1 . HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN YOUR CURRENT JOB , AND WHAT KIND OF ROLES HAVE YOU HAD PREVIOUSLY ? I ’ ve been Pyroguard ’ s chief executive officer since late 2015 . Previous to this I spent eight years as a managing director at Polypipe plc , with responsibility for Polypipe Ventilation . Further back , I spent time in general management roles in intelligent building systems with NG Bailey Ltd , electronic and mechanical security systems with Assa Abloy , and building services support systems within the Tyco Group of companies .

2 . WHAT CHANGES HAVE YOU OVERSEEN IN THE BUSINESS ? Since my arrival at Pyroguard , we have completed a programme of over £ 1m of investments in our Haydock , UK facility . This investment has included new

resin mixing equipment and a semi-automated racking system at the UK site and delivers further improvements to the company ’ s cuttable Pyroguard Rapide range in improved processability , tighter thickness tolerances and improved optical performance . It was critical to us that our investments not only reduced manual handling and improved health and safety , but also offered product improvements to directly benefit our customers . The improved resin distribution provided with the racking structure means that the glass is easier than ever to cut . The uniform edge thickness also makes Pyroguard glass even easier to mount in a frame and eliminates ‘ glass rattle ’. The consistent thickness profile gives further reassurance of optical quality which is more critical than ever for specifiers , architects , contractors and developers when selecting products .

On the commercial side , we recently appointed Jason Walker as group sales director , who brings to Pyroguard a proven track record in rapidly growing businesses in a project specification environment . We are also in the process of launching our new premium Pyroguard Ultra product and launching new product range groupings to communicate our wide range of solutions more clearly to the market .

3 . WHAT IS THE CURRENT CLIMATE IN THE INDUSTRY AND WHAT ARE THE MAIN ISSUES IN FIRE SAFETY IN PUBLIC / WORK SPACES ? It ’ s certainly clear to us that demand for fire resistant glass has never been so high , but also that the market is asking more from us in terms of performance . There is a definite trend in increasing demand for EI classification glass ( full integrity and insulation ),

which not only keeps people safe , but also best preserves the contents of a building in a fire . This is important for business continuity , as EI classification glass provides the best chance in saving the valuable data held on computers and servers . We also find that architects , specifiers and end users expect more from fire glass than just fire protection . On one side of the coin , there is the question of aesthetics , where traditional wired glass is less requested by the market , increasing demand for clear fire glass . But there is also an increasing demand for decorative options such as frit types , screen print , digital print , acid etching , sandblasting or vinyl graphics . But we are no longer just meeting demand for fire protection . The market is also demanding ‘ protection ’ in terms of high performance in impact protection , manual attack protection , bomb , blast and bullet protection , acoustic reduction and environmental protection .

4 . WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES IN THE JOB , AND WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT IT ? In a high growth business like Pyroguard our biggest challenge is often finding the time and resource to deliver on all the great new developments that we have in the pipeline . I ’ m very lucky in that we have a talented , committed and hard-working team here which goes a long way to making my job easier !

5 . WHAT KEEPS YOU MOTIVATED ? Driving positive change in our organisation is my main motivator , and seeing initiatives through to completion which can really make a difference both for our customers and to our own business . It ’ s also very rewarding to see our people develop and grow along with the company .

6 . WHAT ARE YOUR GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENTS RE PROJECTS ? The last 18 months have seen some of the largest profile projects in Pyroguard ’ s history . In particular , we ’ re proud of the installation at Oxford University ’ s Blavatnik School of Government . The building was shortlisted for the 2016 RIBA Stirling Prize . Our