May 01, 2008 - Westgate Joinery (http://www.specialistjoinery-south.co.uk), based in Lewes, East Sussex, is manufacturing components for a new house to be built by presenter Kevin McCloud at the Grand Designs Live Show (ExCel, London, May 3-11, 2008). Westgate Joinery will be providing doors and windows for the house, which is to be made from Accoya®, a new type of modified wood recognised for its outstanding durability and performance credentials.
Kevin, will attempt to build the house in six days, along with the help of a host of famous faces such as Janet Street-Porter, Naomi Cleaver and George Clarke. This will be featured on Channel 4 each day from May 4 - 9, 2008. At the end of the event, the house will be dismantled and re-erected at the UK Building Research Establishment’s (BRE) Innovation Park in Watford.
Grand Designs Live approached Westgate Joinery to manufacture the windows and doors following recommendations from the project’s architect. The house, designed by RIBA award-winning Lewes-based architect Duncan Baker Brown, will feature cutting-edge building innovations with materials and techniques all based on Kevin’s sustainable ethos.
David Pattenden, Westgate Joinery’s MD, comments: “We were one of the first joinery manufacturers in the UK to commit to Accoya® and it was an obvious choice for this project. I am confident that it will become the material of choice for exterior applications, particularly as it can be used for virtually everything, from doors and windows to cladding and decking."
1.5 cubic metres of Accoya® are being used to produce the two doors and eight windows, which will be factory glazed with Pilkington energiKare double glazed units, fitted with high performance ironmongery from Titon Hardware Ltd and AGB. The joinery will be factory finished with a three coat paint system manufactured by Teknos UK.
Accoya® is produced by Titan Wood, a wholly owned subsidiary of Accsys Technologies Plc, at a new, multi-million Euro plant in the Netherlands, and is sold exclusively by BSW Timber in the UK and Ireland. The start of commercial production results from almost 80 years of global R&D and field testing in acetylated wood modification, a patented process that protects wood from rot by making it inedible to most micro-organisms and insects.
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About Accoya®
Accoya is a modified wood produced using a patented process that adapts sustainably grown softwoods by increasing the amount of acetyl molecules present in the wood. Accoya® contains 20 per cent acetyl molecules, compared to the 4 per cent found in oak and 2 per cent in pine.
Accoya® delivers superior levels of performance, stability and durability, allowing for greater flexibility and reducing the wood’s tendency to swell or shrink. It provides good environmental credentials by using wood from sustainable plantations and is 100 per cent non-toxic. The wood's appearance, natural colour and strength are not affected in the process.
Industry experts have supported Accoya's performance and sustainability claims, with both the British Research Establishment and Napier University’s Centre for Timber Engineering recently reporting an unprecedented minimum 60-year service life for the product in cladding and external joinery applications. The Paint Advisory Bureau has also published research findings that show Accoya windows are the most cost effective option over the standard design life of a building, outperforming PVC, hardwood and softwoods.
About Westgate Joinery
Westgate Joinery is a trading division of Specialist Joinery (South) Ltd
(http://www.specialistjoinery-south.co.uk) . The group comprises three businesses all operating from a modern well equipped factory and office complex in Ringmer, East Sussex. All three businesses, Westgate Joinery, Hailsham Joinery and The Green-Wood Company, produce high quality bespoke timber and joinery products for the construction industry and private clients.
About BSW Timber in the UK and Europe
BSW Timber is the largest sawmilling business in Great Britain. The company has six sawmills in the UK and one in Latvia, producing a total of over 600,000m3 of sawn timber per year.
For further information, please contact:
David Pattenden, MD, Specialist Joinery (South) Ltd
Tel: 01273 814555
Email:
dave@westgatejoinery.co.uk
Site: www.specialistjoinery-south.co.uk
