Low
maintenance costs combined with a traditional appearance persuaded a social
housing provider to join forces with a private developer in pressing for
planners to approve the Modus flush casement PVC-U window system from Eurocell
in preference to timber.
Gloucester
City Homes (GCH) has a total of 20 one, two and three-bedroomed homes on the
Bentham Green development being built by Lioncourt Homes under a Section 106
agreement (based on that section of the 1990 Town & Country Planning Act),
with half to be rented while half will be in shared ownership.
The estate
is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty that comes under the jurisdiction
of Tewkesbury Borough Council’s planning department, which uses the Cotswold
Design Code as its reference, so the planners were insistent that flush
casement timber windows should be fitted.
“We don’t
want to create a financial burden in the long run for our shared ownership
residents, so these
windows made sense. The organisation is responsible for the future
maintenance of the 10 affordable rent units so this product will save the
organisation money in the long run. They’re very attractive, they have a very
long life span and they don’t require much maintenance. We felt the
product was of high quality and a very strong offer”. said Kelly Thomas,
Development Manager for GCH.
“This
window has a high proportion of recycled material so it’s environmentally okay,
or that would have been an issue, but we saw no reason to fight for the wooden
version,” she added.
Similar
issues pre-occupied Lioncourt Homes, which felt that timber windows would
compromise its reputation for building homes that were with few maintenance
needs.
“We stand
out by being different through our quality. This is demonstrated by the fact
that we are only one of 15 housebuilders to be awarded the 5 Star quality
rating in the annual Home Builders Federation customer satisfaction survey for
the three consecutive years,” explains commercial director Matt Underwood.
“We are
always looking to explore alternative products and materials that enhance the
quality and reduce the maintenance costs of our homes which is why the Modus
PVC-U window system stood out to us as a great alternative to timber windows.”
Lioncourt
contacted Eurocell – the UK’s leading manufacturer, distributor and recycler of
window, door, conservatory and roofline products – which introduced it to
the Modus range and to A&B Glass, the Tewkesbury-based fabricator and
installer. Together they approached the planning authorities with samples and
with photographs of similar developments where timber windows had been fitted
to meet planning requirements but had been replaced with inappropriate
aluminium and PVC-U equivalents within months.
“Planners
don’t appreciate how far PVC-U products have come on in the last decade and
what an improvement they are upon timber,” commented Matt Sollis of A&B
Glass. “And the first-time householders see all the costs of stripping back and
repainting timber windows they will consider replacing them.”
Coming
with a 12-year guarantee, 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 40 solid and woodgrain effect finishes is available, including colour both
sides.
BBA
certified to function satisfactorily for more than 35 years, the Modus range
has a U-value of 1.2 W/m² using 4/20/4 mm sealed double-glazed
units. This effective thermal performance is due to the 75mm
six-chamber profile system used in the Modus that enables the
range to achieve a U-value as low as 0.7 by
installing triple-glazed units. This led
to Modus becoming one of the very first systems to achieve the
BRFC Window Energy Rating (WER) of A++. This is only awarded to windows with an
energy index value equal to or greater than +20; and Modus A++ designs include
casement, reversible and tilt and turn.
Consisting
of 50% post-consumer recycled PVC-U as standard, this range of doors and
windows 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.
