If you haven’t heard of the Triple Glazing Debate by now, you must have been living under a rock for most of the year, or drank so much beer at Fensterbau you can’t even remember how you got there! Well it’s only 10 days away now and it seems that a decent number of us are going. A good attendance is one thing, but in order for the debate to go down as a success, people need to be leaving the debate at the end of the day with answers to their questions.

At the moment, one of the biggest gripes and frustrations with a lot of people is that a lot of basic questions are not being answered with facts by any of the major companies involved with triple glazing. People still struggle to get around the fact that triple glazing gives you lower U-Values but lesser window energy ratings. The claims made about extra noise reduction still have not been proved by concrete facts and more doubt remains over the viability of the hardware still. I do think that a lot of installers are waiting to find out if triple glazing is actually going to go anywhere before fully committing to selling it. From my own personal view point, I do want to see what actual facts emerge from the debate. We do have a triple glazed option, but we neither get asked for it, nor do we push it in front of the client.

And this is where the success of this event is going to lie. Opinions are great, and I’m sure the range of guest speakers at the event are going to share some very valid opinions. But in all honesty, opinions on triple glazing can be found in a ton of places online already. This isn’t anything new. People going to this event are going to want to be presented with facts and figures, so they can decide whether triple glazing has a future and if it is worth spending the time adding it to their sales portfolios or not. But believe me on this one, if companies cannot provide solid figure which back up their claims of reduced noise and better energy efficiency, the crowd at the debate will turn off and the energy behind it will go.

This probably is the industry’s best and only chance to prove that triple glazing has it’s place in the wider fenestration industry. Despite the name of the event having “debate” in it, this is far more than just a debate. This is the industry’s attempt to give triple glazing a desperately needed shot in the arm it needs. Millions of pounds have been invested in this product. If it fails, it could be quite devastating for some businesses.

So, to all those speaking and exhibiting at the event, this is my tip: provide us with solid facts, figures and proof which back up all the claims of noise reduction and better energy efficiency. If you don’t, this will be a vital opportunity wasted.