Over the past month the number of companies who have partnered with us to supply Pilkington energiKare™ has doubled. The advantages of Pilkington energiKare™ for both window installers and fabricators are becoming clear. Supplying a high quality added-value product with innovative marketing initiatives, increases consumer’s awareness of the brand and drives interest directly to them.

We welcomed a number of green building gurus to Glaziers Hall, London, last month for our first EnergiSummit Question Time. Vikki Miller, Assistant Editor of Regenerate, kept our panel of experts in line as they debated issues and answered burning questions on all things energy efficient. Central to the climate change debate was whether the focus should be on building new low-carbon homes, or making improvements to existing homes, whilst the use of energy performance certificates and controversial government legislation were all topics that had the panel at loggerheads.

We are pleased to announce the launch of Pilkington Spectrum online, which now makes it even easier to find out the performance data of all types of Pilkington glass products. The glass specification calculator allows customers, architects and specifiers to quickly calculate performance data for a wide range of single glass products and varied combinations of glass, cavities and gases. This includes vital technical information such as light transmittance, energy data including the g value, thermal insulation with the U value, which can be calculated to two decimal places, reflecting the impressive accuracy of the service.

Star players from St Helens Rugby League Football Club – the Saints – will be joining us at the NEC, Birmingham, for Glassex 2008. The team will be meeting fans and signing rugby balls for visitors from lunchtime on Wednesday April 9 – the second day of the event.

Inspired by a luxurious hotel in Dubai, the world’s leading frameless structural glazing system, Pilkington Planar™, has helped bring seven-star glamour to an office in the North West of England. A stunning glass atrium greets visitors at the entrance of Rutherford House, a recently refurbished office block in Warrington. Designed by AEW architects, the glazed structure is the full height of the 20metre, five storey building.

Once again the press went Pilkington mad this month, with environmental issues top of the news agenda. The News of the World recommended Pilkington energiKare™, Andy McDowell debated the advantages of low e glazing for local authorities and tenants in Housing Association and Building Maintenance and David Stoker tacked energy surcharges in his monthly column in Glass and Glazing Products. Tony Smith appeared on 12 radio stations to promote our Pilkington Activ™ sponsored estate agency survey, which revealed that the best way to improve the value of a house is to add a conservatory, and March’s Ideal Home featured a first floor conservatory using Pilkington Activ™ and Pilkington Activ™ Blue.

Pilkington Pyrostop™ has been specified in the first glass fire floor in Europe to be CE marked for laminated glass and fire resistance. Manufactured by Glazeguard the Triple-Lite™ Firefloor is a single-layer glass to glass butt jointed system incorporating Pilkington Pyrostop™ and a Triple-Lite™ upper loaded leaf. It is suitable for both domestic and commercial glass floor applications, especially large glazed floor areas or glazed walkways.

February may be the shortest month of the year, but it still managed to pack in plenty of football action - the FA Cup was full of shocks and upsets, while battles raged throughout the Premier League, from relegation dog-fights to top of the table heavyweight clashes. Emerging from February soaked in glory is Manager of the Month, John Pickles, a glazier at Cyril Isaacs of Leeds. He wins a top of the range video MP3 player after his side, Millies Goal Gods, racked up the most points in the month.

This month we have the Pilkington energiKare™ installation certificates in stock at the call centre. Window installers may order these certificates free of charge and provide them to the homeowner on completion of the job. Simply stamp the form in the boxes to give your customers the chance to win £50 of M&S vouchers each month by returning the completed post paid card to us. They can then keep the certificate itself for use when preparing a Home Information Pack.