The Property

When a former architect and his wife moved into their new home built in 1871, they saw past the tired, damp building and instead, pictured the Surrey property’s potential.

With vision, endurance, hard work and determination, the couple not only renovated the house in keeping with the Arts & Crafts tradition of the surrounding area, they transformed it into an award-winning property.

The Project Aims

The aims of their renovation project were clear: to increase the living space by adding a third bedroom; to integrate the outside space; and to achieve a sustainable, low-maintenance, energy-efficient property, carefully crafted with reference to the Arts and Crafts tradition of the surrounding area.

Bringing Light And Life Back Into Their Home

To ensure they made the most of Beech Cottage’s south facing garden and terrace, and to embrace the fact that it isn’t overlooked, the couple knew that the windows they chose to replace the original aluminium double glazed windows would play a critical part in the property’s renovation – and in letting in an abundance of natural light.

“The windows are the soul of the house,” they said. “They can bring light and life into the home or they can block it out. It’s one of the most important aspects of the overall design of a house.”

The Window Requirements

Replacing the original windows with narrow frames in the Arts and Crafts style was a must, but they knew that UPVC double glazed windows would be too bulky and ruin the look of the 19th century house.

By choosing Met Therm’s leaded AG210 windows they returned to the beautiful period slimline look of the windows and traditional welded hinges, with the additional features of the multipoint locking system, polyester powder coated frames and an A+10 energy rating.

This meant improved thermal efficiency and a virtually maintenance free product, whilst letting in the light they so desired.

The Met Therm Solution

With Met Therm on board, their vision for Beech Cottage become reality.

“The finished effect was everything we were hoping for – and more,” they said. “Met Therm even put one of their new AG210 windows in an original Victorian window frame that we wanted to preserve. And the finished result is great.”

Fantastic Service

“Met Therm gave a fantastic service from start to finish. From the quote, and the constant attention-to-detail through to the after-care service which was second-to-none, we’d highly recommend Met Therm, they are a very capable, competent, high-performing organisation.”

Award-Winning Design

They not only won with their choice of window company; the couple entered the property into the Guildford Design Awards and, to their delight, Beech Cottage was crowned winner of the Renovation Award.

The building quality and attention to detail was noted in the judge’s comments.

“Our 145-year old property has literally been given a new breath of life,” they said. “We met all of our goals and the outcomes have exceeded our expectations.”

“Winning the award is testament to the hard work that we, along with our team of suppliers including Met Therm, put in to making Beech Cottage the stunning home that it is today.”

Project Details

For this project they chose AG210 frames in RAL 9005 Jet black in semi-gloss finish, with weld-on extended hinges, inline handles and classic pegstays in a RTD gloss finish, fitted with 24mm double glazed units with 12mm darkened leads with soldered joints.

About The Guildford Design Awards

The Guildford Design Awards aim to celebrate and promote exciting and innovative building design, as well as encouraging high quality development in the future.

Each project is judged on its individual merits by an independent panel of five judges whose professions include architect, landscape architect, and a mechanical engineer who specialises in energy and environmental systems.

For more information and the full list of winners, visit the Guildford Design Awards website.