Bereco – What window material is best?

Between 2003 and February 2022, Bereco supplied over 261,000 timber windows and doors, saving over 66 million kgCO2e when compared to uPVC – the equivalent of powering 2.8 billion homes with electricity[1].

With sustainability and thermal efficiency more important than ever, you might be wondering which material is best for your project’s windows, and whether timber will perform well enough to meet with new Building Regulations.

Opinions on timber can be outdated, with a thought to the low quality products of the 80s and 90s. Today’s products can still vary in quality, but high standard products such as those from Bereco are not only fully sustainable and energy efficient, but last up to 60 years – twice as long as alternative materials.

Nicola Harrison, Managing Director of Bereco, comments: “We see a lot of housebuilders initially underestimate the performance and durability of timber as a material, or questioning their cost.

“The truth is that not only are they aesthetically ideal for every style of project, but wooden windows and doors work out to be cheaper than uPVC over the duration of their lifetime.

“In a time when sustainability is becoming ever more important to us all, it’s also vital that housebuilders consider the impact of the materials they’re using in their builds. Timber windows and doors are not merely low carbon, but they have actively removed carbon from the atmosphere during their lifetimes and stored it in the wood before harvesting.”

Savings

Each uPVC window has a global warming potential of +100kgCO2e, so with each purchase of a Bereco window, you save 252kgCO2e each time. The overall saving from Bereco between 2003 and February 2022 was equivalent to 22,008 cars being taken off the road, 66,979 flights from London to New York, or 16,510 cups of tea being made. Since then, this number has upped to a total saving of 72 million kgCO2e, with over 283,000 timber windows and doors having been supplied.

Timber windows are also highly thermally efficient, with all Bereco windows offering U-values that meet the new notional target of 1.2W/m²K, and triple glazed products reaching a U-value of 0.8W/m²K. Bereco predominantly uses laminated engineered defect-free redwood timber, with a specialist preservative treatment to stabilise the material and make it more weather resistant.

Bereco is the only timber window supplier to commit to the BlueSky Timber High Performance Window Scheme, proving its products exceed general window performance standards, and is also the only timber window supplier to certify the application of its coatings and paint system with manufacturer’s warranty against paint defects, giving you peace of mind.

If you are seeking timber window and door products of outstanding quality that are also Building Regulations compliant, call 01709 838 188, or email sales@bereco.co.uk.

[1] The calculations are based on the window assessed through the LCA analysis done by Heriott Watt which was 1.82 square metres. For the purposes of the counter the calculation shown on the Bereco homepage, it is based on this independent evidence and then pro-rata by window area supplied by Bereco since 2003.

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