Alexandra's Conversion To The Church Of England

Steel windows

An Art Deco building, Alexandra House in London, has seen 70 steel windows refurbished and 10 new manufactured in a conversion to accommodate the expansion of St Paul’s Church of England Primary School.

Associated Steel Window Services (ASWS), completed the project on the Grade-II listed property.

A crucial part of the project brief from the Conservation Officer was the retention of the original windows. With strong horizontal glazing-bar patterns, the metal casement windows were key to the aesthetics of Alexandra House as they enhance the building’s central feature.

Working to a six-month programme on behalf of Ash Contracting, ASWS removed each window to its workshops. Necessary repairs were made with some new sections inserted and a maritime primer coat spray applied to the finished frames. They were then reinstalled on site with the single glazing traditionally putty-glazed before the frames were hand-painted to meet listed building requirements.

 

New windows

New windows, made up to replace those that had previously been unsympathetically replaced, were fabricated using W20 sections and hot dip galvanised and primed prior to delivery to site.

 

 “Overhauling the windows was a substantial element of the project so we had to trust in the specialist knowledge of ASWS. They were very responsive and worked closely with us and the architect, meeting every date in what was a challenging programme while reacting to some quite late changes in terms of a requirement to fit restrictors onto the ground floor windows.”

– Matthew Cox 

Commercial Director, Ash Contracting

 

Architects

David Loxton, of architects Loxton and Associates, the firm responsible for the design, says: “ASWS was involved from beginning to end and was exceptionally helpful, working assiduously right the way through the project. We were very pleased with their proactive approach. They have done really well and came up with the goods.”

Picture: New steel windows in the refurbishment of Alexandra House to be incorporated into St Paul’s Church of England Primary School, Brentford, London.

Article written by John Roper
12th November 2020

Share



Related Articles