At the 2025 Steel Window Association awards, the Refurbishment Project winner was named as Associated Steel Window Services (ASWS) for the work on the Empress building at 35 Dover Street, Mayfair.
Kris Bennell, Operations Director of Associated Steel Window Services and President of the SWA, shares insights into the company.
How long has Associated Steel Window Services been in business?
ASWS is a family-managed business now into its third generation and 58th year as a specialist steel window refurbishment and replacement company. The company has evolved since 1960 and is now a leading company in the steel window, and wider fenestration refurbishment, industry.
What is your core business?
ASWS is a heritage window and door refurbishment contractor, specialising in works on large scale construction projects throughout the UK. In recent times, we have worked on prestigious projects including the Ikea Development at 214 Oxford Street, Battersea Power Station, County Hall, The Whiteley, BBC Bush House and Hackney Town Hall – among others. As a company, we can help with any requirements you have involving windows; examples are condition surveys, enabling, refurbishment, replacement, servicing, maintenance or reglazing.
What are the target markets for Associated Steel Window Services – architect, designer, property owner, managing agent and others?
We are predominantly a commercial business focusing on the large to mid-scale construction sites across London and the South. We undertake most of our work directly for architects, clients and Tier 1, 2 and 3 main contractors. We specialise in refurbishment and heritage projects, and have taken on some of the largest and most demanding projects in the UK, in the last decade.
How long has the company been a member of the Steel Window Association? And why?
We joined the SWA in the late 1980’s as it was such a widely regarded association of experts by architects, main contractors and the specifiers. We wanted to be recognised as the best of the best and, to be a member of the SWA, meant just that. In that sense, not much has changed for the association but that’s a good thing, I think. We are still a collective of experts in our fields, whether that be the manufacture, refurbishment or surveying of fenestration.
What sets Associated Steel Window Services apart? What do you see as a competitive advantage you offer that other companies do not?
I think it’s our passion for the work, our drive to succeed and our wealth of family knowledge. Being a third-generation business, this isn’t just what we do Monday to Friday; it’s our life. It may sound odd, but I grew up hearing about windows, hearing about the current projects. It was something I saw my parents love and something I couldn’t wait to get involved in.
Key projects you would like to mention?
I think we have been very lucky to not only work on some of the most significant historical buildings in London over the years, such as BBC Bush House (the former headquarters of BBC World Service), 214 Oxford Street, Hackney Town Hall, County Hall, the Royal Academy of Arts, but we have also worked on some of the biggest projects in the UK and even Europe in the last five years. These projects include Battersea Power Station refurbishment, Olympia, London and The Whiteley. Such projects have greatly increased our skill and ability to work with the biggest and the best main contractors.
What do you see as the biggest challenges to the steel window industry in the UK today?
I think it’s no secret to anyone in construction that, traditionally, steel’s biggest weakness has been seen as thermal performance. Yet we have seen such great development, from within the industry and particularly the SWA, over the last decade to keep up with regulation changes that we are able to really challenge this traditional misconception. With WERS and DERS testing, real advancement in glazing technology and performance, and the ability to retrofit all of this to refurbished windows, is allowing us to very much keep in touch with the modernisation of fenestration across the UK.
Pictured is County Hall, London which was built in 1922 where ASWS has restored and refurbished the architectural steelwork for over 30 years.
What are the company’s top priorities over the next few years?
Keeping steel at the forefront of historic buildings across the UK. It’s what we love, it’s what we know and it’s who we are. We, as a business, are developing to help building management companies, clients, architects and main contactors work, plan and execute heritage projects across the UK from inception to completion. We are able to offer services throughout, with condition surveys, tendering, all elements of steel (and timber) window refurbishment as well as the planning and heritage consultation we can advise on. One of our most frequent compliments is the way we help to manage heritage, planning and site works. A Site Director recently said that “working on a listed building of this importance means you are not just confronted with all of the problems from the past, but also those lying in the present. With regards to the heritage aspects to the façade and the restoration of the different window types, it was the Crown Estates representative who attended site for regular monthly reviews. He was definitely very happy with the way that the work was conducted and completed by ASWS.”
How long has your oldest member of staff been working at Associated Steel Window Services? What makes an employee want to stay with the company? Any other key members?
Last year, we took Rob Ackland and his family out to dinner in County Hall, to celebrate his 30th anniversary with us! We chose County Hall because it was Rob’s first project with us in 1994 and he has been on every single contract there since; in 2015, 2019, 2023 and 2024. We are a family-run business, and the family extends to all our staff. We regularly have days out, celebrations of end of projects and we are always willing to listen and learn about how we can make the working experience of our team better. My dad has always said that, in business, “you are only ever as good as your last job”, and the people doing those jobs are people like Rob and our team. Without them, we would not be the business we are and that’s at the core of our thinking and it will remain like that for what I hope will be many generations to come.
For further information on the Steel Window Association or if you’re interested in becoming a member, please click here.
