Blog

Image Above: Peter Mulligan – Balconette Commercial Sales Director

Balconette has appointed Peter Mulligan as Commercial Sales Director with a focus on growing the company’s unique range of innovative glass balustrading products for the UK commercial market.

Bringing extensive expertise and experience within the glazing and construction industries throughout the UK and Europe, Peter’s new role coincides with on-going development of Balconette’s highly-aesthetic and expanding portfolio.

As a leading manufacturer of competitively-priced elegant glass balustrades, glass Juliet balconies and curved glazing, Balconette offers a complete design, supply and installation service to suit clients’ individual requirements.

Demand has been rising since the recent launch of its new leading-edge HYBRID® system, which is a new cost-effective alternative to structural frameless glass. HYBRID® balustrades offer the open views of frameless glass at the cost and convenience of the older post-supported styles.

Balconette’s CEO Effi Wolff comments: “In creating this dedicated new role, we’re delighted to welcome Peter to our experienced team as we continue to invest further in our customer service and quality products to meet increasing demand from the architectural, developer, residential and commercial sectors.”

Peter adds: “It’s an exciting time to be joining Balconette whose innovative balustrading systems offer limitless, stylish and simple-to-install straight and curved balustrading solutions that meet the design objectives for all types of projects.”

For further information on Balconette’s range of balustrading products, contact 01342 410411, email enquiries@balconette.co.uk.

Balconette, Unit 6, Systems House, Eastbourne Road, Blindley Heath, Lingfield, Surrey, RH7 6JP. Tel: 01342 410411, Fax: 01342 410412. Website: www.balconette.co.uk

Built in 1875, the Barnes Hospital is a French Gothic style building where patients from Manchester Infirmary were sent to convalesce. The Grade II-listed building, which was closed in 1999 and left to deteriorate, is now receiving a new lease of life as developer Henley Homes creates the Barnes Village around it.

Alongside the 38 homes that are being constructed within the Victorian building, Henley is building a further 117 two- and four-bedroom townhouses in the hospital grounds. The challenge for Henley and its construction division Reis Construct was to find windows for the new-build houses that would complement the character of the hospital’s originals, while providing the best possible insulation and acoustic performance.

The original specification from Jeffery Bell Architects called for an aluminium and timber profile for the new houses. However, in liaison with the local conservation officer, Reis elected to substitute these for Eurocell’s Modus flush sash casement window in Anthracite Grey. As well as satisfying the aesthetic requirements, the Modus windows offered a more cost-effective solution while delivering better performance than the original specification.

“We looked at several issues when selecting the windows, including initial cost, thermal performance and ongoing maintenance requirements for our customers,” says Henley Homes’ construction director Aaron Usmani.

The Barnes Village development, close to the village of Cheadle in Greater Manchester, is well-connected, on the A34 and close to the M60 and M56. However, this does mean that traffic noise could be a nuisance which is why noise attenuation is an important feature for the windows. Modus’ multi-chamber profile, designed to increase thermal performance, also aids the windows’ acoustic performance too.

Featuring a unique 75mm six-chamber profile system, the Modus range delivers the optimum energy efficiency performance and can achieve a U-value as low as 0.7 from a standard system using triple-glazed units.

The Modus casement, reversible and tilt and turn windows were among the first to achieve the ‘A++’ band in England and Wales for Window Energy Ratings (WERs) since the British Fenestration Rating Council (BFRC) launched the new rating in May 2015. The ‘A++’ rating is only given to those windows an energy index value equal to or greater than +20.

Consisting of 50% post-consumer recycled PVC-U as standard, this range of doors and windows demonstrates a sustainable use of materials and has a smaller carbon footprint than products made or recycled outside of the UK. Eurocell achieves this by employing dual material extrusion technology (DMET) that layers post-consumer recycled and ‘virgin’ material simultaneously, so the recycled material is concentrated in the central core of the profiles where it cannot be seen once the door or window is installed.

The first PVC-U window and door system to offer a 12-year guarantee (on white profiles), the Modus system is available in nine solid and woodgrain effect colours, all of which are available with white internal finishes to create a light and airy living environment. A further range of more than 25 solid and woodgrain effect finishes is available to special order, including colour both sides.

Eurocell worked with Reis to find three window fabricators to provide quotes for the £750,000 windows contract, with Unique Windows System winning the tender. “We needed to find firms that could handle the volume of windows and that had the right health and safety procedures in place for a site of this size,” explains Gordon Heron, Eurocell’s senior business development manager. “It’s also important to provide someone who is financially stable; that works in both directions.”

www.eurocell.co.uk

A Gloucester-based manufacturer of aluminium windows and doors is celebrating what directors at the business have described as ‘its most eventful year ever’.

Founded in 1992, CDW Systems supplies its products to trade, commercial and retail customers all over the UK and has grown year on year since it was founded.

In September of this year, the company underwent a management buyout (MBO).

The existing senior management team of Richard Smith, Angela Phillips, Jeremy Phillips, Allan Little, Martin Rowe and Mike Davis purchased the company from group chairman Jerry Webb who remains actively involved in the business as non-executive chairman.

East Manor Group Ltd has been newly formed by the new management team to manage the group’s three operating companies, which include CDW Systems Ltd, Clearway Doors & Windows Ltd and Designex Cabinets Ltd.

Mike Davis, Managing Director, comments: “This buyout marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter here at CDW.

“The company has performed extremely well this year and we believe that, by continuing to implement the same values and standards CDW has held for years, we can continue this success into the new year and beyond.”

In the last twelve months, the company has also launched several new Reynaers Aluminium products and plans to begin offering customers a range of Schueco UK products in the coming months.

Mike concludes: “In the new year we plan on maintaining our position as a leading aluminium manufacturer. In order to do this, we will be expanding our product range, to ensure that whatever the solution required by our customers – we can deliver it.”

For more information call 01452 414853 or visit www.cdwsystems.co.uk

Image Above: Andrew Madge, Managing Director, Gowercroft

Award-winning Gowercroft Joinery – which has just been named winner of the Best Windows at the nationwide Build It Awards along with the shortlisting of one of its projects in the prestigious 2017 Stirling Prize, is providing its customers with extended 10-year guarantees across its range of windows and doors after working with Coastal Group.

The Derbyshire-based company which manufactures high quality timber windows, doors, roof lanterns and joinery products has built its reputation on creating and delivering exceptional products and its use of innovative materials and a focus on quality and detail.

So when Gowercroft was looking to provide its customers with extended 10-year guarantees across its range of windows and doors, it was essential every aspect of their products were able to meet the physical and environmental demands placed upon them.

In their bid to achieve this, the company has worked with Coastal Group to ensure its products deliver the right hardware solutions.

As Gowercroft MD Andrew Madge comments; “As a manufacturer we want to ensure that our customers enjoy our products on every level – both from an aesthetic and performance perspective. Providing peace of mind is vitally important to us and extended 10-year guarantees on our products was fundamental to that.

“We hadn’t had any issues with our previous hardware but wanted to ensure every element of our products could meet our guarantees. A customer recommended Coastal and its Tricoat hardware range to us and we made contact,” said Andrew.

“The use of high performance, corrosion resistant hardware was attractive to us as we work a lot with Accoya® and are increasingly selling into Coastal applications and the Tricoat hardware really delivered what we were looking for. This meant we could give our customers performance guarantees whilst minimising any risk of remedial calls,” said Andrew.

Tricoat offers superior protection against salts, acids and alkalis and aggressive cleaning agents. With the tested quality far exceeding the requirements of Class 5 in accordance with EN 1670:2008 Tricoat hardware is perfect to use in coastal regions, industrially congested areas, indoor swimming pools and livestock stables; as well as when processing highly tannic types of timber, such as oak or acetylated Accoya®.

Salt Spray Corrosion Tested to 1000 hours in line with the BS EN 1670:2007-06 Salt Spray Test, and cycle tested to 50,000 cycles – double the BBA test requirement – the Tricoat Hardware comes with a 10-year product warranty and surface finish guarantee to provide ultimate corrosion resistance.

It is also Secured by Design approved – significantly exceeding the requirements of BS7950.

Coastal Group is the UK’s exclusive supplier of Tricoat window and door hardware and holds the Tricoat range in stock ready for quick dispatch.

“We have seen no remedial calls regarding corrosion or failure since our switch to Tricoat and we are delighted with the results,” added Andrew.

Mike Lewis of Accsys Technologies which manufactures Accoya® and Tricoya® wood commented:

“It’s great to see the proactive way in which the team at Coastal constantly work towards bringing solutions to the joinery market. Their innovative range of Tricoat window hardware, with its protective surface coating, is extremely well suited for using along with Accoya® wood.

“I can see many benefits to joinery companies in fitting Tricoat hardware to their Accoya® windows with the further advantages that Accoya® increases durability, stability and enhances coating performance, all of which will consequent in trouble free joinery products.”

And according to Leon Gayle, Business Development Manager at Tricoat system manufacturer MACO who is working with Coastal Group, the combination of quality products and technical knowledge is delivering major benefits to the industry.

“Our working partnership with Coastal Group is a really positive one and gives Coastal Group customers even greater peace of mind when buying from them. With their valuable technical support service and expertise always on hand, Coastal is able to offer yet more trusted solutions.”

To find out more about Tricoat Performance you can watch a video on the benefits of the system at www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZpWjU8B57A visit www.coastal-group.com/Timber-Window-Espagnolette-Bolts/EBT-Espagnolette-Bolt, call Coastal on 01726 871025 or email sales@coastal-group.com

The School of Fine Art – Leeds, have invested £7.6M, relocating to a refurbished building, based on University Road. The development was to give students an inspirational learning environment. 

The outside of the building showcases large windows which permits a vast amount of natural light aiding the student’s creative passion. Secondary glazing was specified to reduce the carbon footprint of the building and blend in seamlessly with the surrounding environment. 

An important feature of the glazing package, was to develop a mechanism that opened both primary and secondary units simultaneously. To maintain total functionality of the primary glazing Granada advised the installation of heritage hinged units which can be easily opened for cleaning and maintenance. The original windows opened from the top, making it difficult for students and lecturers to open the windows for ventilation and cooling the room.

Granada developed a bespoke gearing solution which allows the primary and secondary glazing to be opened simultaneously. A handle placed next to the window allows for easy opening and closing. Please view our short video case study above.       

For security reasons, a common request is to have actuator handle installed on the main units. An actuator handle is a removable handle that is installed to prevent unauthorised access/opening of glazed units. These handles were installed on the bottom units to prevent students from opening.

Sewell (contractors for the project) noted “We have all enjoyed working on this project and looking at the finished article is something we are all incredibly proud of and thankful that we have been part of the journey in the next chapter of this building.”

Mike Latham, Commercial Director at Granada mentions “The visual styling of secondary glazing has changed greatly over the last decade. We can design and manufacture slimline units that are unobtrusive and blend in to any environment. The key to any project like this, is to fully understand the specification. Once this is achieved we can design a product that is durable and fit for purpose. The main challenge was to develop a bespoke opening system, our in-house product technicians, designed a system which works incredibly well and offers ease of use.”

A video case study for the project can be found here: www.gsecg.com/leeds-fine-art-building/

Granada Glazing worked in partnership with Sewell contractors and Fuse Architects. As a result of product quality, product functionality and Granada’s project management we are pleased to announce that our Heritage Hinged Unit with, bespoke gearing system has been specified again by Fuse for the University of Hull. For more information on Granada’s Secondary Glazing Projects please visit: www.gsecg.com/case-studies/architects-commercial-case-studies/

Brisant Secure has been shortlisted for three Construction Marketing Awards (CMA). The premium hardware company, whose products include the TS 007 3 star cylinder lock, Ultion, and the new TS 007 2* security handle, Lock Lock, has been nominated for Best Use of Website, Best Digital Campaign and Best Use of Direct Marketing.

A key element of Brisant’s success is said to have been its use of www.ultion-lock.co.uk to attract homeowner traffic and then generate leads for composite door installers and locksmiths.

Since its launch two years ago, Brisant reports that an integrated direct and digital campaign has ‘rapidly increased’ traffic to Ultion’s website so it now receives more than 12,000 new unique visitors each month, with an annual total of 140,000 new unique visitors between July 2016-August 2017.

Videos showing break-in attempts on doors with Ultion compared to those with other cylinders have reportedl been viewed 88,307 times, while the ‘Find A Door That Locks’ feature has generated 13,562 homeowner leads for door installers and approved locksmiths.

“The Ultion website and our marketing campaigns, coupled with PR and social media activity, have helped boost Brisant sales almost 10 times in two years,” commented Nick Dutton, CEO of Brisant Secure. “We’re delighted with our nominations and are looking forward to the gala dinner on 30 November.”

www.ultion-lock.co.uk

The post A hat-trick of nominations appeared first on Glass & Glazing Products Magazine (GGP).

When architectural practice Scott Brownrigg designed a new building at the headquarters of FTSE 100-listed wealth management business St James’s Place, it wanted to give the building a suitably impressive centrepiece to welcome employees, clients and partners.

This was achieved in the form of a three-storey atrium, created using the Pilkington Planar™ structural glazing system.

The space sits between the two major elements of the building and is enclosed by a 12.8 metre tall vertical entrance screen and glazed roof.

The designers wanted, as much as possible, for the atrium wall and roof to be an uninterrupted surface of glass and Pilkington Planar™ was the ideal solution.

The roof is supported by stainless steel rod tension structure, while the entrance screen features full-height glazed fins, which provide structural strength without compromising on transparency.

The fixings used in the installation are unique to the Pilkington Planar™ Intrafix system and utilise the Planar 905J stainless steel fittings in the vertical screen and Planar 902 fittings on the roof, in conjunction with the Planar Nexus castings.

All of the glass is toughened and heat soak tested to provide strength and security to the design, and the double-glazed units that make up the surface consist of an outer 6mm pane of glass – incorporating a high-performance 6mm Pilkington Suncool™ 50/25 Pro T solar-control coating to help reduce heat build-up in warmer months. This reduces transmission of energy from the sun to just 27 per cent, while allowing 46 per cent light transmission.

On the roof, the inner pane is 19.5mm Sentry Glas® laminated utilising Pilkington Optifloat™ toughened and heat soak tested glass, while on the entrance screen it is a single 15mm Pilkington Optifloat™ toughened and heat soak tested glass.

Between the panes of glass is a 16mm-thick argon-filled cavity, contributing to the high level of thermal insulation delivered by the system.

The high-energy performance of the glazing has helped towards the project’s BREEAM Very Good rating.

Jason Eggerton, Pilkington Planar™ Business Development Manager, said: “This project really shows off the impressive capabilities of the Pilkington Planar™ system.

“The minimalist rod rigging structure and the ultra-low-profile stainless steel fittings mean there is a spectacular sense of a free-standing wall of glass.

“This is another example demonstrating the position of the Pilkington Planar™ system as the premier choice for larger structural glazing installations.”

Paul Williams, managing director at Vitrine Systems said: Standing inside the brightly lit atrium and looking up, you get an almost uninterrupted view of the sky, creating a truly impressive sense of space.

“Once again it has been a pleasure to work with Pilkington. We have a longstanding relationship with them in delivering projects like this as a seamlessly integrated team.”

The new 50,000 sq ft headquarters is home to 425 employees.

www.pilkington.co.uk