As a responsible installer, Brackenwood is passionate about protecting the world we live in. We seek out and source environmentally friendly building materials, and work to reduce our carbon footprint and set the same standards of excellence for sustainability as we do for client service.

Environmental responsibility is not just about recycling. There are many ways to improve efficiency and reduce the overall energy we use, which is why Brackenwood continually looks to improve the efficiency of our products and procedures. We engage in strategic partnerships with environmentally-conscious manufacturers and suppliers, adopting Government Policy on emissions and recycling.

Brackenwood’s double glazed windows are extremely energy efficient. Our Duraflex Diamond window suite is certified by the British Fenestration Ratings Council (BFRC) as meeting the Government’s highest Window Energy Ratings, offering A++ energy efficiency with U-values as low as 0.8 and a WER of A++32 on our Triple Glazed Windows.

Our highly experienced installers work primarily with PVCu – a widely recognised sustainable material. PVC-U is sometimes erroneously perceived to be ‘unsustainable’ because it is not organic like timber. But being organic is only one element of sustainability, and a less critical one in the exterior building products market, which by definition needs products to be highly durable, low maintenance and thermally efficient. PVC-U is an inherently insulating material, whereas timber is porous and aluminium is a conductor (prone to thermal bridging issues, a major cause of condensation), on a like-for like basis PVC-U is the most thermally efficient material. PVC-U is also fully recyclable and can be recycled up to ten times with no material degradation. This gives a piece of PVC-U a minimum life of 350 years (source: BRE).  Timber is not recyclable and is most commonly disposed of by burning, which can be carcinogenic. Clearly PVC-U is a sustainable material, and offers better value for money than timber or aluminium to boot.

Brackenwood sources PVCu products from Duraflex, a manufacturing system house with a sustainable approach to end use plastics. Old PVCu is re-ground and formulated into new products, ensuring that no post-consumer waste has contaminated the material. This allows our manufacturer to uphold the structural integrity and performance of their products while adopting an environmentally-responsible approach to manufacturing.

Brackenwood has been separating and recycling end of life products for many years. We send over 97% of all collected waste for recycling and continue to look for innovative ways to further reduce our impact on the environment. Where possible we group installations geographically to lessen fuel emissions, ensure the use of paper is reduced annually and adopt technology where beneficial to do so which lessens our Carbon Footprint.