Pride of place

Good looks, a traditional appearance, and a palette of heritage finishes has enabled the Modus flush casement PVCU window system from Eurocell to persuade a Gloucestershire planning authority that it is a worthy alternative to timber windows.

Bentham Green is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty that comes under the jurisdiction of Tewkesbury Borough Council’s planning department, which uses the Cotswold Design Code as its reference. When Lioncourt Homes bought the plot with detailed planning permission for 49 homes, it discovered that the planners were insistent upon flush casement windows.

Commercial director, Matt Underwood said: “We stand out by being different through our quality. This is demonstrated by the fact that we are only one of 15 housebuilders to be awarded the five-star quality rating in the annual Home Builders Federation customer satisfaction survey for the three consecutive years. We are always looking to explore alternative products and materials to enhance the quality and reduce the maintenance costs of our homes which is why the Modus PVCU window system stood out to us as a great alternative to timber windows.”

Lioncourt Homes contacted Eurocell which introduced the homebuilder to the Modus range and to A&B Glass, the Tewkesbury-based fabricator and installer. Together they approached the planning authorities with samples and with photographs of similar developments where the original timber windows had been replaced with inappropriate aluminium and PVCU equivalents within months.

Matt Sollis of A&B Glass said: “Planners don’t appreciate how far PVCU products have come on in the last decade and what an improvement they are upon timber. The first-time householders see all the costs of stripping back and repainting timber windows they will consider replacing them.”

Consisting of 50% post-consumer recycled PVCU as standard, the Modus range of doors and windows has a smaller carbon footprint than products made or recycled outside of the UK. Eurocell achieves this by employing dual material extrusion technology (DMET) that layers post-consumer recycled and virgin material simultaneously, so the recycled material is concentrated in the central core of the profiles where it cannot be seen once the door or window is installed.