Front Cover Story
Senior’s PURe
and simple solution
to improving
carbon
calculations
By offering some of the lowest U-values
available to the UK market, a new energy
efficient aluminium window system from leading
fenestration designer and manufacturer Senior
Architectural Systems is proving to be the
clear and cost-effective choice for improving a
project’s carbon dioxide (CO2) calculations.
used in the manufacture, transportation,
assembly and deconstruction of construction
materials. Not only is the PURe system
manufactured using existing tools from
aluminium, which offers ‘cradle to cradle’
recycling, but the PUR thermal barrier can be
re-used as fillers for other products.
The new patent-pending PURe window range is
the first in the UK to benefit from an enhanced
thermal barrier manufactured from expanded
polyurethane foam (PUR). Traditionally used in
cladding and insulation products, the innovative
use of PUR as a thermal barrier in windows
gives the PURe system the potential to achieve
U-values as low as 0.71w/m2k when calculated
as a commercial CEN standard window.
Senior has invested in an in-house PUR
processing line, a more efficient grey water
system to recycle water used in manufacture
and significantly, a new £150k waste reducing
powder coating line to colour coat the PURe
window system. The powder coating line, the
most environmentally efficient of its kind, saves
over 22 tonnes per year of product being sent
to landfill.
By far exceeding the requirements of Part L
of the Building Regulations and providing a
significant reduction from the typical U-values of
1.75-1.9w/m2k achieved by Senior’s standard
SPW600 aluminium window system, the
enhanced thermal performance of the PURe
range can significantly improve a project’s
carbon footprint. Despite the dramatic difference
in U-values, the PURe system is competitively
priced allowing main contractors to reduce the
CO2 calculations without increasing costs.
To reduce the amount of fuel used in the
manufacture of PURe and in transport related
activities, Senior also introduced a new biomass
boiler which turns waste taken from suppliers
packaging into wood chip, which heats the
factory.
As well as helping to cut the operational
carbon emissions by