The debate on whether or not triple glazing will be a big consideration for the UK window market is gathering pace fast. It certainly seems to have stolen the thunder of the Window Energy Ratings schemes which continue to fizzle away, but I would question whether we have seen the end of the WERs.

Edgetech has always backed Window Energy Ratings as one of the best marketing opportunities we have ever been handed, and would still argue their merits. We would be lying though if we said we weren’t disappointed that the industry chose to carve this opportunity up by making a mockery of the rating systems in place and the investment that some companies made into getting up to speed in plenty of time for the revised legislation. But while we do feel that compliance almost got in the way of the opportunities that existed for us we stand by the fact, that when achieved and used to their best effect, Window Energy Ratings do still offer some huge opportunities.

Of course WERs will continue to develop and evolve and we believe it will only be a matter of time before we see the A+ rating introduced to our rating scheme. Our best guess, and of course at this stage that’s all we can go on, is that the A+ rating will be anything that is +5 or above on the British Fenestration Ratings Council rating system. This will give companies a further means of differentiation and raise the bar again for those that have settled with the easy route to compliance and mere compliance with a ‘C’ rating.

Our sealed unit manufacturer customers are in the fortunate position that whether companies decide to comply or exceed current legislation with Window Energy Ratings or with U-Values, they can help because they can offer the highest performing Warm Edge Spacer on the market. This is also why Super Spacer can be substituted for all other spacers under the BFRC rules so customers can switch to Super Spacer quickly and easily.

Whatever your view of how Window Energy Ratings were handled by the industry they do still provide an easy way for homeowners to compare one window against another and as the bar for high performance continues to be raised, they will continue to give the industry a means to benchmark one product against another and therefore achieve differentiation between one window and the next. I’m fairly sure they will be here to stay.