Having previously been contracted in recent times by Reading University to successfully complete a comprehensive £715,000 + VAT window and door replacement programme of their JJ Thomson Building & Mathematics Department Building on the University of Reading’s impressive Whiteknight campus in 2016, GGF Members Hazlemere Commercial have, as a result of their existing on-site track record, secured several new upgrade projects to carry out an additional £270,000 + VAT of refurbishment works to the Wager Building, the Allen Laboratory and Reading University Students Union Building.
Interestingly enough, the Wager building at Reading University was formerly known as the Geoscience building. It was named the Wager building after Dr Lawrence Rickard Wager, who was employed by the University in 1929 as Junior Lecturer in Geology. Wager published a seminal piece of work on petrology (the study of rocks) in 1939 that is still widely cited today, and he undertook some truly extraordinary scientific and personal feats during his time at Reading, including an expedition to the summit of Everest in 1933. The expedition reached the highest point achieved on Everest (28,100 ft) without oxygen at the time, and was not bettered until 1978.

The work on the Students Union building involves the surveying, then manufacture and installation of white powder coated Sapa Dualframe 75 SI Window Wall, vertically sliding Sapa Dualslide replacement double glazed windows (with a tilt in facility) and a thermally broken Sapa Stormframe STII commercial aluminium entrance door.

The refurbishments works to the Wager Building and Allen Laboratory are more extensive, involving the replacement of approximately 200 existing worm out non thermally broken windows and two existing tired entrance doors. The bespoke products being fabricated and fitted by Hazlemere Commercial into the Wager Building and Allen Laboratory are two hundred powder coated double glazed dual colour Sapa Dualframe 75 SI aluminium casement windows that are RAL 7011 gloss grey externally and RAL 9910 gloss white on the inside. In addition, Reading University have ordered two unique Sapa Stormframe STII dual colour high-traffic commercial aluminium entrance doors from Hazlemere Commercial that are RAL 3011 Brown Red (Ruby in colour) powder coated externally and RAL 9910 white gloss internally. Both these external access doors have a electronic entry system for high security.

Reading University Students’ Union Building, like the Wager Building and Allen Laboratory are each situated on the 320 acre Whiteknights parkland campus. The Students’ Union has a 2,000 capacity nightclub, a lively bar serving beverages and pub style food and a relaxing Cafe. The venues hold a range of activities from local bands, quiz and karaoke, comedy nights and regular parties.

All the high quality thermally broken energy efficient bespoke commercial aluminium windows and doors ordered by the University of Reading from GGF Members Hazlemere Commercial are manufactured in their modern high-tech 38,000 square foot factory premises in the nearby town of High Wycombe in South Buckinghamshire, then installed on-site by their teams of experienced commercial window and door fitters.

As an example Morgan Sindall contracted with Hazlemere Commercial to design, manufacture and install £2.4m of new aluminium windows, doors and curtain walling, along with a 70 metre sloping double glazed rooflight as part of the £44m Bideford College sustainability new build project in Devon, where Hazlemere exclusively used aluminium extrusions that came from 100% re-cycled aluminium billet.
Hazlemere work with many other contractors too, like Ash Construction Ltd, Brymor Contractors Ltd, Kier Group Construction and Mars Construction, on new build and refurbishment projects in schools, commercial offices, luxury residential apartments, technology parks, colleges and Universities.

Hazlemere Commercial’s Division has an in-house design team, so they are able to produce highly detailed technical drawings to ensure the new bespoke high quality architectural aluminium windows, doors, curtain walling and roof lights are manufactured and installed in such a way as to be tailor made to suit the architects designs. Hazlemere offer pre-tender design advice and are willing to produce window samples for client approval.

As independent aluminium manufacturers Hazlemere are able to offer a wide range of aluminium profiles, including profiles specially designed as thermally broken  Crittall replacement windows, which are available to achieve slim sight-lines sought by many architects and planners.

Hazlemere Commercial also supply and fit REHAU and Synseal UPVC casement, sliding sash, reversible and tilt & turn windows for new build projects. All the products that Hazlemere Commercial offer on new build projects and refurbishment projects are available to be viewed at 3 different London showrooms.

Hazlemere Commercial manufacture and install AluK, Reynaers and Sapa out of their 56,000 square foot Factory & Head Office premises on Cressex Business Park in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

One day about 5 years ago Midwife Sascha Koutrouza came home to her home in Welwyn Garden City with a throat infection that sadly changed everything in her life forever. Doctors believe the throat infection caused her immune system to over-respond, leaving her with permanent kidney disease. She was reassured that it would be decades before she needed treatment, but unfortunately Sascha’s symptoms grew rapidly. In just six months, Sascha had final stage kidney disease requiring hospital dialysis at least 4 days a week. Family weekends for Sascha were spent feeling sick and exhausted. She kept on going for the sake of her family – never complaining; but they were reaching all at the point of breaking and were naturally concerned for her future. The main hope was home dialysis – but this hope was dashed when she was told there wasn’t the space at home for this to happen. Mr Andrew Koutrouza and the extended family simply could not afford the extension, which is when DIY SOS got involved: A single-storey extension would create the space needed for the NHS to provide an ‘at-home’ (specific to Sascha’s type of kidney treatment) dialysis system for daily home treatment. The build would turn everything around for this family and mark a vital step in Sascha regaining her life.
The BBC put out an appeal on Facebook for tradesmen and materials, and given GGF Members Hazlemere Window Company Ltd have a showroom in Welwyn Garden City, they decided they would supply and fit all the new and replacement windows and doors needed on the project. So for one whole week last year four of Hazlemere’s most experienced craftsmen gave up a week of their time to install new windows and doors. The Hazlemere team consisted of Senior Installer John Layton, Installation Manager Alan Layton, Operations Director Jason Bradshaw and Fitter Michal Kowalczyk. The team from Hazlemere Window Company worked their socks off throughout the entire Big Build week, fitting new windows and doors, whether as replacement windows and doors or new windows and doors into new builders openings.

Thanks to the generosity of aluminium and PVCu window and door manufacturers, GGF Members Conservatory Outlet of Wakefield in Yorkshire, and double glazed sealed unit manufacturers Nicholls and Clarke of Fareham in Hampshire, FENSA Registered Installers (No. 10589) Hazlemere Window Company were able to procure the glass, window and door frames from these suppliers at cost, which meant they were able to donate all the products and their labour free of charge to the Welwyn Garden City family in need, being helped out by DIY SOS to give them a brighter future. Consequently, Hazlemere sincerely thank both the Conservatory Outlet and Nicholls and Clarke for playing no small part in enabling the lives of this needy family to be transformed.

As part of the transformation project, Hazlemere Windows were asked to survey, supply and install white A+ energy rated PVCu double glazed windows throughout the house and also in the new extension that was built by the DIY SOS team and all the other tradesmen, and suppliers who had also given their time and resources to the cause. In addition Hazlemere supplied and fitted a double glazed aluminium bi-folding door to the extension built by the DIY SOS team, enabling Sascha’s family to open up her new living space, as and when the weather allows! The DIY SOS programme, showing how this Hertfordshire home in the Knightsfield area of Wewlyn Garden City was totally transformed was first broadcast live by the BBC 1 at 9pm on Thursday 15th June 2017.