Yes that’s right, according to the Twitter bio of industry group DW3 Products, who own brands like Solidor and Eclectic Systems, the “fenestration space” is worth an impressive £5bn to the UK economy each year. This is a significant contribution to the overall British economy. So I thought I might take a look at some other well known economic sectors to see how our own industry compares.
Music industry
According to a BBC article at the end of last year, the music industry in this country adds £4.1bn to the economy.
Given how music plays a part in everyone’s lives, I was a little surprised that the glazing industry was worth more than the music industry. However, when you think about it logically, the internet and streaming services like Spotify and YouTube Red give people access to unlimited music for next to nothing. Not that artists are best pleased about that fact.
Still, a feather in the cap of the glazing industry to be able to say it is more valuable than the music industry.
Steel industry
A sector that the UK holds close to it’s heart but has experienced a serious decline in recent years. According to Government research published on 5th May this year, output from the UK steel industry was just £2.2bn and made up just 1% of total UK manufacturing output.
Motor industry
Cars. They’re an obsession in the UK and we all love them. The sector is also a particularly healthy one right now.
According to a report by the Office for National Statistics published in 2015 the UK car industry added £12bn to the UK economy. So quite a bit larger than the glazing industry, and so you would expect.
Electronics
The very thing you’re reading this on contributes to the overall electronics sector in the UK. This country is the leading country in Europe for high end electronics, and so you would expect this industry to be worth more than the glazing sector. And indeed it is.
According to Government figures published in 2015 based on the market in 2014, the UK electronics market was worth an impressive £16bn with 12,000 companies based in that sector, employing 300,000 people. Not bad.
Tourism
Lets go big for this next one and take a look at tourism.
Travelers don’t come here for the beaches and the weather. But they do come, and home grown tourism is valuable too. The most recent figures I could find from Visit Britain show that the UK tourism industry was worth a whopping £127bn to UK GDP in 2013 and made up 9% of total GDP that year.
Kitchens
Back to trades and perhaps one of the most popular home improvements UK home owners like to carry out – kitchen upgrades. You’d expect this to be a fairly big one…
In fact, according to AMA Research, although forecast to grow over the next few years, it will be worth just £1.83bn by 2019. Quite a significant gap to the glazing sector.
Industry gravitas
Perhaps we’re not the biggest sector in the overall make-up of the UK economy, but we certainly do add our bit.
We can boast that we’re worth more to the economy than the music industry. We’re around three times the size of the kitchens sector and we’re way beyond the influence of the steel sector.
Despite our £5bn industry value, we get very little press outside of the industry media. Naturally this is disappointing. We influence every single building in the country, yet get very little coverage across all of the media platforms.
Still, with most forecasts showing continued growth for our industry in the coming years, the future (unless Brexit derails it) looks pretty positive. So that’s something to look forward to and make the most of!
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