Haven Hotel, Whitby

Pilkington Activ™ – A haven from constant cleaning. Located in a sensitive conservation area of Whitby, the Haven Hotel has recently undergone a sympathetic facelift, with new windows installed throughout this historic building.
 

Birch Joinery of Whitby was commissioned to fabricate new windows to replace the existing timber frames and worked closely with the Pilkington Middlesbrough branch of Pilkington Processing and Merchanting UK to provide the ideal solution to satisfy both the conservation planning issues and the needs of the owner.

This was supplied in the form of Pilkington Activ™, the world's first dual action self cleaning glass, which was specified by Michael Hutchinson, sales manager at Birch Joinery. "The owners of this private hotel, which is located right on the seafront, were impressed by the concept of Pilkington Activ™," he recalls. "Window cleaning was a laborious and time consuming process and a chore for which the owners had little time. Pilkington Activ™ was an extremely attractive and appealing concept to them."

Pilkington Activ™ self-cleaning glass is specifically formulated with a permanent hard coating applied during manufacture. This coating chemically breaks down deposits of organic dirt when subject to daylight, with rainwater washing the dirt particles away. As the rain falls as a sheet onto the glass instead of droplets, the whole pane of glass is cleaned.

Haven Hotel lies within a conservation area and planning restrictions required the front windows to be like for like replacement timber with PVCu frames installed to the rear. This difference in materials was not an issue to the installation and performance of Pilkington Activ™. "We manufactured the timber frames in-house and bought in the PVCu profiles," continues Michael Hutchinson. "By working closely with Pilkington Middlesbrough to supply the correct double glazing, we completed the replacement programme quickly and efficiently." Pilkington Activ™ was supplied as 4mm toughened glass. The work was carried out in the quieter winter months ready for the busiest summer season that the seaside town has ever witnessed.