As Tom Wright, Managing Director at George Barnsdale points out, maintaining architectural integrity when specifying timber windows involves a careful balance between preserving historical aesthetics and meeting modern performance standards.
Timber windows play a crucial role in the building’s aesthetics, influencing both its external appearance and complementing its interior design. The window style can often define the architectural style, with Georgian buildings being known for their tall, elegant sliding sash window bars and individual glazing, and contemporary buildings favouring simplistic designs with large expansive glazing and often finished in darker tones such as black or grey. Whether you are specifying windows for a contemporary newbuild, commercial renovation or historic building, we will guide you through what to consider when building your specifications.
Industry confidence and direction
Timber windows are celebrated for their versatility in style, making them a popular choice in both heritage and contemporary architecture. Casement Windows – a popular option is a Flush Casement. A classic design with the sash sitting flush to the frame. This is a timeless style that can be specified to match existing windows or create your own design, whether it’s traditional, historic, or contemporary. Sliding Sash Windows – available as box sash and spiral balance sash designs, sliding sash windows are designed to closely match existing products and provide excellent performance. Tilt & Turn Windows – originating in Germany, this style of window is now the most prevalent design across mainland Europe. Incorporating a high-performance dual hinge system, the window design can open into the room from either the side or top. Cover Story – George Barnsdale Pivot Windows – pivot windows are an ideal solution when you have a shaped window (e.g. circular) that needs to open. Pivot windows are designed to allow for easy and safe maintenance with 180-degree hinge rotation. Working with a timber window manufacturer that can support you at the early stages of specification and that can provide fully customisable window styles is important in building specifications and can help maintain the building’s visual identity whilst ensuring modern performance standards are met.
Glazing
You can choose from a range of glazing options that allow you to match existing designs, or opt for something new, whilst maintaining high performance. It may be that you have special applications that require higher transmittance or lower reflective characteristics. For example, shopfronts, showrooms or display screens may want a higher specification than standard, which can be achieved with specialist coatings. Or you may require element extras like painted panels, stained glass, or bevelled edges, which enhance the look of your glazing and play into the unique style you are trying to achieve. For heritage properties or listed buildings, single glazing remains a popular choice, preserving the historical integrity of the window, whilst improving other performance elements such as the acoustic rating. This can be achieved by altering the design of the window to allow for thicker acoustic glass, whilst maintaining the historic aesthetic.
Colour and finishes
When it comes to choosing the paint or stain finish of your window, there are various factors to consider. The type of finish you choose and how it is applied will affect the window’s longevity and level of maintenance required over its lifespan, so choosing a finish that is durable and long-lasting in various conditions, and that is most suited to the type of timber you choose, is essential. When choosing the paint or stain finish for your timber window, it is important to consider the fact that light stains are not as good as opaque finishes, as they are not as efficient at blocking out UV light, which means shorter maintenance intervals. This will affect the coating and the substrate. Also, dark colours, particularly windows fitted on the South or South West, will absorb a large amount of heat on a sunny day, which is more likely to cause the timber to move. From an aesthetic perspective, dual colour has become more popular recently and allows you to choose contrasting colours for the inside and outside, or even different coloured sashes and frames of your window. Most modern coatings are water-based and breathable. The British Woodworking Federation (BWF) recommends: “all coatings to be water-based, with no heavy metal additives.” The BWF also advises that selected coatings are to BS EN 927-1, which is the standard for paints and varnishes for exterior wood.
Hardware
It is recommended to use one manufacturer for all elements of your window to ensure it remains compliant and within the scope of certification the manufacturer holds. Most manufacturers allow you to purchase hardware separately, but this may not offer exactly what you require, and you may risk your product not being fully compliant for tests such as PAS24 for security, BS6375-1 for weather testing and BS6375 2 for operational forces. It is also important to ensure the hardware has been salt spray tested to evaluate the hardware’s corrosion resistance and durability, ensuring the overall quality of the products is sound. When choosing the style of hardware for your timber window, sleek chrome designs usually work well in a contemporary setting, whilst traditional black monkey tail handles commonly work in a cottage setting. There are a variety of options to choose from to match the character of the building, and that also allows the window to remain compliant. Maintaining architectural integrity when specifying your timber windows is a multi-faceted approach considering the building’s heritage, operation and performance, the function and operation, regulatory and conservation requirements, environmental context and aesthetic factors. Working with a manufacturer at the early stages of a project can assist in balancing these factors in conjunction with modern performance requirements to build specifications that are sensitive to the architectural style and meet regulatory requirements.
