‘Byker Renovation’

AM Profiles' Series 24 Polyamide Reversible windows have recently been used by Radbury of Ayr to refurbish Tom Collins House, one of Newcastle upon Tyne's most iconic buildings. Part of a £1.2 million refurbishment undertaken by Mansell Construction Services Limited, the Grade II listed property has been given a much needed new lease of life.

With its ski-slope like roof the building is clearly visible from Newcastle's Quayside and the City Centre and is located at the western end of the Byker Wall estate. Built in 1975 and originally designed by the architect, Ralph Erskine the development is eleven storeys high and consists of 54 flats.

The refurbishment was part of the 'Your Homes Newcastle' improvement programme which refurbished much of the housing stock on the Byker Wall Estate. All doors and windows used in the development were chosen in close liaison with the Newcastle City Council and English Heritage. The Series 24 Polyamide Reversible window, specifically designed by AM Profiles for the Byker refurbishment project, were chosen based on security performance, aesthetics, weather rating and price competitiveness.

The original installed windows were of a 'caravan' stile, typically used in the 1970's without thermal breaks and were in desperate need of replacement. The new Series 24 Polyamide Reversible windows were fabricated to look similar to the existing windows both in design and colour with frames supplied in anodised silver with opening sashes in a red powder coated finish. For internal aesthetics the windows were finished internally with white powder coat to match the newly decorated rooms. The new windows and doors improved thermal efficiency and dramatically reduced noise levels within the flats.

The AM Profiles Series 24 design is based on two aluminium extrusions separated by two 24 mm polyamide strips to provide improved thermal performance. The window system is designed to use PN Uni hardware to enable a range of open out options to be available all with the same sight lines. Security is achieved by including single handle operation of shoot bolts within the window sash meeting BS7950.

Further developments at AM Profiles have now lead to the introduction of Design-5 which is an aluminium clad timber window system which offers a traditional timber manufactured window with the long-term weathering and low maintenance offered by powder coated aluminium on the outside. Shown at Interbuild 2007 complete with a range of doors and a curtain wall system it is envisaged that the trend for refurbishment with both polyamide insulated aluminium and composite windows will continue to increase.