Significant advances have been made in the area of recycling, helping the door and window industry demonstrate high levels of sustainability. Here, Chris Coxon, Marketing Manager of Eurocell, looks at how post-consumer recycled PVC-U also delivered maximum energy efficiency for one of the UK’s largest social housing projects.

“When Nationwide Windows, one of our fabricators based in Rugby, was awarded the contract to supply replacement windows to 15,300 Nottingham City Homes’ properties, it was faced with the issue of dealing with all the end-of-life PVC-U frames on site. These ‘first generation’ windows were installed in the 1980’s and the client was looking to upgrade their thermal performance as part of its Secure Warm Modern programme.

This initiative aims to make every social housing property in Nottingham a decent place to live, which means investing £243 million between 2008 – 2013. It encompasses Nottingham Secure – installing new windows in 15,300 properties, Warmth for Nottingham – improving heating for 19,700 properties and Modern Living – making internal improvements including new kitchens for 17,000 homes and new bathrooms in 12,700 homes. The ultimate goal is to bring every home up to the Government’s Decent Homes standard by 2013.

Even before Nationwide Windows had been awarded the contract, it had begun working with the Eurocell technical department to develop a cost-effective ‘A’ rated window. Although this wasn’t part of the initial brief, Nationwide Windows was determined to deliver the highest energy rating for the client. Along with developing an ‘A’ rated solution, setting up a route to deal with the end-of-life frames was another key objective for Nationwide as it is committed to sustainable use of materials. With an average of seven frames per property, it meant having to deal with over 100,000 end-of-life frames.

The solution to these two requirements lay with our dedicated post-consumer recycling facility, which is conveniently located in nearby Derbyshire.  Once end-of-life windows are removed from the properties, the frames are separated from the glass before being returned to our recycling plant. This material is then reground and extruded to create our PVC-U Thermal Inserts, which are used by Nationwide to fabricate the replacement ‘A’ rated windows on the Secure Warm Modern properties. PVC-U Thermal inserts were an essential element of creating the ‘A’ rated windows.

That’s because PVC-U Thermal Inserts enable lower U-values and higher Energy Index Ratings to be achieved whilst removing the need for expensive glass specifications. This made the highest energy rated windows cost effective and therefore accessible to Nottingham City Homes. The 100 per cent recycled PVC-U Thermal Inserts can be used in casement windows up to a maximum height of 1500mm and 750mm wide for a single side hung window. They have been tested by the BBA to BS EN6375 and achieved impressive results.

The Eurologik outer frame profile system was used in combination PVC-U Thermal Inserts to fabricate the windows on the Nottingham properties. Together this will help reduce current carbon emissions across the city of Nottingham by around three million kilograms each year, enabling residents save on average of £80 – £100 per household on their annual fuel bills in the process.

Glass from the end-of-life windows is sent to a specialist recycling facility, which means that over 90 per cent of waste material from the Secure Warm Modern properties is being recycled – an amazing achievement considering the scale of the project.

It is encouraging to see a completely closed looped recycling initiative on the Nottingham project, especially as it is one of the largest social housing contracts ever issued in the UK. This is the first time that windows with an ‘A’ rating for energy efficiency have been used on this type of project and we are confident that residents will quickly realise the benefits of having an ultimate energy efficient and sustainable windows in their homes.

Recycling within our business will continue to be a key area of focus and we are currently working on broadening closed-loop recycling to more projects. As it is, we currently recycle around 5,800 tonnes of PVC-U per annum, including end of life frames returned from site. The Secure Warm Modern project initiated by Nottingham City Homes is already improving thousands of council homes across the city and it is particularly satisfying to know that the end-of-life frames are being used to create the next generation of PVC-U windows.

Looking to the future, Eurocell will continue to develop new products including recycled material and ones that help meet the latest building regulations.  PVC-U Thermal Inserts, along with our recycled cavity closers, both of which use post-consumer recycling, are just the start of a move towards more sustainable use of materials and it is fitting that both are able to improve a dwellings’ thermal performance simultaneously .”

For more information on Nationwide Windows, telephone 01788 569 228 or visit the website at www.nationwidewindows.co.uk.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 14th, 2010 at 12:45 pm and is filed under Environmental Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.