Abseiling and anti-social hours all part of the ASWS armoury

As one of the UK’s most experienced and accommodating specialists in the art of steel and aluminium window refurbishment, Associated Steel Window Services (ASWS) makes use of multiple skills and strategies to ensure the fulfilment of clients’ ambitions.

One such project was carried out within London Shoreditch’s ‘Tech City’ district where ASWS had to work outside of working hours to address some challenging problems affecting relatively modern W40 windows; and utilising their abseiling team.

The project came about after one of the capital’s leading property consultancies asked ASWS to conduct a full condition survey on the 1990s fenestration; with the detailed paperwork, drawings and proposed interventions providing the basis for the eventual tender documents.  

As is often the case with such demanding window repair projects, ASWS was subsequently invited to tender on the work by all four main contractors bidding. The technical challenges were further exacerbated by the pandemic restrictions ending before work started on site, which necessitated all the window repairs being carried out at times when the offices were empty of their computer-game designers. 

Abseilers

Furthermore, the very narrow pavements along one side of the sixties-built office block prevented scaffolding being erected and so ASWS had to bring in a team of abseilers, who also undertake glazing upgrade work, while its site engineers addressed the repair issues from within.

Laura Mercer, Managing Director at ASWS, comments: “When the W40 series windows were first introduced 30 years ago to offer improved energy performance and a more modern aesthetic, they were ‘gasket glazed’ similar to aluminium framed systems.  

“Unfortunately, however, the in-situ installed W40 gaskets, back in the 80s and 90s were not vulcanised and tended to break down quite quickly, which has required a complicated technique to replace them. What we do to mitigate the problem now is to top cap them both inside and out, which offers a far more effective and enduring seal.

“So, on this City project, the gaskets were actually hanging out of the frame and, therefore, offered almost no performance in terms of air leakage; and the draught excluder had also become brittle and failed.  

“Our proposals were to carry out a ‘light touch’ service and overhaul of the various lights cleaning out the rebates and oiling the mechanisms. Not only were the draught excluders replaced with contemporary alternatives, the perished gaskets were removed and new top cap silicone fillets, which were RAL 9005 Black to match the old gaskets, inserted as a two-stage operation.”

Technique

ASWS’s technique was to leave the 4-20-4 sealed units in-situ and remove the internal gasket replacing it with the top cap silicone sealant. Once that had dried, the procedure was repeated externally. In addition to replacing the half dozen glazing units which had failed, ASWS also undertook the repair of minor damage which had occurred to the powder coated ironmongery and replacement where necessary.

Despite ASWS’s interventions totalling some five months’ works, these weekends and other out-of-hours shifts were spread over a whole year, with the abseilers last to complete their weather dependent duties.  

Finally, to save the architects and other members of the project team having to undergo protracted training as abseilers, detailed photographs and reports were supplied of all the completed external window restoration work.

For more information on ASWS, visit asws.co.uk.