Two prestigious refurbishment contracts in Manchester illustrate the appeal of Crittall Steel windows across different sectors.
Appleby Lodge is a residential estate and the Redfern Building an office block in a sought-after city centre location currently undergoing redevelopment. Both date from the 1930s and both are Grade II listed.
At Appleby Lodge the three-storey blocks of 100 flats are arranged in a U-shape around a central garden. Designed in the Streamline Moderne style much favoured by the Art Deco movement they feature cantilevered balconies and curved cornices.
The estate, designed by architect Peter Cummings and Gunton & Gunton, featured Crittall steel windows when built between 1936 and 1939 and these have been replicated in the refurbishment by the installation of Homelight Plus, the archetypal Crittall window design. The replacement windows offer new frame sightlines that replicate the original single metal frame windows. These new windows are re-engineered to higher energy-saving accreditations, offering advanced performance and enhanced security with optional multi-point locking systems. Corporate W20 windows were also installed as staircase screens in the communal areas as part of the restoration and upgrading.
The flats have been described as an ‘urban oasis’ by Historic England and past residents include Sir John Barbirolli, conductor of the Hallé Orchestra from 1943 to 1963, a fact commemorated by a blue plaque.
Meanwhile, the Redfern Building dates from 1936 when it was built for the Co-operative Wholesale Society. Contractor Russells has upgraded the 60,000 sq ft, six-storey, brick-clad building, originally designed by WA Johnson and JW Cropper and described as being in the Dutch brick modernism style.
Crittall W20 windows were specified to replace the original steel fenestration, the new windows boasting frames even more slender than what had been, installed originally, thereby allowing more daylight to enter the offices and new retail units in the prestige building.