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UK Windows and Doors: 500 jobs to go as firm goes bust (www.bbc.com)

submitted 1 year ago by tal@kbin.social to c/unitedkingdom@feddit.uk

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UK Windows and Doors enters administration, with hundreds of jobs to go at four sites in Wales.

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[–] tal@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Submitting this, as it's a bit surreal to see a window manufacturer go out of business due to lack of demand after reading a bunch of articles about how Ukraine's been unable to obtain windows. When I was reading some documents from the Ukrainian government last year, one of their most-immediate economic asks was for funds to help build window and glass construction facilities, because they couldn't get ahold of windows to replace those destroyed by explosions.

https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/warsaw-volunteers-win-praise-for-their-windows-for-ukraine-campaign-41749

A team of Warsaw-based volunteers have won praise for their campaign to replace windows in Ukraine damaged by Russian shelling.

Co-founded by Polish activist Zofia Jaworowska and Kyiv architect Petro Vladimirov, the Okno Projekt (Project Window) has so far seen hundreds of disused windows gathered and transported to enjoy a second life in war-torn Ukraine.

Born in July of last year, the initiative was launched when a wave of Ukrainians began returning home from Poland to liberated territories around Kyiv and the Chernihiv and Kherson oblasts.

Jaworowska said: “Winter was coming and it was necessary to help with repairing houses as soon as possible – in the first two months alone we managed to collect nearly 700 windows from across Poland send two full trucks to Ukraine.”

Explaining the urgency of the action, Vladimirov added: “Because of explosion, glass and windows are the first thing that are destroyed so we decided to concentrate on supplying windows. We found out that Ukraine has no facility producing window glass and that before the war 75 percent of it was imported from Russia and Belarus.”

By contrast, Poland is the largest exporter of windows in the EU.

“One and a half thousand windows in a year sounds like 'wow' to someone, but looking at the scale of the destruction, we understand that it is just a drop in the ocean,” said Vladimirov.

Scotland has a charity trying to put together (unglamorous) ad-hoc replacement windows for destroyed Ukrainian ones using PVC pipe and plastic wrap. Quoting them:

Since the start of the war, an estimated 1-10 million windows have been blown out in Ukraine.

[–] tal@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

googles

It looks like the British government is presently subsidizing insulation improvements to British homes. One option that it apparently chose not to do was to subsidize upgrading to double-glazed windows:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1152132/gb-insulation-scheme-government-response.pdf

Some trade associations and manufacturers agreed with the proposed measures but pointed
towards benefits that additional measures could bring, such as insulation measures for doors
and windows. Draught proofing, double glazing, and ventilation measures were the most
common ones highlighted by respondents as missing from the Scheme. A few respondents
pointed towards the need to incentivise solid wall insulation further, which is needed in many
fuel poor homes.

Of the minority that disagreed with our proposal, the most popular suggestion was to allow
further insulation measures such as double glazing or draught proofing, to provide suppliers
and households with the maximum level of flexibility.

Were the UK to increase the rate of upgrading to double-glazing via incentivizing same while requiring the donation of the removed single-glazed windows, I would think that this would kill two birds with one stone.

[–] tal@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

An example of another government effort to gather up unused windows and send them to Ukraine:

https://sundries.com.ua/en/the-lithuanian-capital-will-share-window-glass-with-ukraine/

The Lithuanian capital will share window glass with Ukraine

Window glass is what the cities and villages of Ukraine affected by enemy shelling need today. Unfortunately, the country is unable to meet this need. Residents and businesses of Vilnius are urged to hand over windows and double-glazed windows to restore housing in Ukraine damaged by Russian shelling. The corresponding address was made by the mayor of the Lithuanian capital Remigijus Šimašius on Facebook.

According to him, mayors and residents of Ukrainian cities are asking for help in restoring windows, as many houses have holes covered with cardboard instead of windows.

“If you are a business, you may still have windows from your renovated home. If you make glass, you can contribute to helping Ukraine. I have already invited companies from the Municipality of Vilnius, the community of developers and members of the Lithuanian Builders’ Association. Thank you to everyone who responded quickly,” – Šimašius wrote.

He also called on his compatriots to make an inventory of their garages and dachas in search of building materials that could remain after the repairs. While, glass sheets with an area of at least 1 square meter are suitable for collection. (possible with frames) and double-glazed windows. Shimashius noted the points where you can pass.

The self-government of the Lithuanian capital is taking over the delivery of glass to Ukraine.

[–] GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk 1 points 1 year ago

I can understand why Ukraine wants to build up glazing facilities. Glass is an absolute pain in the backside to transport in final form. It's heavy, fragile, and often large.
You can almost hear the shipping companies sucking air through their teeth!

As for the window upgrading, there is method to the madness. Adding 360mm of insulation to a roof space can drop the amount of heat lost in a house significantly more for the same money. Especially since the govt. will not give money to people for DIY materials (very sad).

For example, if a house has 20 square meters of single glazing. Heat loss of single glazing is 5wmk (5 watts of energy lost per meter per degree difference between outside and inside). If it's 0 outside, and 20 inside, that's 2KW of energy being lost per hour through the windows.
Replacing them with modern triple glazing (1wmk) saves us 1.6KW, at a cost of probably £10k, if not more.

A roof of 60 square meters, with an uninsulated value of 2.5wmk is 3KW of loss. Putting in 360mm of insulation would bring that to 0.18wmk, a 2.8KW saving, but the cost is likely closer to £3k, even with all the surveys involved.

And when you're rolling this out at a country level, with a limited budget to get it done, the lowest hanging fruit gets picked!