Clearview National March 2020 - Issue 220 | Page 68
Glass & Sealed Units Extra
PROUD SPONSOR OF
GLASS & SEALED UNITS EXTRA
Spacer Bars, Document
L, Energy Efficiency
and Triple Glazing
Thermoseal Group, the UK’s leading manufacturer and
supplier of the largest volume of spacer bars for insulated
glass (IG) sealed unit production, gives an insight into
the spacer bar market and predicted future trends.
» SPACER BARS, USED
primarily to space the panes of
glass in double, triple and even
quadruple glazing, have seen
significant development and a
change in market demand over
recent years. There has long-
been a widespread decline in the
demand for Aluminium spacer
bars and an increase in the demand
for more energy efficient warm
edge spacers which has primarily
been brought about by changes
in legislation dictating improved
energy efficiency in windows.
Mark Hickox, Thermoseal
Group’s Sales Director shares some
of the Group’s insight.
“Going back ten years, the vast
majority of the UK spacer market
was for Aluminium spacer. Despite
the high level of promotion of
warm edge spacers as a market
differential, there was only a small
market for warm edge spacers until
revisions to Document L dictated
improved U-values and influenced
the introduction of the Window
Energy Rating (WER) Scheme.
Since then, the strive for ‘A’ rated
WERs and now ‘A+’, ‘A++’ and
in some cases even ‘A+++’ rated
windows has influenced the
specification of warm edge spacers
and any window components
which contribute towards
increased energy efficiency.
“In 2008, we started developing
two of the most energy efficient
spacer bars available on the
worldwide market – Thermobar
warm edge spacer tube and
Thermoflex flexible warm edge
solution. Since then, our trend in
sales has seen a continual decline
in Aluminium and increase in the
demand for our market-leading
warm edge spacer bars.
“We supply to the majority of
UK IG sealed unit manufacturers
and current warm edge sales
account for approximately 77%
of our spacer bar sales. We foresee
sales of Aluminium continuing to
decrease as the demand for warm
edge spacer bars grows.
72 » M AR 2020 » CL EARVI E W- UK . C O M
“There is likely to be further
increase in the UK demand for
warm edge spacers and other
more energy efficient insulated
glass (IG) components which
could be escalated by revisions
to document L - the current
consultation document suggests
solutions which may require the
specification of triple glazing in
new properties. Should this go
ahead, the requirement for triple
glazing will mean a significantly
higher volume of spacer bar
and fittings within each IG unit
and so greater demand from
manufacturers of premium high-
performance warm edge products
such as ourselves.
“When you consider the
worldwide spacer bar market is in
excess of a billion metres of spacer
per year, there is enough demand
that spacer bar manufacturers
will really need to raise their
game to meet the volumes
required by the market. You may
have seen our announcement
that we have purchased a
new 2-acre production site in
Wigan. This new site is currently
going through rapid extensive
reconstruction to provide
further expansion for our warm
edge spacer production and
development of our Technical
Centre and EN1279 test facilities.
This is just one of the steps we are
taking to move towards our goal
to become a world leader in the
warm edge spacer market.
“There is also the consideration
of the corner keys and fittings
for spacer bar. Over the past ten
years, our injection moulding
division has seen exponential
growth and we now produce over
10 million mouldings per year.
As the market grows, we aim to
continue to produce our own
range of bespoke fittings.
“Staying ahead of the market
is vital in the current climate,
so our prided Technical Centre
and EN1279 Test Centre are
continually working to develop and
improve our warm edge product
offering with a view to designing
and developing products to help
achieve better and better thermal
efficiency in windows. Our Account
Managers work very closely with
our customers in the development
of new products, also in helping
to keep them informed about new
market influences. Triple glazing for
example, will have major impact on
IG sealed unit manufacturers and
therefore the implications in terms
of logistics, equipment, time and
potential costs should already be up
for discussion.”
Thermoseal Group supplies over
2,500 IG Components and a
wide range of IG manufacturing
machinery. Contact them on
0845 331 3950 or Intl: +44 (0)
121 331 3950. Alternatively,
visit www.thermosealgroup.
com or e-mail sales@
thermosealgroup.com.