A detailed contract to restore an iconic Art Deco building in the heart of Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter to create a modern teaching facility, achieving high standards of energy performance, has included the restoration and upgrading of 222 steel windows which were originally manufactured in a neighbouring street by Henry Hope & Sons Limited.
The work on the James Cond Building was carried out by Steel Window Association member, The Window Repair Company (Northwest) Limited on behalf of GMI Construction during a 32 week programme in 2023. Its contract being awarded under competitive tender after the University of Birmingham Sustainable Building faculty and project consultants, Lucas Architects, decided that replacing the single glazed frames – dating from 1932-1934 – with new fenestration would clash with the ethos of the courses to be run there. Consequently, the students learning trades including brickwork, carpentry and plumbing as well as engineering and electrical installation, now do so within an ‘A’ rated structure which is affordable to heat and maintain.
With the old SMW style windows ranging in size from 1200mm square up to much larger frames measuring 3500mm wide by 2000mm tall, raising the insulation standards of the openings was critical to improving the energy performance of the Art Deco building overall. The Window Repair Company’s six-man site team demounted the often-corroded frames from the monolithic masonry walls for transport back to the specialist’s extensive workshop premises in Billinge near Wigan. There, another four of its expert staff undertook the stripping and repair, while all of the original brass ironmongery was restored in-house.
The Managing Director, Ryan Larner explained: “Although the level of corrosion was not too serious, almost every window needed to have some new section welded into it, while one window had to be remade as a horizontal opener had been removed to accommodate an old ventilation system. Generally, they were all sand-blasted back to bare metal ready for recoating to offer a 15–25-year guarantee on the finish. In terms of the reglazing, we installed 4-8-4 mm argon filled units with black warm edge spacer bars. All of the glazing was installed using bespoke beads affixed with Brass Slotted Pan Headed 3/16th BSW screws. This involved drilling and tapping every glazing aperture, consuming some 65,000 glazing bead screws across the project. The performance of the refurbished windows was assessed using the project architects’ software to achieve a U-value 0.05 better than for a brand new standard W20 window. All of the restored windows were reinstated in their original openings, including re-attaching the remote winding gearboxes. Progress was good and we completed our work some eight weeks ahead of programme – and we’ve had very good feedback from the client.”
Reflecting on his company’s membership of the SWA, Ryan added: “The literature and case studies which the Steel Window Association makes available were instrumental in us being awarded the contract, offering as they do, confidence to the specifier regarding all the testing that has been done, and for the client as to what performance and appearance they can expect. We know that the SWA’s website was referred to on multiple occasions.”
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