Eco-refurbishment!

Alu-clad energy-efficient timber windows from Green Building Store chosen as part of Black Country Housing's Decent Homes upgrade

As part of Black Country Housing's ongoing maintenance of its housing stock, a site condition survey revealed that existing timber windows at its homes in Lotus Way , Rowley Regis in the West Midlands were in need of replacement. In particular, the U-value of the buildings needed to be improved in order to comply with the new Decent Homes Standard.

For a small housing association, Black Country Housing has a strong environmental agenda. Two of its recent newbuild developments in Dudley , West Midlands have had impressive environmental credentials. Built on brownfield sites, the projects have included four low environmental impact homes, incorporating solar photovoltaic panels and water-heating, water recycling and composting toilets, as well as high levels of insulation and energy efficiency. An ‘Eco-pod' training and demonstration centre is attached to the development which demonstrates a range of alternative construction techniques.

For environmental reasons (and also long-term maintenance issues) uPVC is now generally avoided by Black Country Housing for refurbishment projects in favour of composite aluminium-clad timber windows. Aluclad windows from Green Building Store, with their low glazing U-value of 1.1w/m 2 k and Scandinavian-sourced timber were chosen for the Lotus Way refurbishment, out of a number of companies, because of the quality of the product, price and the after-sales service offered. The Lotus Way project involved replacement of 90 windows in twenty of the housing association's homes.

Claire Hughes, Maintenance Consultant for Black Country Housing, has been really pleased with the windows, which are being specified for the next phase of refurbishment. In the future Green Building Store doors may also be specified instead of uPVC doors, which tend not to be very long-lasting. Green Building Store's window-fitting team installed the windows at Lotus Way and have been described by Claire as “Excellent – on a par with the product itself! The site personnel built a good rapport with the tenants from the outset, have kept them well informed at all stages of the works which has resulted in very few queries being directed to our offices.”

Client: Black Country Housing & Community Services Group Ltd

134 High Street, Blackheath, West Midlands B65 0EE www.bcha.co.uk

Supplier: Green Building Store, Tel: 01484 461705, www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk