Watford Community Housing Trust, in partnership with Mears Group and Mulalley, has commissioned the UK’s largest energy efficient WER ‘A’ rated window installation programme – some 25,000 windows – cutting CO2 emissions from across its portfolio and making homes warmer and more secure for tenants.
Replacing early generation single glazed PVC-U windows with new advanced performance Window Energy Rated ‘A’ rated products, the programme could help the Trust cut CO2 emissions by up to 76,500 tonnes over a ten year period. This equates to the equivalent of almost 45,000 double-decker buses full of CO2.
Delivered by lead partners Mears Group and Mulalley, the partnership has commissioned Profile 22 fabricator, Select windows to complete the programme. This includes a requirement to recycle the old early generation single glazed PVC-U windows recovered as part of the replacement programme.
Diane Lee, chair, Watford Housing Trust, said: “We have made a commitment to make homes better for tenants and to manage and maintain our properties as sustainably and as energy efficiently as possible.
“Delivered by our lead partners Mears and Mulalley, our rolling programme is now into its second year having already delivered considerable improvements.
“The installation of ‘A’ rated windows will drive this process onward, making homes warmer and more secure for tenants. “
Set up as a pioneering partnership between tenants and leaseholders in 2007, Watford Community Housing Trust owns and manages 4,700 homes previously owned by Watford Borough Council. Founded as a Community Gateway (the first in the South) the Trust works alongside tenants, leaseholders and communities, to provide quality improvements to homes.
The specification of WER ‘A’ rated products by the Trust across properties is a first for the social housing sector. In committing to manage and recycle waste PVC-U windows and bring that material back into use in new energy efficient products, the Trust is also taking a lead within the social sector in managing construction waste sustainably.
Andrew Reid, sales development director, Profile 22 said: “Domestic housing makes a massive contribution to the UK’s green house gas emissions – in total some 83million tonnes of CO2 each year.
“That makes the energy performance of every property, the way it is insulated, heated and constructed absolutely critical.
“The PVC-U window industry has a unique opportunity to support the social housing sector in delivering new and more sustainable homes but also perhaps more importantly to improve the energy efficiency of older properties through refurbishment.”
The waste PVC-U stream generated by the project is being collected and reprocessed by leading PVC-U recycler and Profile 22 sister company, Dekura, using its unique post-consumer waste recycling process. By doing this the Trust has been able to recover material that might otherwise have gone to landfill but to also deliver significant savings in project delivery.
This will include the capture and reprocessing of almost 200 tonnes of PVC-U – the equivalent of more than 25,000 PVC-U window frames that might have otherwise gone to landfill.
Re-extruded by Profile 22, this material is being used in a new generation of advanced performance and energy efficient products, closing the loop on the recycling process.
Dee Benning, managing director, Select, said: “Hard wearing and low maintenance PVC-U windows are a great fit for the social sector, delivering direct and tangible benefits for the social landlords but equally importantly, by making properties warmer, more comfortable and secure, better for tenants.
“Now in addition to all these positives they are fully recyclable at end of life. Achieving an ‘A’ and ‘A’ plus rating for material sustainability in the Building Research Establishment’s Green Guide and delivering substantial carbon savings in life, they have become not only a low maintenance but also hugely sustainable choice for refurbishment.”
