Timber frame may never be a true contender in the mass conservatory market, where aluminium and uPVC dominate but, at the luxury end of the market, it is the material of choice.
And joinery companies in this market, where price tags can start at around £20,000 – compared with £8,000 for uPVC – have busy order books.
David Salisbury Conservatories, a Somerset business which specialises in hardwood conservatories, dabbled with uPVC but found it “not suitable”.
Customer services director Gary Edgecombe said that uPVC had to be reinforced – which some companies fail to do – and its easy absorption of heat and cold added to its instability.
“You get movement,” said Mr Edgecombe, “and you get windows and doors sticking. I’m not saying you don’t get any movement in timber, but it’s less so because it’s denser material and it’s structural.”
Aesthetic appeal
Timber also wins in the environmental and aesthetics stakes – and on the latter, Mr Edgecombe does not mince his words about uPVC.
“Aesthetically it’s absolutely dreadful; it’s horrible stuff. People who put uPVC windows in period properties should be shot; they absolutely desecrate our built environment,” he said.
Like many timber conservatory manufacturers, much of David Salisbury’s work is for listed buildings. Its proximity to the historic city of Bath provides a steady stream of work on listed buildings and it is just about to start a £200,000 conservatory at the development of a gothic mansion in Surrey.
Technological developments
But while the company works on traditional buildings using traditional timber, it is quick to adopt new technologies. Each conservatory is a bespoke design, produced using software that managing director David Salisbury developed himself.
One major development in conservatory manufacture has been in glass technology. Because conservatories are effectively glasshouses they are subject to extremes in temperature and, while this can be addressed by installing blinds – which Mr Edgecombe describes as “a pain” – many companies now use sophisticated glazing.
“We specify very high energy-efficient glass such as argon-filled units and we also specify a solar controlled glass which helps to keep the conservatory cool in the summer and warm in winter so you can use the conservatory all year round,” said Mr Edgecombe.
All units are double-glazed but the high specification in effect means they’re triple-glazed, he added.
Factory-finishing demand
Westgate Joinery has noted increasing demand for factory-finished and factory-glazed conservatories and, while it only manufactures, leaving the installation and final finishing up to the contractor or architect, it does tend to semi-finish so only the final coat is needed on site.
All Westgate’s hardwood conservatories are bespoke, right down to the glazing bars. This is particularly important in conservation areas and on listed buildings where owner David Pattenden said there can be lengthy negotiations between all parties. “We do a lot of detailed work with conservation officers and local authorities to get something that they’re happy with, that the client is happy with and that building control is happy with,” he said.
Westgate has applied this detail to glazing bars, which have become trickier as manufacturers strive to meet the new Part L of the Building Regulations.
“A lot of areas we work in have fine glazing bars which people want to replicate in the conservatory so we’re using a lot of bars bonded on to sealed units,” said Mr Pattenden. “Some competitors have not gone down that route; they put wide glazing bars into individual sealed units which are out of character with the building.”
Howard & Mason Ltd will manufacture in “whatever materials people ask for” but generally uses iroko which manager Peter Johnson describes as “a hard-wearing dense material”.
Occasionally the company will receive a request for what Mr Johnson terms “a proper” conservatory, made from western red cedar.
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“People who put uPVC windows in period properties should be shot; they absolutely desecrate our built environment” |
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Gary Edgecombe, customer services director, David Salisbury |
“Cedar has a natural anti-rot property; it’s lightweight and has a high tensile strength so it lends itself perfectly,” he said.
Mr Johnson is not a fan of uPVC and would not have it in his own house.
“Plastic is too bulky; it takes up too much light space. It deteriorates and at the cheaper end of the market it flexes in the wind. It discolours and goes brittle and it’s not maintenance free because you have to wash it down otherwise it will discolour,” he said.
Pressure-treated softwood
Clifton Joinery has managed to accommodate Victorian glass and the Part L regulations by using stained glass on the second face with traditional Victorian glazing bars.
The company does use European oak but probably the majority of conservatories are factory-finished pressure-treated softwood, said managing director Stephen Newton.
“We use pressure-treated softwood because when it’s painted you can guarantee the timber for at least 30 years,” he said.
He too favours timber over uPVC on the grounds of aesthetics and performance. “Aesthetically it looks so much more attractive and it doesn’t discolour. You can really see in the texture that it’s a natural product,” said Mr Newton. “And because of the latest design technology the performance of wood conservatories is excellent.”
Recognising that timber conservatories are a high-value product, Mr Newton believes it would be difficult to broaden timber’s use.
“The only way that timber would be cheaper would be if the designs were simplified so they had very flat elevations and then a lot of the components could be bought from a mass production-type supplier. When it’s specially made it requires a lot of hand work, design and setting out. It’s very difficult to bring the costs down in that respect,” he said.
It is a situation of which the British Woodworking Federation is well aware.
BWF director Richard Lambert said: “A timber production will usually cost more up front than a product made of alternative materials. But it’s a question of looking at what you’re getting in terms of design. You pay for the uniqueness.”
Broader market
While the timber conservatory may never be a rival in the mass market, Mr Lambert believes it can broaden into the middle market.
To this end one company is drawing on its skills of modern timber window manufacturing and looking at the possibility of producing factory-finished timber conservatory kits.
“The idea uses the knowledge of how to put together a mass market product into a kit,” said Mr Lambert. “I think that could be very exciting.”
If timber conservatories are to grab a wider market share, companies also need to look further down the supply chain than just manufacturing. David Salisbury does this by managing the project from planning through to groundworks – and it is something that timber’s competitors also do well.
“uPVC companies are structured around going out and selling the thing,” said Mr Lambert. “They don’t just sell you the window or the conservatory, they sell you the whole package. You make your pick, you sign here, they come back in six weeks and they do absolutely everything for you.”
It is an issue for the joinery industry generally and one that the BWF plans to tackle through recruiting more supply and installation firms to its Timber Window Accreditation Scheme.
“If companies want to compete in the wider market they have to think about how they get to that wider audience and what that wider audience wants. It’s not just a case of saying ‘here it is, this is what we do’. It’s a case of ‘this is what we do and how can we do it for you?'”
