After a recent fire destroyed classrooms and a cloakroom at Holy Cross Catholic Primary School, Plymouth, the headteacher was stuck with the problem of accommodating his pupils whilst months of reconstruction work was undertaken.
Holy Cross Church had been empty since June 2008, and the parish decided to offer the use of the space to the school until the building work was complete.

However this meant that temporary classrooms had to be installed in the Church in a very quick time. Crown windows were contacted by a Plymouth construction company on Friday 22nd January 2010, with a view to supplying and installing windows into the temporary classrooms. The sizes and price were agreed on the 22nd January, the order was placed and the Crown express delivery operation swung into action and the windows were manufactured and fitted on Wednesday 27th January 2010 – in 4 working days.

From the devastating fire on the 19th January, the pupils were able to move into their temporary classrooms in early February – a positive result!

Crown Commercial Windows Exceed the Standard

New Building Control Regulations relating to the Thermal Efficiency of Replacement Windows fitted into domestic properties in England & Wales came into force on October 1st. The new 'Document L' stipulates that the minimum standard is a 'C' rated window. CCW have decided to 'future proof' all their installations and to offer 'B' rated windows as standard, with the option of an 'A' rated window for situations and customers that require it.

• 70mm frames with thermal inserts where required
  
  
• Saint Gobain Planitherm+ glazed sealed units

Glazed windows manufactured to comply to an 'A' rating can also be supplied upon request

We have experienced an increasing demand for PVCu windows and doors in different colours Besides the main market for coloured frames in apartment blocks and commercial buildings such as offices and industrial units, we find that Architects and Town Planners are requiring them to be a feature in some residential developments.

Innovations include coloured foiled profiles such as black ash, white ash, dark grey, light grey and Irish Oak as well as the traditional rosewood and golden oak. We can offer a complete cream profile ex stock, but we have the facility to supply windows and doors spray finished in any RAL colour.

This innovation follows on from the introduction of our popular coloured PVCu residential doors – available in black, poppy red, white ash, olive green, royal blue and burgundy, as well as our traditional rosewood and golden oak.

 

Following requests from numerous customers Crown are now able to offer a superb BLACK GRAINED COMPOSITE DOOR, available in six classic designs and numerous glazing options. The Black Diamond range achieves that brilliance between performance and kerb appeal, delivering exclustivity, Quality and Reliability.

AGS starts the New Year with several new profile colours including Irish Oak, White Oak, Grey Foiled and Cream as well as increasing its range of doors to include the new Black Diamond range of composite ultra high security doors.

AGS has also introduced an Ultra High Security 5 Lever Mortice style Lock as Standard to most of it's range of doors, to eliminate the problems associated with euro cylinders being vulnerable to snapping, bumping and cylinder plug extraction.

There are some very important proposed revisions to Building Regulations Part L due to come in to force later in 2010. These changes are based on the way that thermal efficiency is calculated on replacement windows, reducing CO2 emissions on new dwellings, and introducing conservatories under 30m² into Part L for the first time.

This bulletin is based on proposed changes subject to public consultation, and so alterations might be made prior to implementation. The following is a summary of the most important changes to affect this industry: -

New Dwellings

Compliance with Part L revolves around CO2 emissions associated with energy consumption for the whole dwelling. This level is based on the Target Emissions Rate, and for 2010 a target reduction of 25% of 2006 levels has been set. Complicated as it may sound, using the standard government software, SAP, provides the means of determining compliance.

This means that U values can be used to calculate insulation values on the total dwelling, allowing variation on elements of the construction to achieve the target, with limiting factors for specific items. The limiting value of windows remains at 2.2W/M²K, but we expect that many specifiers will aim for a window U value of 1.5W/M²K.

Replacement Windows

For replacing windows in existing dwellings, the main compliance route will be the introduction of Window Energy Ratings (WERs), which will replace window U values completely. Current requirement is to achieve a U value of 2.0 W/M²k (WER Band E) for replacement and 1.8 W/M²K (WER Band D) for windows in new extensions. The new minimum for all windows will be WER Band C.

Conservatories

In 2010 conservatories of under 30m² are introduced into Part L for the first time. There is a new definition of a conservatory, the glazed area of the envelope must be more than 150% of the floor area. This means windows, doors and roof are part of the glazed area, and the glazing material can be transparent or translucent, polycarbonate roof material being classed as the latter. The conservatory must be thermally separated, i.e. a barrier such as doors between the dwelling and the conservatory, and any heating in the conservatory must be independently controlled.

The windows and doors will need to achieve a Window Energy Rating of minimum band C, as will the roof glazing elements.

In general conservatory installations will not be notifiable to Building Control, but the installer will be expected to provide the customer with evidence of compliance.