launched in the UK in March, has unveiled a new UK-focused website at www.fulgor-
milano.co.uk. The mobile-friendly site has lifestyle images, product information and specifi cations.
• The National Association of Professional Inspectors and Testers (Napit) has said that under new PM Boris Johnson it will continue to liaise with Government to highlight the importance of ensuring electrical operatives are correctly qualifi ed and assessed.
• PJH has launched a new-look appliance guide. It features the company’s full range of sinks, taps and appliances and works hand-in- hand with its online PJH Partners Portal, listing the same SKUs and stock information. It also includes a fl yer providing offers on Prima and Teka that run until the end of October.
• Moores has donated a new kitchen to Tadcaster Grammar School’s new Field View learning hub. It will help vulnerable students who struggle to stay focused in a conventional school setting to practise life skills, such as making breakfast, washing up and basic food hygiene.
• Lighting specialist TLW has launched a revamped brochure as part of its analysis of the consumer journey. Called VEW, it is the company’s 19th brochure and its design has been thoroughly overhauled. TLW said VEW presents the best and most innovative range of products in the company’s history.
• Virtual Worlds harnessed the power of social media when it gave home interiors infl uencer Sandra Baker, aka @the_idle_ hands, the chance to see her kitchen renovation project in the 4D Theatre at its Milton Keynes HQ. She described the experience as ‘mind-blowing’ on her Instagram grid.
• Lakes has released an eight-page roll-fold brochure to support its premium stone resin shower trays. The roll-fold continues the lifestyle theme of the main Lakes Designed for Life brochure.
10
George Clarke calls for 100,000 new council houses a year for 30 years
ARCHITECT AND designer George Clarke has launched a petition to pressure the Government to build 100,000 new council houses every year for the next 30 years. More than 140,000 people have signed the petition so far and Clarke is using it as a way to gauge public support on the need for more council housing. Clarke has declared a housing crisis because of the lack of council houses and the rise in demand for them. The Right to Buy scheme has meant a reduction in homes resulting in more than one million people on the waiting list for council houses.
In an exclusive interview with kbbreview in October last
year, Clarke called for more cross-party cooperation and for the formation of an organisation specifi cally to deal with this problem, similar to the NHS. Clarke told kbbreview: “The three pillars of the welfare
state are health, education and housing. It is that simple. Health – the NHS is bloody fantastic, and it is the envy of the world.
“State education, as much as we whine about that, we have a great, free education system in the UK. It works – they all have their issues, but they work. Housing doesn’t. “So, the third pillar, and in my opinion, the most important pillar of the welfare state, has collapsed, which means that the state has to step up and allow councils and combined authorities to make previsions. “The combination of the councils not building council houses anymore and Right to Buy means that there is a staggering shortage of social houses. This is why the third pillar of the welfare state has collapsed.”
He believes that a long-term strategy is vital. He said:
“We have the National Health Service, but what we need is a National Home Service. Where you can get cross-party consensus for the next 20 to 30 years and a long-term strategy, where housing can be in consistent supply, and there are a decent number of affordable homes being
BiKKBI launches scheme to protect installers against
bad debts THE BRITISH Institute of Kitchen, Bedroom and Bathroom Installation (BiKKBI) has announced its MemberSafe initiative in a bid to protect installers
against has fi nancial
losses when businesses get into fi nancial trouble. MemberSafe
two main
features: a credit insurance system and an early warning system that links to a company’s fi nancial profi le. BiKBBI chief executive Damian
Walters (pictured) said: “These are the fi rst two measures that will protect our members from future fi nancial loss but, as announced in January at The Houses of Parliament, our full- circle solution, BiKBBI Protected, will provide unrivalled protection for all parties, including consumers, retailers and installers.”
When Bathstore went into
administration at the end of July, the BiKKBI said installers were owed an “excess of £1 million” for unpaid work. The new scheme will hopefully prevent that from happening again as the installers would be better informed and have specifi c insurance. The early warning system will alert members to signs that may indicate risk within those businesses they engage with. The live data is said to help installers make an informed choice on future fi nancial transactions. The pay-as-you-go insurance policies provide cover with a range of prices – for example, £13 for an invoice of £2,500, or £80 to cover £100,000. The policy covers instantly online and members can pick and choose if they would require insurance for each specifi c transaction rather than other policies that require information about annual turnover. The credit insurance scheme is in association with specialist global insurer Allianz. The BiKBBI confi rmed that its
Protected initiative was progressing well, with the likelihood of two major national retailers being among the fi rst to adopt the scheme when it is launched later this year. It also
kbbreview · September 2019
confi rmed that more than 350 independent retailers
had
built. However, we don’t have that.” Clarke was raised on a council estate in the 1970s, and he said he feels that “everyone was proud of their council- owned homes” and he wants to restore that sense of pride in council houses that he feels has been lost over the past 40 years. He also thinks this as there is so much pressure by councils to own your own home, creating a stigma on renting or council houses. With the call for more houses, Clarke believes that the communities need to be better as well. He said in his interview: “The only way you can make that better is by changing the system, where everyone is working together instead of everyone being profi t-driven. Let’s be honest; it is a numbers game.
“At the minute, it is about getting as many houses built as possible, rather than saying, ‘hang on a minute, what are we going to build that is better?’ Better houses, better communities – it’s not just about numbers, it’s about people’s lives.”
already
registered interest, representing over 450 showrooms nationally. Walters added: “It’s important that we move with the times, embrace technology and new ways of thinking if we’re to safeguard the future of installations here in the UK. Protected covers all bases, is free to use for installers and those participating retailers and will change the way we provide professional installation services in the future.”
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