My openings are not square. Is that a problem?

It is normal in any building over a century old, and the technical survey exists precisely to deal with it. Each opening is measured individually and manufacturing sizes and packing details are adjusted so the frame sits true even when the stonework does not.

Which property types do you work on most often?

Farmhouses and rural homes, barn conversions, period stone properties, extensions and renovations, exposed coastal sites and self-builds across Cumbria, the Lake District and North Lancashire.

How does exposure change the specification?

On an exposed or coastal elevation we upgrade the powder coating to marine grade, specify stainless hardware, increase drainage capacity and often recommend a low-profile threshold rather than a fully flush one. The visible product looks similar; the service life is very different.

Can you work on a listed building or in a conservation area?

Regularly. We establish the planning position at the first visit and specify systems with a record of gaining consent locally, including heritage aluminium and timber-look alternatives where painted joinery is expected.

Homes We Work With

The building comes first. The product comes second.

Q: Does aluminium glazing suit a traditional Cumbrian stone property?

Yes, when the system is chosen for the building rather than the price list. Steel-look and heritage aluminium reproduce the slender bars and tall proportions of traditional metal windows, and face-drained frames sit directly into original stone surrounds without needing an additional aluminium cill.

No two Cumbrian properties present the same problem. Understanding the building — its construction, its exposure and its proportions — is what decides the specification.

Six situations, six answers

Most glazing enquiries begin with a product name. Almost none of them should. A 600mm stone wall, a converted cart opening and a new rear extension are three different engineering problems that happen to be solved with frames and glass.

What follows is how we approach the property types we see most across Cumbria, the Lake District and North Lancashire — what usually goes wrong, and what we specify instead.

Farmhouses & Rural Homes

Thick stone walls, openings that were never square, and weather arriving from three directions at once.

A Cumbrian farmhouse rarely gives you a clean rectangle to work with. Walls are 600mm deep, reveals are irregular, cills are original stone and the elevation has settled over two centuries into something charming and entirely non-standard.

The instinct is to fill the opening. The better answer is to respect the proportion that is already there, use face-drained frames so no additional aluminium cill is needed, and let the stone remain the dominant material.

What drives the detail

Exposure rating drives gasket, drainage and fixing choices before anything else
Original stone cills are usually retained, which changes how the frame is drained
Every opening is measured individually — no two are the same on a farmhouse

Typically specified

Heritage or slim-profile aluminium casements
Slimline sliding doors to the sheltered elevation
Carefully proportioned French or entrance door sets

Barn Conversions

Large openings, structural steel and a building that has to become a home without pretending it always was one.

Barn conversions produce the most ambitious glazing on our books: cart openings turned into full-height screens, gables glazed to the apex, corners opened up entirely. The glass carries the architecture.

It also carries load paths, deep reveals and a build programme with several trades on site. Getting involved early — while the steel is still on paper — is the difference between a seamless detail and a compromise dressed up as a design choice.

What drives the detail

Structural openings and lintel positions confirmed before manufacture
Access and lifting planned for large panes on restricted rural sites
Threshold levels coordinated with slab, screed and external works

Typically specified

Large-span sliding doors and corner pocket systems
Feature and gable glazing
Heritage aluminium to the original openings

Period & Stone-Built Homes

Where the wrong glazing overwhelms a building and the right glazing looks as though it was always there.

Period property is unforgiving. Sightlines that are a few millimetres too heavy, a bar layout that does not match the original rhythm, or a colour that fights the stone will be visible from the road for the next thirty years.

Steel-look aluminium has largely solved this. It reproduces the slender bars and tall proportions of traditional metal windows while delivering thermal performance the originals never had, and it is generally well received in conservation areas when detailed properly.

What drives the detail

Bar layouts and sightlines matched to the original fenestration rhythm
Colour tested against the specific stone rather than chosen from a chart
Planning and conservation constraints established at the first visit

Typically specified

Steel-look heritage windows and doors
Slim-profile French doors
Timber-look systems where painted joinery is the visual language

Extensions & Renovations

The junction between old and new is where a project is judged. Glazing usually makes that junction.

Most Cumbrian homes have grown over time. A rear extension, a knocked-through kitchen, a garden room added where the outbuilding used to be. The glazing decides whether the addition reads as deliberate or apologetic.

There are two honest approaches: match the existing language quietly, or contrast with it confidently. Half-measures — nearly-matching colours, almost-period bars — are what make an extension look bolted on.

What drives the detail

Sequencing agreed with the builder so openings are ready at the right week
Internal and external floor levels resolved before thresholds are ordered
Sightlines aligned across windows and doors on the same elevation

Typically specified

Slimline sliding doors or bifolds to the garden
Fixed picture windows framing a specific view
Matching aluminium casements across the new elevation

Coastal & Exposed Sites

Salt air, driving rain and wind loads that make a standard specification a short-term decision.

From the Solway to Furness, and on the high fells in between, exposure is the specification. Wind-driven rain finds weaknesses that a sheltered suburban installation would never reveal.

That means marine-grade powder coating, upgraded gaskets and drainage, stainless fixings and, frequently, a low-profile threshold in place of a fully flush one. It is less photogenic and considerably more durable.

What drives the detail

Marine-grade coatings and stainless hardware as standard, not upgrade
Threshold detail chosen for weather performance over pure aesthetics
Drainage capacity checked against the elevation's exposure

Typically specified

Robust aluminium casements with upgraded weather seals
Low-profile thresholds on exposed elevations
Solar control or acoustic glass where orientation demands it

New Build & Self-Build

The one occasion where the glazing can be designed first and the building drawn around it.

On a self-build there is no existing opening to work within, which removes the usual constraints and replaces them with decisions. Span, threshold, structural support and thermal strategy are all still open.

We prefer to be involved at design stage, where a conversation about a pocket detail or a corner post costs nothing, rather than at first fix, where the same conversation costs a steel.

What drives the detail