CASE STUDY:
A beautiful and unique Passivhaus build with views over the North Pennines.
Features Internorm Passivhaus certified windows throughout plus Solarlux Passivhaus certified bifold doors.
When the owner first approached us with plans for his dream home, he'd already had experience with Internorm having already built an annex on the site that would be his family home during the build process. Unfortunately, although he was impressed with the windows themselves, he'd had a disappointing experience with the particular Internorm dealer he'd used.
Having seen our Trustpilot reviews, we were shortlisted along with two other partners with good records. He arranged a visit to our showroom to meet us and discuss the project — by the end of the meeting, he had become impressed with what he had seen and heard from us. Over the months that followed, we spend a lot of time getting into the fine details of the designs and working out how we could meet and improve the specifications. By the end, it was clear to the client that we were the only company who could deliver the complex and demanding requirements of the project and the order was placed.
The installation itself was during the lockdown; building work was being allowed as long as the site was not being lived in. The rules allowed our installers to stay in a local hotel during weekdays, but they weren't allowed to leave the hotel apart form going to work and had to eat in their rooms! The installation was on an exposed hillside in the winter and they had to contend with ice and sometimes driving snow. But it was a clean, well-run building site and the lads enjoyed working there and they always enjoy the challenge of a complex install. Thanks to our usual meticulous preparation, the install went smoothly despite the challenges.
At the of the project, the client was extremely pleased, both with the result and with Spectrum as a company, and has continued to recommend us to others. He has exacting standards and an attention to detail and was delighted to find a company that applies the same standards and even exceeded his expectations.
Technical features
Internorm are simply the best Passivhaus windows in Europe, which is why the client wanted nothing else. The architects plans had a long run of full height fixed windows and we came up with the unusual idea of using HS330 fixed panels which are normally used with sliding doors. This allowed us to combine Passivhaus with slim-profile frames along the whole run making a big improvement to the aesthetics and also enabled us to include glass-to-glass corners in the design. Details like this are one of the reasons clients and architects choose Spectrum.
The client wanted a run of extra tall Passivhaus bifolding doors in the basement. We discussed it with our German partners at Solarlux, makers of the first Passivhaus bifolding doors, only for them to advise us that their SL97 Passivhaus doors cannot be the required 2.8m tall. Fortunately, here at Spectrum we have exceptional knowledge of these doors and came up with a unique configuration with extra horizontal bars for strengthening, a design which would be approved by Solarlux technical department. This was something not done before in the UK and the design proved to be aesthetically attractive and met with the clients approval. You can see the doors in the gallery.
