Windows

HALO FABRICATOR; WINDOW WAREHOUSE LAUNCH THE EXCLUSIVE VERTICAL SLIDER

Portsmouth based HALO fabricator; Window Warehouse have recently added the heritage style Vertical Slider (VS) to their already impressive offering. The traditionally designed window is now expertly crafted in house, on its own designated line.

Window Warehouse supply products for residential and commercial projects alike, across most of southern England. The state-of-the-art manufacturing facility has recently undergone a successful expansion project, including the development of a specialist project area, which has enabled them to begin fabrication of the exclusive PAS 24 compliant VS in house. Matthew Adaway, Divisional Sales Director at VEKA plc commented “Window Warehouse are a valued VEKA customer and have been a Halo fabricator for many years, so it is great to see that they are continuing to innovate and add new products to their already impressive offer. They have a dedicated customer base and a strong fabrication team supporting them, I am confident that they will see terrific results.”

The VS has a range of optional features, to create a contemporary, classic or heritage look, ensuring that the windows remain sympathetic to a buildings age and character and in turn increasing the number of applications and sales opportunities. It is supplied fully mechanical with a fitting bead bar as standard – which is beneficial for coastal locations - with no welded outer frame and the option of a welded sash. There are many benefits to homeowners too, personal style can be freely expressed by choosing a different coloured foil for the interior. A sculptured outer frame and sculptured sash provide the look of timber, with all the benefits of PVCu. The option of a cill bead not only enhances weather and security performance, but it looks great too. Remi Cake, Operations Director at Window Warehouse said, “Although we have supplied the VS to our customers for a while now, the facility to fabricate in house brings many benefits. We are passionate about providing the best service to our customers and are now able to respond quickly, reduce lead times, and offer a much better customer experience.” For more information visit their website – www.window-warehouse.co.uk.

ANDAS HOMES BREATHES NEW LIFE INTO HERITAGE HOMES WITH QUICKSLIDE AND KOLORSEAL

Andas means ‘breathe’ in Swedish. Both Quickslide and Kolorseal were delighted to be chosen to help Andas Homes live up to its name by breathing new life into a heritage renovation for a luxury homes development in Yorkshire.

Quickslide’s sliding sash windows were chosen to complete the restoration of the 19th-century Harewood Estate farmhouse in Chapel Wold. Situated in the hamlet of Kearby, the site is steeped in history, with one of the stone barns dating back to the 1800s. So careful consideration was given to ensure the property’s traditional Yorkshire stone walls and slate roof would be complemented with perfectly proportioned authentic yet highly efficient sash windows to reflect both the heritage and luxury of the new development. The process of transforming the period farmhouse into a luxury home uncovered charming heritage features including fireplaces, oak beams and a stone floor basement which were all carefully renovated and restored. A new garden room extension made a modern yet sympathetic addition. This, along with a spacious outside seating area and landscaped garden, emphasises the biophilic focus of Andas Homes, where every design aspect contributes to a focus on improving health and well-being and building a connection with the surrounding nature.

Andas Homes has been working with Quickslide for a number of years for premium, heritage projects such as this. “Chapel Wold is a luxury, sensitive renovation, which draws out the character of the existing buildings and breathes new life into their timeless traits,” said designer Holly Simpson. “We love the quality and performance of Quickslide’s sliding sash windows, in particular the run through sash horns which make the frame so authentic.”

Andas Homes opted for a bespoke colour frame. Quickslide chose colour-coating specialist’s Kolorseal, their regular supplier for colour coating. Kolorseal could easily match to their exact preferred shade of Light Grey. The colour option provided the perfect complement to the pinky tones of the Yorkshire stone walls.

“Together with Kolorseal we can give home builders high quality, stunningly beautiful products in the exact shades their customers are looking for” said Quickslide’s Managing Director Ben Weber.

“This luxury development at Chapel Wold is just the latest example of how doors and windows are transforming home design. Glazing elements are now so much more than just building products. They add value and personality to the very fabric of home building and are an integral and crucial consideration in the internal and external design of a home.” www.quickslide.co.uk

BRAND NEW FROM APEER: SILKA ALUMINIUM WINDOWS HOW A LAUNCH WAS INSPIRED BY A FINISH

In a somewhat unorthodox product development cycle, Apeer has launched a range of slimline aluminium casement windows under its Silka brand, the name under which the company originally introduced its top-selling range of GRP-faced residential doors.

The move comes, says the firm, following demand from homeowners after being impressed with the surface coating to be found on all Silka residential doors and who asked if it could be matched on a range of windows. Extending the unusual product development protocols still further, the name Silka originally referred to the special coating developed by the company to catch the eye of homeowners looking for a residential door that looked good with their new aluminium windows, but who were unable to find an attractive or reasonably priced solution. Since then, Silka has been developed into a significant sub-brand of Apeer, with a wide range of door styles, its own dedicated factory space and now, a complementary range of Silka aluminium casements and a Lift ‘n’ Slide garden door, to offer a suite of matching windows and doors in the unique Silka finish. The Silka window brings a number of design elements in addition to its super smooth yet distinctive Silka finish: at 50 mm, the Silka window is set to offer one of the slimmest sightlines on the market for a double-glazed sash, but the designers believe it is the slimmest to offer triple glazing. Profile thickness is 66mm with the aluminium foam-filled profiles powder coated in the 60-micron thick, fine textured ‘Silka’ finish as standard; marine grade power coating is an option. Thermal performance will improve upon Building Regulations for double glazed whilst comfortably achieving an ‘A’ rating with triple glazed units. Colour will be anthracite grey or black and with white internally as an option. A wide colour palette is available but with longer lead times.

The Silka Lift ‘n’ Slide door comes with the package: 144mm Aluminium profile thickness, standard or 25mm extension cill, 5-point locking, and high security Siegenia hardware, and heavy-duty rollers good for 300 kgs are the key numbers, with thermal performance matching the Silka window. Apeer’s managing director Asa McGillian says that the success of Silka has been a surprising but welcome addition to his company’s door and window offering: “When we developed the Silka finish it was for one or two door styles that would become part of our larger range,” said Asa, “but it was so popular immediately with all door buyers, not just those with aluminium windows, that we had to ramp up production and add new styles.” Enquiries for a complementary casement window style soon followed, adding irony to the original premise for developing Silka: to create a door that emulated aluminium. “It’s not lost on me of course, the irony that we developed Silka to emulate aluminium and now we have a range of aluminium windows of our own,” added Asa. “But this comes from demand, from significant numbers of homeowners that are asking if we supply aluminium windows to match Silka doors. So, we have obliged them.” Further information from: https://www.apeer.co.uk/door-ranges/silka-windows/