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8-10 week supply & installation lead time
10 year warranty, 60 year life expectancy
Designed by you, made to measure by us
98% of our customers would recommend us
Whole window U-values as low as 0.8W/m2K
The Prince’s Natural House was built in 2011 to demonstrate how a traditional, low-tech house can be designed as an alternative for housebuilders seeking to meet stringent low carbon targets for new homes; whilst still constructing in large volumes.
The house is located at the BRE Innovation Park near Watford and is constructed from natural materials to produce a home that is comfortable, attractive, healthy and adaptable. The house shows the building community that low energy usage can be partnered with traditional design aesthetics.
When this elegant, Regency-style white, two-storey property was originally built in 2011, it featured plain, contemporary, tilt & turn timber windows. Four years on it was decided that these windows should be replaced by timber sliding sash windows. It was felt that sliding sash windows would give the building more character and kerb appeal appropriate to the period design of the house. Sash windows have been a part of British architecture dating as far back as Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian times so this window design was the obvious choice.
Design & Efficiency
As member of the Wood Window Alliance, Bereco Ltd were chosen to supply the new windows for the house, the windows needed to be of traditional design but at the same time offering energy efficiency. The windows and doors supplied have 24mm Low emissivity double glazing combined with argon gas to the cavity and warm edge spacer bars to achieve a whole window U-value of 1.2W/m2K. Sliding sash windows, by design are difficult to achieve good air-tightness, this necessitates careful detail design so it is quite an achievement to produce a sash window with these qualities.
The sash windows selected are from Bereco’s traditional range and the timber used in the manufacturing process is from 100% FSC slow growth northern pine, engineered to remove defects, preservative-treated and then coated with water-based microporous paint to very specific standards, in factory conditions. This gives them a negative carbon footprint (thanks to their carbon storage), an expected 60-year Service Life and extended maintenance periods of 8-10 years.
A dual colour paint finish from Bereco’s heritage range of exclusive colours was chosen with London Dust outside to give a period appearance while inside Linen was chosen for its soft neutral look, this is complemented by chrome Brighton fasteners and angel locks.
The concept of the Prince’s Natural House has been adopted on the Poundbury development in Dorchester where multiple contractors are striving to create a new way to live on a 400 acre site.
When work began in 1993 on the site, the idea was simple; to create a high-density urban quarter of Dorchester which gives priority to people, rather than cars, basically a walkable community.
One of the house builders Zero C have entered into a joint venture with the Duchy of Cornwall to create a number of properties that will utilise the ideas of the Princes Natural House at the BRE Innovation Park. The aim is to demonstrate that energy efficient sustainable homes are viable for volume house builders and they can compete in the market place whilst retaining the traditional foundation of British architecture.
Visits can only be booked during the opening hours for the park which are Mon-Fri 10-4PM. Upon arrival at the park all visitors need to report to reception to obtain their visitors badge and back to reception when finished to return their badge and sign out.
To visit the Princes Natural House visitors need to book with BRE by emailing enquiries@bregroup.com a minimum of 24 hours before your intended visit with your name, date and planned time of arrival.
Whether you’re a homeowner working on a renovation project for your home, an architect looking for specific windows and doors, or a trade professional building new homes and properties, we offer a tailored service to help you budget, design, and order bespoke timber windows and doors.
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A really good company to deal with. Very helpful team of people from sales, technical support and delivery. Any time I called, I did not have to wait to speak to the right person and help was immediate. So not only great customer service but also terrific products, well designed and exact fit. Competitively priced.
Graham Roberts
I was very happy with Bereco’s service levels and the products are excellent, very good quality. I would have no hesitation in recommending them to others.
Simon Hazelton
Beautifully constructed windows which do the job perfectly. Handled Covid disruption effectively. Installation went smoothly. All in all a job very well done. Would recommend without reservation.
Phil
Visited the showroom last year and impressed with the finish and quality. Just as delighted with the windows and back door that we ordered. They look fabulous.
Linda
As a dedicated manufacturer of quality timber windows and doors, we are part of a number of specialist memberships and schemes. Check out the full list below.
We’re pleased to announce our brand has featured in several national magazines and publications over the years. Here are some of the most recent places our products have been showcased.
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