This Show brings together an exciting new high profile Home, Interior & Design Show combined with the existing prestigious companies from the Scottish Home Improvement & Self Build Show...hosting an array of sectors within Interiors, Designs, Kitchens, Bathroms, Home Technology, Renewables...

The event will include...

- A Master Class Theatre
- A Seminar Theatre with Industry Speakers
- Exclusive appearances from celebrities - Big Brother Winner & ITV 60 minute makeover - Craig Philips & Linda Barker
- Edinburgh School of Food and Wine - Live cooking demos

The last event was the biggest yet and generated the highest % of sales over the 2 days to date. This year, there is the opportunity for members to share this tremendous success with existing exhibitors and the prolific targeted audience for the National Home & Design Show. This gives you the opportunity to promote your business directly to the 2 highly targeted audiences of serious and affluent buyers, with many travelling up to 5 hours from all over Scotland and the North of England...

Please find outlined below a few benefits:

- Strict policy on limiting each category - objecting to over saturation! Thus allowing you to receive maximum % of sales within minimum competition, over 2 days to promote your business. Providing a well balanced show & personal customer service to each exhibitor.

- Competitive Pricing - Special 2010 rates (limited time)

- Over 10,000 high affluent and quality visitors from all over Scotland and the UK.

- An opportunity to participate FREE in the Live Demonstration, Seminar & Master-class Theatres.

- A prolific national advertising and marketing campaign - attracting powerful targeted audiences with 2 separate national advertising budgets.

Why not come and exhibit for as little as £705 + VAT!

Please contact Kevin John on 0845 22 55 195 to check availability.

The course covered a short history of the development of windows before looking at the different components that make up a window and the issues to consider when approaching repairs.

• An Introduction to Sash Windows
• Typical Problems and Solutions
• Undertaking Repairs
• The Shaping of Replacement Components
• Protection and Appearance
• Options for Improving Thermal Qualities

For more information on future courses please contact Gillian Ferguson on 01383 872722 or email training@scotlime.org or go to www.scotlime.org.

The Approved Documents (AD) L1A and L1B provide guidance on a range of measures designed to further improve the levels of energy efficiency and performance in buildings – specifically governing work on new and existing dwellings. The approved guidelines come into force on 1 October 2010.

The Wood Window Alliance (WWA) broadly welcomes the changes made to Part L as it provides tightly defined guidance which is logical in its approach. For instance, for the first time, U-values for windows and doors in new dwellings (shown in AD L1A) are permitted to be calculated in accordance with both BR 443 and the European product standard EN 14351-1. The area-weighted average U-value required has been reduced to be no worse than 2.0 W/m2K.

Guidance for work on existing dwellings (shown in AD L1B) stipulates that for all types of building work, such as replacing windows and doors, building extensions or conversions of existing buildings, windows should have a U-value of no worse than 1.6 W/m2K (currently 2.0 for replacement windows and 1.8 for windows within extensions) or an Energy Rating of band C (currently set at band D or E) or better. Doors should have a U-value no worse than 1.8 W/m2K.

However, where replacement windows are unable to meet these requirements because of a need to maintain the external appearance of the façade or the character of the building, they should meet the centre pane U-value of 1.2 W/m2K, which is unchanged from the current guidance.

The Government’s drive to achieve improved energy efficiency standards over the past few years has featured prominently on its agenda and broadly speaking, the WWA, its members and the wider industry have supported efforts to secure improved carbon efficiency in buildings. Our expectation is that the new Coalition government will continue the drive to improved carbon efficiency.

The Alliance was particularly pleased that the new Approved Document has maintained more than one route to demonstrating compliance – whether through window energy ratings or U-values. Sean Parnaby, Campaign Chairman says: “The Approved Documents are in line with our expectations and we’re pleased that they adopt a reasoned approach that pushes the industry towards meeting tougher targets for energy efficiency. However, it will take some time for window manufacturers to adapt their practices in order to comply.”

As expected, exemptions have been made for some historic buildings and for some conservatories and porches. In these cases, Part L only applies to windows and doors where the whole product is replaced and not repairs, but the guidance does stipulate that compliance in these cases is preferable.

Sean continues: “Overall, the new guidance is a step improvement. We’re pleased to see both whole window and centre-pane U-values have been retained as methods of showing compliance, and the inclusion of the formulae used to determine Window Energy Ratings should make this process more attractive to the manufacturer.

“Offsetting or absorbing any increase in production costs as a consequence of these new regulations is going to be a challenge, in fact the whole fenestration sector is in the same boat. If we are to persuade consumers to pay more, we need to educate them on how they will ultimately benefit from these improvements to the Building Regulations and demonstrate why wood windows remain the best choice for future generations.”

More members than ever were on the stand, showing a wide range of energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly wood windows and patio doors.

Members who exhibited windows on the stand included AJB Woodworking, Ayrton Bespoke, Boyland Joinery, Mumford & Wood, Viking and West Port. They will be joined by Ventrolla, who will be showing how to extend the life and increase the energy-efficiency of old wood windows, alongside supplier members Akzo Nobel, Finnforest, SCA, Spilka and Teknos.

Click here to see more on the research

Wood Window Alliance Chairman Sean Parnaby comments; ‘I am delighted to welcome Finiture s.r.l. and AJB Woodworking to the campaign. 2010 promises to be an exciting year for the Alliance with a strong member presence already confirmed for Ecobuild in March and a number of exciting developments in the pipeline. New members will really help to drive these developments and strengthen the campaign in 2010 to make it our best year yet’.

For more information please go to the ‘Find a Member’ section of the website.

The government’s response to the Heat and Energy Savings Strategy (HESS) which was consulted on earlier this year will come out in January and will be known as the Household Energy Management Strategy (or Programme). This is mainly relevant to the existing building stock.

The consultation on the revised Code for Sustainable Homes is expected shortly and will include the energy efficiency standard that has been proposed as part of the zero carbon for homes definition.

To view the full BRE report click here.

BBC London has been pursuing the investigation following the Lakanal House fire in Camberwell in July.  Concerns were raised shortly after the blaze that the rapid spread of the fire had been helped by the PVC window frames.  Southwark Council told the British Plastics Federation that the windows in Lakanal House were aluminium, but residents have subsequently claimed that the windows were definitely plastic.

Across London vast numbers of buildings have seen traditional wooden window frames replaced with PVC plastic, including a block in Croydon which burned to the ground in 2007.
The BBC has seen the results of a test conducted by BRE that compared PVC windows to those with wooden frames. (To view the BRE Report, click here). These found that wooden frames gave nine minutes more fire resistance than that of PVC. Chris Houston, a fire risk consultant, said: "Any fire engineer will tell you PVC burns easier than wood.”The fire resistance of PVC isn't some highly debated subject in the industry - everyone would agree that it has zero fire resistance."

The BBC London report also refers to “the striking similarities” of another fire which destroyed a block in Croydon on Christmas Day 2007.  The official report into that fire blamed incorrect installation of PVC windows. PVC was used to fill gaps around the window - when the fire began it melted, causing the block to burn down.

Some facts about wood and PVC

·        There is no requirement in Building Regulations for fire performance to be a consideration in specifying external windows unless they are within 2m of a fire escape.

·         The melting point of PVC is 100 to 260 ^o C

·         Ignition temperature of unplasticised PVC*

o        Flash ignition = 391 ^o C

o        Self ignition = 454 ^o C

*(Source : PVC handbook  : Charles E. Wilkes, James W. Summers, Charles Anthony Daniels, Mark T. Berard)

·         Wood does not melt.

·         Wood burns at a constant rate depending on the density of the timber

o        Softwood 1mm / minute

o        Hardwood 0.6mm / minute

·         In a fire, wood chars. The char acts as an insulator - in effect, it protects the wood below the char surface and so preserves its original properties.

·         To give an example, a 30 minute softwood fire door frame has a minimum thickness of 33mm, most fire doors are made from wood and are usually 40mm thick.

·        Compared to plastics, the smoke production of wood products is minor. In well ventilated conditions, the smoke production of wood is typically about 25–100 m²/kg, whereas plastic products release hundreds or thousands m²/kg of smoke.
(Source : http://tinyurl.com/mxty5)

*(Source : PVC handbook  : Charles E. Wilkes, James W. Summers, Charles Anthony Daniels, Mark T. Berard)

Click here to read the full BBC report http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8401597.stm

Click here to read the report from the Croydon Guardian