Triple glazed PVC-u windows manufactured using the Profile 22 system and achieving a U-Value of 0.8 W/m²K, played their part in a major refurbishment for Merseyside-based One Vision Housing, a not-for-profit social housing provider with around 13,000 homes across Sefton, Liverpool and Wirral.
The work was for 96 units in eight blocks that make up Hornby Flats in Litherland, where the replacement windows were used alongside external wall insulation to reduce carbon emissions as well as residents’ heating costs.
A mark of the success of the project, it gained a ‘Sustainable Project of the Year’ award for its re-use of existing buildings in the annual ‘Builder and Engineer Awards’.
With a total cost of £2.4million, the project received £1million of funding from REECH, (Renewables and Energy Efficiency in Community Housing) a project managed by Sefton Council and financed by the European Regional Development Fund, aimed at improving energy efficiency in some of the Liverpool City Region’s most deprived communities.
The 520 white casement windows and 120 PVC-U doors were made using the Profile 22 FS70 system by Walsall-based fabricator Select Windows, a company with extensive experience in commercial and social work as well as a member of the Profile 22 Approved Window Contractor scheme.
This scheme offers clients access to a UK-wide network of experienced window contractors, trained in matters such as construction law and site management and fully supported by Profile 22’s own technical and specification teams. It also offers specifiers benefits such as a completely free design and specification service, where many other system suppliers and schemes would charge for such a service. Select Windows also spent some time before the work began assisting architects with the design, to accommodate features such as render insulation.
With the Hornby Flats contract, One Vision Housing had not only specified Profile 22 by name but also insisted on triple glazing, because of the need for a high standard of energy efficiency. The resulting casement windows therefore contributed significantly to the priority on heat retention for the overall project.
The main contractor on the project was Seddon Construction. Select Windows MD Gary Wylde credited all contractors and other bodies for a level of co-operation and communication that helped the project to run as smoothly as it did, and he added: “I believe the quality of the Main Contractor and how they work with their sub- contractors is one of the main reasons for the success of the project.”
As well as Seddon Construction and REECH, One Vision Housing worked in partnership with Cost Consultants WYG, Trowers and Hamlins, Architectural practice Halsall Lloyd Partnership (HLP) and was able to turn the project around within an accelerated timescale.
Select Windows has been in business 35 years, working predominantly for the commercial and social sector and recently reached a milestone of producing 1,000 units a week.