Origin, makers of some of the most renowned bi-folding doors and the company that turned lead times on it’s head, have revealed two new products that they say are two firsts for the window and door industry. These products are Twin Flush and Aerogel. Lets take a look.

Twin Flush

Not hard to guess, this is a new window product that is flush both inside and out. Existing flush casements were flush externally, but not on the inside. Origin have come up with a product which solves that, and judging by the accompanying image, it looks good.

The Twin Flush window will come with Origin’s 20 year guarantee, and will also be available on it’s famed one week lead time.

This window is also going to be available with an option to upgrade it’s Window Energy Rating to A+21 according their marketing. Technically, according to the new BFRC guidance, this will actually be an A++ rated window. The reason for this energy rating is down to their second new product called Aerogel.

Aerogel

Aerogel is a brand new thermal insulation material designed to fit inside of Origin’s frames. According to the company, this is what Aerogel is all about:

Available as an optional upgrade, the Origin Window can be manufactured with a ground-breaking new material for the fenestration industry. Aerogel, the cutting-edge technology used for insulation in NASA space shuttles can now be utilised in Origin’s unique thermal break, and can achieve an astonishing certified U-Value of 1.0. Additionally, the Origin Window is now capable of achieving an A+21 Energy Rating.

Aerogel is a superb insulator because of its extremely porous structure. These tiny pores, invisible to the human eye, have air trapped inside and consequently make heat transfer incredibly limited.

The Origin Window with Aerogel is packed full of nano-pores in the thermal break, keeping heat locked inside in winter, reducing energy bills and most essentially, saving money.

Those not a fan of WERs will appreciate that by adding Aerogel to a window, it achieves a very good 1.0 U-Value, just 0.1 of a mark away from PassivHaus standards.

According to Origin’s promotional website for these two new products, they have complete exclusivity of the Aerogel product. How long that exclusivity lasts is another questions. Most exclusivity agreements last around a year, 18 months maximum.

Proper innovation

These two new products are innovation at it’s best. The Twin Flush window is a sign of where the window industry needs to go.

Up to now, flush casement windows were flush on the outside only, and whilst they looked great, they still maintained the stepped, casement looking finish home owners had got used to both on aluminium and PVCu windows. What this product does is to push the boundaries much further down the line, immediately showing the way the whole of the industry now needs to go. The casement look is becoming increasingly dated. The flush look, whether it is PVCu, timber or aluminium, I think is going to overtake casement windows in the future. Not immediately, but it will happen some day.

The Aerogel product also pushes the boundaries of reinforcing in window and door products. Up to now it has either been nothing, bits of aluminium, steel or plastic reinforcing. The space age Aerogel material is quite a clear step up. But a step other’s won’t be able to have until exclusivity runs out.

These are two great innovations from one of the most innovative aluminium companies in the sector. It will be interesting to see how popular sales of these two products go over the coming month.

Click to find out more about Twin Flush and Aerogel

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