SWA member tackles Town Hall refurbishment

More than 150 old style steel windows have been replaced around the elevations to the Bethnal Green Town Hall in London’s East End by a member of the Steel Window Association, vastly improving the thermal performance as well as the visual appearance of the property.

RARE Architecture contacted West Leigh to work on the project to ensure that replacement windows met aesthetic standards and BREAM requirements. Although only a proportion of the original W20/Universal Suite frames had suffered corrosion, the client was keen to upgrade to double glazing throughout, leading to all of the windows being replaced.

With sizes typically in the region of 1400 mm wide by two metres high, West Leigh set about producing like-for-like replacements at its premises, prior to installing the new units within the carefully surveyed openings. As well as hot dip galvanizing and modern weather-stripping, the new W20 windows were glazed with 16 mm IG units featuring toughened low-E glass and Krypton gas filling to offer a centre pane U-value of 1.2 W/m2K.

Maintaining the appearance and sightlines of steel windows was a primary aspect to the planning requirements for this project.

The member companies of the Steel Window Association are able to provide clients both comprehensive repair services, as well as ‘replica refurbishment’ for ageing metal frames, depending on condition and planning or listed building status.

For more information call the SWA on 0844 249 1355, e-mail info@steel-window-association.co.uk or look at website www.steel-window-association.co.uk.