When it comes to meeting glazing standards for preventing overheating, TuffX’s Commercial Director Paul Higgins explains there are important differences between good, better and best practices.
When the changes to the Approved Document Part O to tackle overheating in domestic dwellings came into force last year, the immediate focus in the industry was understandably on what needed to be done to meet the new Building Regulations requirements.
The regulations were amended to protect people’s health and welfare by reducing the occurrences of high indoor temperatures in the face of rising global temperatures and the frequency of extreme events such as heatwaves. Brought into force in June and swiftly followed by the UK’s summer hitting highs of 40°C, there was no question the changes were sensible and necessary.
The new regulations detail permitted glazed areas, taking into consideration cross-ventilation and the building’s location – which means buildings in high risks areas (which currently include specific postcodes in London and Manchester) may also need to provide shading for glazed areas through the use of external shutters or overhangs, for example.
Good suppliers immediately moved to ensure their products would meet the new requirements, while better suppliers made sure their trade partners and customers knew what these requirements were and what installers needed to comply, as well as providing the advice, information and paperwork to go with it.
The best suppliers, however, haven’t stopped there. We’re aware Building Regulation changes are part of an ongoing and focussed drive as the country moves towards its target of net zero by 2050. The industry can expect more changes aimed at improving the energy efficiency of buildings, with the Government’s Future Homes and Building Standards due to come into force in 2025, just two short years away.
At TuffX we’re always looking ahead to the future, not only so we can be prepared but so our customers can assure their customers we’re not just complying, we’re actively putting future-proofing homes front and centre of our product offerings.
This isn’t a new change for us at TuffX. Doc O requirements were all about tackling overheating in new residential buildings, ensuring unwanted solar gain in summer is limited and that adequate heat is removed from the indoor environment at the same time.
But of course, as leading suppliers of rooflights, this has been one of our customers’ – and hence ours – top priorities since our inception. No one wants an uncomfortable, unusable space for any part of the year, no matter how light and bright and welcoming it might look.
That’s why we offer high-quality solar glass products, including a blue tint option across our range of rooflights for an ambient interior temperature. This is a tinted coating on the exterior of the glass that works to reflect heat away from the interior.
But more than that we’ve also developed a new rooflight in our Infinity range that actually reflects twice as much heat as standard glass. This is achieved through a unique new coating which, unlike most solar glass, is actually untinted. This means it minimises solar heat gain whilst maximising light transmission at the same time, helping to maintain comfortable temperatures indoors during the increasingly hot summer months.
Come winter, this ability to flood an internal area with natural, untinted daylight comes into its own, making the most of even the overcast days, which we can get plenty of. Mitigating heat loss becomes essential during winter too, of course, which is why our new rooflight has a U-value of 1.0 – exceeding current Building Regulation requirements and making it the UK’s most energy efficient rooflight all year round.
Our rooflights are designed for now and for the future. We’ll be ready for what’s to come because we know TuffX customers want to make sure their homes and properties are too.
For more information on the TuffX Infinity range, click here.
