Clearview South December 2013 - Issue 145 | Page 44

CLEARVIEW EXCLUSIVE

GLASS&SEALEDUNITS

‘TRIPLE-SHOT?’
Outside of passivhaus-type high end developments
and energy-focussed new build, triple glazing has
secured only limited traction. Clearview reports…
Triple-glazing was to be the new ‘big thing’.
Glass and spacer manufacturers extolled
its benefits to the end user and its sales
potential to fabricators and installers. But
while not ‘out’, triple-glazing sales have
remained ‘down’ - at the very least on the
forecasts – delivering only a minimal dent
on double-glazed sales.
So does this make triple-glazing something
of a white elephant? Well not if you use
to deliver a much wider energy efficiency
message, argues Mike Crewdson, Sales and
Marketing Director, Emplas.
As one of the UK’s leading fabricators
Emplas, by definition, offers a triple-glazed
option. This features a unit manufactured in
Pilkington Optiwhite ‘E’ (outer pane), an
argon or krypton gas filling and Pilkington
K Glass ‘OW’ (toughened middle and inner
pane), plus spacer bar with warm edge option
to achieve a suitably impressive installed
0.8W/m².K. U-value.
“We offer a triple-glazed unit and frame
because we don’t ever want any of our
customers to miss out on a job because

44

DEC 2013

we can’t supply them. But is triple glazing
currently a main stay of our business?
Absolutely not”, he says.
“If you’re selling a triple-glazed frame you
have to sell it at additional cost, there is extra
glass, an extra spacer bar, the middle pane
is toughened and not least extra weight in
transport and in installation.
“For the majority of homeowners, other
than those with a specific interest in the
environment, that additional outlay and also
the trade off against loss of light and solar
gain, doesn’t add up - Triple-glazing simply
hasn’t had the impact in the retail sector.”
Crewdson argues that in the new build and
commercial sectors, where developers are
under pressure to deliver Code for Sustainable
Homes Level 4, 5 and 6 properties, the appeal
of triple-glazing may be greater. “Even here”,
he adds, “because the energy performance of
the building is taken as a whole it’s probably
more cost effective for developers to bump up
the specification of wall and roof insulation,
than it is to specify triple glazed windows and
doors.”
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