Aluminium windows and doors

Aluminium is strong, slim and long-lasting, which makes it a good fit for commercial and public buildings.

An office, a school, a care setting and a warehouse place very different demands on windows. Occupancy affects opening restrictions, cleaning, security at ground level and how much disruption is acceptable during works. Telling us how the building is used is often more useful at the start than a product name.

Windows may be fixed, side hung, top hung, tilt-turn or parallel opening, and each has implications for ventilation, cleaning access and safety. Where ventilation is part of the building's strategy, the design team will normally set the free area or opening requirements, and the window arrangement has to meet them.

Restrictors, handle heights and opening directions should be considered alongside the room layouts behind the windows.

On replacement work the condition of the existing opening matters as much as the new window. Surveys establish sizes, the state of the surrounding structure, how the existing frames are fixed and how the new windows will tie into the wall's insulation and weather line.

If the building stays occupied, works are usually phased room by room or floor by floor. Access, protection, noise and working hours are agreed before the programme is set.

Thermal performance, acoustic insulation, safety glazing, security and fire strategy requirements vary between projects and come from the specification, the design team and the applicable regulations. We review these as part of estimating rather than quoting a single standard product.