The Coombes, Northamptonshire

Insulead® Fixed units · Steelyte® opening casements · APPlied square leading

The Building

The Coombes is a stunning Victorian Manor house, built in red and black diamond patterned diaper brickwork and can be found in the village of Marston Trussell in the Daventry district of the county of Northamptonshire. It is an early work by the architect Sir George Gilbert Scott, who was to go on to design St. Pancras Hotel and Station and The Albert Memorial. We were approached by Mr & Mrs Wilson as their wooden windows were in desperate need of changing. They contained 3mm glass which had suffered on many occasions from birds flying through them (without injury!!) and their severe lack of any type of thermal efficiency. Much debate was had over the colour of the windows, whether they should be white like the original or black - the favourite colour of the Touchstone team! To find out more about this project and the outcome of the colour debate…

The Brief

We were approached by Mr & Mrs Wilson as their wooden windows were in desperate need of changing. They contained 3mm glass which had suffered on many occasions from birds flying through them (without injury!!) and their severe lack of any type of thermal efficiency. They also suffered from being covered in condensation in the morning. The Specification was 28mm double glazing with a square leaded light design RAL 9005 with textured gloss black powder coated Stainless Steel opening casements. All completed with the use of traditional materials.

The Solution

After the initial consultation it was agreed that we would replicate the squares in the wooden windows with our square leaded Insulead® units and Steelyte® opening casements. The specification of the unit was 4mm Planibel A, toughened on the inner pane with 4mm Pilkington Optiwhite and toughened on the outer pane. The outer pane was distorted in the kiln in order to give an aged appearance and was leaded using a heritage section applied lead, soldered and blackened. The Insulead® was fitted using our own design of clip that is plugged directly into the masonry which we pointed using a modified polymer. Much debate was had over the colour of the windows, whether they should be white like the original or black, the favourite colour of the Touchstone team. In order to help with the decision process, we super imposed our windows onto an elevation photograph of the Coombes and Mr and Mrs Wilson came up to Yorkshire to look at some examples of our windows. It was decided that the black frames would look the best and compliment the black diaper brickwork.

The Response

The project was completed on time with the black frames looking fantastic alongside the beautiful brickwork. Mr and Mrs Wilson are very happy with the overall look of the windows and more than happy with vastly improved thermal qualities.

To download a PDF version of this case study please click here.