Executives from across Britain’s glass and glazing sector gathered in the House of Lords recently to make the case that a foundation industry rarely near the top of the political agenda should be central to the government’s plans to reindustrialise the country, arriving with a five-point wishlist on energy, recycling and building standards that will now test how far ministers are prepared to go.
The reception, held under the auspices of the UK Glass & Glazing Collective and hosted by the crossbench peer Lord Foster of Bath, brought together manufacturers, trade bodies, MPs and civil servants to press the case for a sector that says it has been squeezed by rising energy costs and looming environmental regulation, but which insists it still has a central role to play in the government’s growth agenda.
Addressing the gathering, Blair McDougall, the minister for reindustrialisation, acknowledged the pressures facing the industry, citing “the rising costs of doing business, new policy costs including extended producer responsibility and global uncertainty”. He invoked the sector’s history, noting that “the UK has shaped the world’s glass industry for centuries”, from generations of skilled workers to Pilkington’s float glass process, which transformed manufacturing worldwide. He promised officials would work “openly and collaboratively” with the industry on its priorities.
The minister pointed to two measures already under way to ease energy costs: an increase in network charging compensation from 60% to 90% from April under the British Industry Supercharger, and a new British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme, expected to cut electricity costs for eligible firms by £35 to £45 per megawatt hour from next year.
Industry figures used the platform to press their own demands. Justin Kelly, chief executive of Glass Futures, told attendees that “reindustrialisation will not be delivered by government alone, nor by industry acting alone”, offering the sector’s commitment to “invest, innovate, decarbonise, train the next generation and strengthen British supply chains”. Chris Beedel of the Glass & Glazing Federation argued the sector could help families “live in warmer, safer and more affordable homes”, while Dean Butler, president of British Glass, highlighted an industry that employs around 6,000 people across 19 sites and generates roughly £2.3bn in turnover.
The mood among those who attended was notably upbeat. Lauren Mawford of the Glass and Glazing Federation described a “brilliant atmosphere” and said meeting Lady Pilkington, whose family name is inseparable from the industry’s history, was “a genuinely special moment”. Samantha Hill of Reynaers Aluminium UK struck a more reflective note, observing that “the history of window and glass taxation is a good example of how regulation can influence building design, manufacturing and even the quality of the built environment” – a reminder, she suggested, that policy decisions taken now could shape the built environment for generations.
The Collective, which unites the British Glass Manufacturers’ Confederation, the Glass & Glazing Federation, Glass Futures, the Society of Glass Technology and the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers of London, is now pushing five priorities with government: a competitive route to net zero, a “level playing field” on energy and investment, reform of packaging recycling rules, greater demand for UK-made glazing through building efficiency schemes, and an overhaul of recycling legislation. Whether Whitehall delivers on any of them remains, for now, an open question.
Why This Matters: The House of Lords reception was, in truth, a rerun. The link between glazing and Britain’s notoriously leaky housing stock, the least energy-efficient in Europe, has been made at industry events for well over a decade, under governments of every stripe, with little to show for it. McDougall’s warm words about “foundation industries” echo pledges made and quietly shelved before. What’s missing isn’t awareness; it’s a policy mechanism. Heat pumps now have grants, targets and a delivery scheme behind them. Glazing has none of that. Retrofit windows and doors require similar support to become a strategy rather than a topic of discussion.
