Whilst the majority of the changes to Building Regulations have come in the form of enhanced standards, particularly with regards to thermal efficiency, Approved Document O is a completely new addition, and one that has created challenges for glazing companies and led to complete redraws by architects for residential projects.
Mitigating overheating in residential homes
The new requirements have the potential to have a far greater impact on overall building design that even the enhanced standards required under Part L, because the effect of the Approved Document is to place greater emphasis on the amount of glazing in a home, particularly on south facing elevations and particularly in ‘higher risk’ areas including significant parts of London and small areas of Manchester. Learn more
Glazing specification and design options
The first and most obvious bit we at IDSystems can do is to reduce solar gain through the glass by increasing the solar control properties of the glass within the specification of aluminium sliding doors, bifold doors and slide & turn doors.
In terms of overall building design we expect to see more projects with overhangs, where the first floor of a property extends beyond the ground floor so that the doors and windows on the ground floor are shaded from the sun when it is at its highest (and hottest) in summer. Learn more
An end to large sets of sliding doors?
Aluminium sliding doors have proven incredibly popular because their large panes of glass and minimal frames maximise the amount of glass in an opening, but going forwards it may mean that the trend towards sliding doors slows slightly as homeowners review the choice of systems.
If the amount of glass (and therefore the size of glazed doors) does need to be reduced then we expect to see a surge in interest in products such as our vistaline slide & turn doors, which feature narrow 45mm sightlines but can be completely opened up just like bifold doors – making them the perfect solution for smaller apertures. Learn more