Clearview National March 2015 - Issue 160 | Page 22

INDUSTRYNEWS

Record-breaking year for consumer finance
»»Consumer Credit Solutions
(CCS) approved £450m in finance across the
home improvement and renewables sectors in
2014. It is the highest level of approvals in the
company’s 15 year history and a 38% increase
on 2013, which achieved £325m, bringing the
total in loan approvals to over £1bn in the last
three years.
CCS Managing Partner Andy Wallace
commented: “I think these exceptional results
are a clear indication of just how much
consumer confidence has increased over the
last couple of years. The continuing rise of
promotional credit in the sector has invariably
driven sales volumes with buy-now-pay-later,

low rate finance and interest free credit playing
an increasing role.
“Over the last few months, we’ve had a large
number of enquiries from retailers who are
looking to introduce finance products into
their businesses for the first time. I think the
message has definitely got out that offering
finance to customers is a very effective ‘soft
sell’ marketing tool, and key to increasing
market share.”
Andy added: “In 2015 I’m confident that
we’ll continue to see growth in our core home
improvement markets of glass & glazing.”
For further information call 0845 120 666

Historical Retail Arcade Gets a Face-Lift
Last year, saw solid roofing specialist, PCL (Phil Coppell Limited) of Radcliffe, mastermind
the restoration of the roof for a historical retail arcade, in Didsbury, East Manchester.
»»The Lapwing Lane
Arcade is an iconic landmark in
Didsbury, built in 1913. It is believed to
be the last surviving original Edwardian
canopy in Manchester and was in
desperate need of restoration as the
original timber canopy was becoming
irreparable.

Grants were given by Manchester City
Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund
together with money raised by the locals.
This enabled PCL to showcase their excellent
workmanship and completely restore the
wired glass roof to its former glory.
This project has now been shortlisted
for the prestigious RICS (Royal Institute

of Chartered Surveyors) award under the
Com munity Benefit category. The judges
will be visiting Lapwing Lane Arcade to ask
questions about the project with the architect
and PCL early March and the award ceremony
will be held on 30th April.
For more visit www.philcoppell.co.uk

BIM - Here to Stay?
»»“BIM is here to stay,”
says Global Automatics’
Director, Del Thomas. So what
do you know about it?
“In June 2011, the UK
Government announced that
by 2016 all its projects would

require Collaborative 3D BIM,”
explains Del.
“Building information
modelling (BIM) is a process
involving the generation
and management of digital
representations of physical and
functional characteristics of
places*.
“The most common
presentation of BIM will be
3D Models that not only
contain a realistic view and
accurate properties of your

22 » M AR 2015 » CL EARVI E W- UK . C O M

doors, but will have 100’s of
parameters built in filled with
information.
“This information can then
be used within a model of a
whole building throughout the
building’s life cycle. So whether
it is the architect’s designs, the
construction company checking
how components fit to prevent
errors or the building owner
searching for maintenance
information, it will all be stored
in one model, BIM.

“Although there are other
options such as COBie, it
is widely believed that BIM
3D Models will be the most
popular. Global Automatics’
aim is to have our full range
of Premier Automatic Door
Operators available in BIM
format for customer use by June
2015.”
For more information go to:
http://www.bimtaskgroup.org/
bim-faqs/

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_information_modeling

‘This project has now been shortlisted for the prestigious RICS award’