Prestige Aluclad: bespoke passive glazing can be competitive

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Architects and self-builders who are designing bespoke dwellings often struggle to find bespoke glazing products that match their ideal design, but leading supplier Prestige Aluclad says consumers can find custom window and door solutions at competitive prices if they turn to specialist manufacturers.

Prestige Aluclad is developing a reputation as a leading supplier of bespoke glazing solutions in a market that is often geared toward standardised sizes and designs. The company was launched five years ago and has a particular focus on glazing for passive and NZEB dwellings. It is spearheaded by David Mulholland and Declan Loy, who have almost 25 years’ experience in the aluclad business.

“We used to have to tell people that they couldn’t have certain glazing options, which they or their architect might have specified, because the big manufacturers weren’t interested in doing bespoke manufacturing. But that has all changed now,” Loy said.

Prestige Aluclad now works with a number of specialist factories in Europe, making windows and doors to order.

“People for example would have asked me for specific designs for front doors, and we would have had to say ‘no, we can’t do that’, because the manufacturers didn’t make them,” Loy said. “That was always frustrating for me. But now we are working with two factories that can make bespoke front doors to any design.”

In a similar vein, Prestige Aluclad can now offer sliding doors up to three metres high, another product that can be difficult to source from standard window catalogues. The company also offers three metre sliders and sliding doors up to six metres wide.

Loy continued: “We can also now supply large picture windows in aluclad, something many people aren’t even aware is available on the market. The largest picture window we have done has one pane of glass that is 3.2 by 2.8 metres. Not many suppliers can do that size. Instead, they will say you have to split the window up and put mullions in — but mullions kill the view, and kill the energy performance too.”

Loy continued: “Of course when you install big panes of glass, you also need to think about ventilation. Customers may be advised to put in transoms, but a transom also ruins the view and affects thermal performance. We can supply secure, floor-to-ceiling tilt and turn windows up to 2.6 metres high, with an overall U-value of 0.7 — and the pricing is competitive. We can also do large tilt-and-turn windows for upper floors with a glass balustrade for safety.”

Loy said the final thing the company can now offer is glass-to-glass corner windows, which offer a much better U-value than when a corner post is required. “And we can offer sliding doors that can slide into the glass corner,” he added.

“What differentiates us on the market is that we’re giving architects and homeowners exactly what they want through manufacturing bespoke solutions, rather than just offering standard sizes and designs from a catalogue.”

“All of those things are what excited me about starting up the Prestige Aluclad brand. We are the number one bespoke window supplier in Ireland now, and there’s not a lot we can’t do or make.”

Loy added that while some of the bespoke solutions that the company specialises in are available on the market in aluminium, few are available in timber aluclad, a product that offers a “lower carbon footprint, better airtightness and better thermal performance all around.”

For more see www.prestigealuclad.ie.