With increasing pressure to specify building systems offering clearly defined sustainability, the use of materials that embody recycling as an inherent feature is becoming increasingly significant. Aluminium as a key building component is now used across a wide range of sectors and is very much the most valuable item in our recycling collection.
For those specifying metal window and door systems, there is, a clear incentive to use a raw material that can be reused on an infinite basis. In terms of enabling building designs to achieve the highest level of BREEAM certification, aluminium can also provide tangible benefits when calculating an asset’s environmental, social and economic sustainability through the use of standards developed by BRE. In addition, it enhances specific aspects of technical performance such as thermal, acoustic and energy efficiency.
By contrast, aluminium products made using recycled material present consistently low environmental impact while offering strength, durability, stability and reduced weight compared to steel. Among other benefits it has to offer, natural corrosion and UV resistance enable the specifier to forecast with accuracy the cost of maintenance over a system’s design life.
To achieve greater efficiency in terms of thermal transmittance, high performance fenestration design is becoming increasingly sophisticated. Aluminium can be formed into complex and diverse profile shapes, a feature that makes it ideal for contemporary designs. Aluminium’s ‘permanence’ and its flexibility and versatility will pave the way for products of increasing environmental value. If we add to this the widely accepted ecological argument against the use of PVCu and tangible evidence provided by aluminium window and door systems with a design life that has already spanned several decades the case for its use has never been stronger.
Learn more about aluminium as a key building component at Kestrel Aluminium Systems