Belle Toute Lighthouse

 

Building designers and Owners have an increasing number of factors to take into account when considering their choice of windows within their buildings. These factors include Durability and Life expectancy, Air and Weather tightness, Stability throughout changing seasons, Energy efficiency, Future Maintenance cycles and both Initial and Whole Life costs. In addition sustainability and the impact on the environment of materials chosen is increasingly at the forefront of the decision making process.

These decisions become even more critical in exposed and coastal locations and this was evident to David Shaw when he purchased the Iconic 177 year old Belle Toute Lighthouse perched on the cliffs above the sea at Beachy Head, Eastbourne, Sussex in 2008 and set about an extensive renovation programme to convert the historic building into an exclusive and very unique Guest House.

With the exception of the metal windows around the top of the tower enclosing the area where the light was once housed the remaining existing windows were of timber construction in a mixture of styles and timber species and were generally in very poor condition, letting in both wind and rain; they were also inefficient in terms of energy conservation being in the main single glazed. 

After discussing the project with a number of companies and also carrying out extensive research on the internet Mr Shaw settled on Westgate Joinery using the revolutionary timber ‘species’ Accoya® for his windows which carry an ‘A’ Rating under the BFRC Energy Rating Scheme.

The refurbishment was completed at the end of December and Mr Shaw is extremely pleased with the end result commenting that ‘The new windows have made a vast improvement to the property visually and in terms of energy and heat retention and have made a significant reduction in noise from the wind in such an exposed location’. He added ‘I was most impressed with the attention to detail and general management of the project by Westgate’s staff from concept to completion’

Read the press release here