Insulate Magazine May 2018
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The only independent insulation industry trade magazine<br />
<strong>Insulate</strong> Exclusive<br />
Huw Rees<br />
The Highs and Lows<br />
As he approaches retirement,<br />
<strong>Insulate</strong> Managing<br />
Editor sat down with Huw<br />
Rees to discuss his career in the<br />
insulation industry and the many<br />
changes that he has seen during<br />
that time.<br />
Huw, thanks for taking the time to<br />
talk to us, could you give me a brief<br />
overview of your career to date?<br />
Well, I started in 1988 working in<br />
sales. Then I was lucky as Andrew<br />
Handley, who was the Sales Director<br />
of British Gypsum, said there<br />
was a vacancy as Regional Sales Director<br />
in London, so I went and had<br />
a chat with them and sure enough,<br />
the opportunity turned into reality.<br />
It was fantastic for me because I<br />
knew a lot of the sub-contractors<br />
in the area. It was a great business<br />
to be with, and the opportunity<br />
to work for British Gypsum was a<br />
blessing, superb and the best time of<br />
my life.<br />
So how long in the Industry<br />
overall?<br />
Coming up to 30 years now. I was<br />
with British Gypsum for about 25<br />
years, and then with Isover.<br />
In that time what do you think the<br />
biggest shift has been in the Industry<br />
that you’ve seen?<br />
I think loyalty. You know in the<br />
past there was a lot of brand loyalty,<br />
then there was a move to low pricing<br />
dominating the market. However<br />
more recently, there’s been a move<br />
towards value added and performance.<br />
Don’t get me wrong, price is<br />
still an issue but so is performance<br />
and quality.<br />
Some of the main contractors, in<br />
order to win projects, are inclined to<br />
opt to use the cheapest material and<br />
not necessarily looking at quality.<br />
However the end consumers and<br />
specifiers in the market are feeding<br />
back up the chain that performance<br />
and quality are more than a luxury,<br />
but rather it’s been demanded and<br />
the norm.<br />
So one of the biggest things that<br />
I’ve seen is the move from loyalty to<br />
price, and now to quality and<br />
performance within system<br />
solutions.<br />
8<br />
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