Few people in fenestration have spoken to as many of its leaders as George Lewis.
Over the past seven years he’s worked at Glass & Glazing Products, Total Installer and Total Fabricator, and so knows the sector inside out.
Since 2024 he has been Editor of both People in Glazing Society (aka PiGs) and Modern Joinery News. For the former, he manages the fortnightly STY Newsletter and hosts the Two PiGs in a Pod podcast.
Along with Founder, Sarah Ball and now PiGs' newest member of the team, Events & Content Coordinator Rachael Lewis, PiGs has been instrumental in getting the industry together and has deservedly become one of the busiest places in glazing to learn what people are really talking about.
Given my own background within fenestration, I jumped at the chance to speak with him. Here’s what we discussed:
Mark: Congratulations on the success of PiGs. The society has grown to become the voice and networking vehicle of the industry. What’s the biggest shift you’re seeing in how people want to connect and share experiences today and do you feel it’s a fairly open industry?
George: Thanks Mark! I think there’s always been the appetite to connect face-to-face within our industry. It’s a sector built on relationships. But after the Covid-19 pandemic, where we were unable to meet, I think it now means that we don’t take meet ups like at PiGs for granted.
But for me, the biggest shift I see in our industry compared to others is that despite going through obvious tough times, competitors are always happy to talk to each other, give each other advice, and even provide a contact if they know someone the other needs. Which I think is just amazing and shows how open our industry is.
Mark: Across your career, which industry conversations or themes have had the biggest impact on how you view the sector?
George: The conversations and themes that have had the biggest impact on how I view our sector has changed throughout my time in it. I’ve always been a keen advocate in promoting the digitisation, and now AI, within our sector.
Growing up in an age when everything became digital, i.e. phones, laptops and the like, I feel passionate that you shouldn’t fear new technology. Yes, don’t go jumping into anything headfirst without doing the necessary research, but don’t just ignore it either. Even if it helps with certain aspects of the job, it means you were right to engage with it.
Mark: You've interviewed a lot of owners and MDs within the sector. In your opinion, what do the leaders running the strongest businesses do differently from the rest?
George: The leaders with the strongest businesses don’t take no for an answer.
I’ve spoken to people who started with just an idea in a living room, and made it into a multi-million pound business.
It just amazes me how focused they were, learning on the job most of the time, all whilst balancing life outside of work. Even when things went wrong, they remained steadfast in wanting to make it a success. And some of those people are still in our industry today which makes it even more impressive.
But of course, they also seem to know their limitations, and either learn new skills to overcome them, or build a team around them to help.
I think most leaders I’ve spoken to would say it’s been a team effort to get them to where they are today.
Mark: After the spike during lockdown, it's been a tough couple of years for the sector. How does the mood among leaders now compare with twelve months ago, and where is any of the confidence coming from?
George: It’s been a tough couple of years; there’s no doubt about that. I think the mood this year compared to last year is a bit “what’s next?!”, as it feels like we are feeling the effects of things way out of our control, such as war, gas and electric prices and National Insurance rises etc.
But this industry has been through so much and is so resilient, so I do think we will come out of it eventually. We’ve already seen some big names within our sector go/being acquired by other companies, and think that trend will continue, but I’m confident in what we offer as an industry.
Mark: Retrofit policy, the Future Homes Standard and EPDs are putting added pressure on manufacturers. What are you hearing from the industry on these policies and, of those preparing for them well, what are they doing differently?
George: I think these regulations are starting to be spoke about more, which is a good thing.
I had conversations a while back now about how our industry is notoriously slow to adapt to new things, and sort of ‘kick the can down the road’ so to speak.
But Future Homes Standard and the like IS here, and IS changing our industry, which I think will be for the better.
We can’t just keep saying ‘that’s how I’ve done it for 20/30/40 years’, so I’ll keep doing it like that, things are changing and, in my opinion, you should never stop wanting to learn and do things better.
Mark: Based on your conversations throughout the years, what is one thing you'd tell the industry to stop doing, and one thing it should start doing tomorrow?
George: One thing I would tell the industry to stop doing is undervaluing itself. I think we’re quite good at saying we’re “just” a window or “just” a door, but they’re both incredible feats of engineering, with many parts made by many companies that all come together to form a window or a door. It’s quite amazing actually!
One thing I think it should start doing tomorrow would be to put itself above the parapet so to speak and really showcase how good a career someone can have in our sector.
There really is a job for everyone, whether you want to create something, sell something, market something, you can. I would like our industry to work together to show just how good it is.
Mark: And what exciting plans does PiGs have for 2027?
George: 2026 has been a monumental year for PiGs, with record attendances at our events, and ever-increasing amounts of people and companies wanting to work with PiGs, whether that be via our events or our digital offering. And 2027 will be no different.
We’ve got five exciting events booked in, including returning to London after our successful boat trip last year, and an exciting addition to the calendar in Cardiff, which seeing that’s where my stag do was, I’m very excited to go back to a great city that is perfect for PiGs!
But alongside that, it’s also a FIT Show year, which adds a lot of excitement (and pressure) for us at PiGs. Our FIT Show Afterparty in 2025 had roughly 500 people in attendance, and we’re hoping for more of the same next year.
All this, plus going weekly for our Sty News newsletter, so it’s all very exciting!
