Scarborough-based SWC Trade Frames has chosen the Decalu88 Aluminium Bi-fold and the Decalu163 Lift-and-Slide Door, as the foundation for its new Part L ready offer.
Set up in 1989 and covering Northumbria ,Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, Scarborough-based SWC, manufactures more than 1,500 PVC-U and aluminium windows and doors a week.
It became the latest supplier of Decalu, the ultra-energy efficient aluminium system from Deceuninck Aluminium in May this year, as part of its strategy to develop a Part L ready, aluminium offer.
“We couldn’t meet all Part L requirements through our previous system, so energy-efficiency and compliance with Part L was a major driver for us”, explained Mark Catchpole, Sales Director SWC.
“Particularly because the Decalu88 bi-fold achieves a u-value of as low as 1.2W/m2k, giving it reach into new build without having to go up to a triple-glazed unit, which no installer wants to do.
“We were also really keen on the knock-in glazing bead which we could see would deliver immediate benefits to our customers.”
June’s changes to Part L bring in a notional u-value for newbuild sector of a minimum of 1.2W/m2k for windows and the same for doors with more than a 60% glazed area.
For the home improvement market, the minimum requirement for replacement windows is now 1.4W/m2k or WER Band B, and replacement doors with more than a 60% glazed area have to be able to achieve 1.4W/m2k or DER Band C.
The Decalu88 Bifold
U-Values on the Decalu88Bifold are as low as 0.68W/m2k triple-glazed or 1.2W/m2k double-glazed. This is something which means it can meet new Part L notional u-values for new build, as well as home improvement under Part L from June this year – double-glazed, without having to go to triple-glazed units.
As well as being ultra-energy efficient, the Decalu 88 also delivers a series of installation efficiencies. This includes the use of pre-inserted co-extruded gasket and knock-in glazing bead, cutting glazing time to less than 4-minutes per leaf, but also eliminating shrinkage.
The Decalu163 Lift-and-Slide-Door
The Decalu163 Lift-and-Slide Door also delivers advanced levels of energy performance with u-values as low as 0.8W/m2k.
Accommodating individual sash weights of up to 400kg and highly engineered, it means it can accommodate individual sash size of up to 3900mm by 3500mm.
This means that it can be comfortably manufactured to an opening of up to 4000mm tall by 3500mm long on a single-track option, or 4000mm by 7000mm, in a twin track configuration.
SWC will offer its customers even greater design flexibility following the decision to also manufacture a triple-track option.
In common with the wider Decalu window and door range, both are supplied in a marine grade finish as standard.
Mark continued: “We always like to do things properly. A lot of traditional aluminium systems have solutions but they’re based on adaptation of a pre-existing offer, which in our opinion didn’t fully work for us as a fabricator.
“What we have in instead in Decalu is an ultra-energy efficient bi-fold and Lift and slide solution, which meets and exceeds requirements under Part L but which also delivers significant efficiency gains to our customers.”
For more information about SWC visit www.swctradeframes.co.uk, email sales@swctradeframes.co.uk or call 01723 58266.
For more on Decalu call 01249 816 969, email deceuninck.ltd@deceuninck.com or visit www.deceuninckaluminium.co.uk.
