Supporting specification from design to delivery

Deceuninck is strengthening its commercial focus as building reforms reshape specification routes across the built environment. Specify & Build finds out more.

With building safety reform and changing regulations reshaping specification routes, Deceuninck is strengthening its commercial focus to meet rising market expectations. By combining aluminium, PVC and composite systems under one roof, the business is helping specifiers to make better-informed decisions earlier, ensuring they can balance compliance, performance and cost across the life of a project.

For specifiers working across commercial and high-rise residential projects, windows and doors are no longer a late-stage product issue that can be resolved once the wider building’s design is complete. Material choice, thermal performance, weight, fire strategy and installation methodology all have implications that stretch well beyond the building’s façade. 

For Deceuninck, that reality is driving the company to embrace a more hands-on, earlier-stage approach to specification support. Deceuninck has long been established as a PVC systems specialist, but the business has recently evolved into a truly multi-material systems house. Alongside PVC, it now offers aluminium systems as well as composite Elegant ThermoFibra technology, giving specifiers access to a wide choice of materials from a single supplier. This, of course, means they can choose the best-performing material for each individual project.

As Peter Dyer, Head of Commercial Sales, explains, the shift reflects both the wider market change and the updated regulations. “Historically, we were very project-based in how we operated in the specification sector. We would receive a specification, often aluminium, and then look at whether we could offer a compliant PVC alternative,” he says. “That worked well for a long time, but the market has changed.”

Market reforms post-Grenfell and the introduction of the Building Safety Act have fundamentally altered procurement routes, particularly for high-rise buildings. Gateway approvals now require far more certainty much earlier in the process, leaving less room for late material changes unless their impact is fully understood.

“That was really the opportunity when I joined Deceuninck,” Peter explains. “We started to develop ourselves as a multi-material systems house. That way, we can offer the right product for the right solution from the outset.”

From design to delivery

This thinking sits behind Deceuninck’s ‘from design to delivery’ approach, which focuses on early engagement with design teams and offering ongoing support through fabrication and installation. For specifiers, it is about understanding how window and door choices affect the wider building, not just the frame itself.

Peter explains: “We want to offer specifiers early engagement through CPDs, educational events and conversations that help design teams nail things down before Gateway approval.”

By engaging earlier in the process, Deceuninck aims to support clearer specifications that still allow for competitive tendering later on. “One of the benefits of our multi-system model is that even if the system is selected early, there is still the opportunity post-Gateway to tender through a network of approved UK fabricators,” Peter says. “That satisfies both compliance and commercial requirements.”

Quality assurance also forms part of the process. “We have approved fabricators and approved installers,” he adds. “That allows us to standardise not just the product, but how it is delivered and installed, and then audit that process.”

Aluminium brought into focus

A key part of Deceuninck’s evolution has been its renewed emphasis on aluminium as part of its offering.

Aluminium remains the preferred choice for many specifiers where large openings, slim sightlines or floor-spanning elements are required. It is also widely trusted by planners, particularly for use in city-centre and high-rise developments.

“What puts us in a strong position is our thermal performance,” Terry Ledwith-Lyons, Deceuninck’s Head of Strategic Sales, explains. “If you look at today’s aluminium window and door systems, a lot of them are going to struggle with future requirements unless they default to triple glazing.”

Deceuninck’s aluminium system takes a different approach. “We aren’t trying to take a 70mm or 75mm system and plug in extra foams,” he says. “Our windows are deeper, which allows us to build in more substantial insulation as standard. It comes fit for purpose from day one.”

That design-led approach has wider implications on issues such as buildability and cost. Reducing reliance on heavier glazing can affect structural supports, bracketry and installation sequencing, areas where hidden costs often emerge later in the project.

The role of Elegant ThermoFibra

Between aluminium and PVC sits Deceuninck’s composite Elegant ThermoFibra system, which removes the need for steel reinforcement while delivering high performance.

“If you start with the architect’s design intent, material choice often comes down to performance,” Terry explains. “For floor-spanning elements, communal entrances or shopfronts, aluminium makes sense. But for punch-hole window openings that sit within the floor zone, you may not need that level of structure.”

Composite Elegant ThermoFibra is designed to meet that need. “It looks very similar to aluminium, it can achieve demanding specifications, and it comes at a lower cost point,” he says. “That gives specifiers another option to balance performance and budget.”

For multi-residential schemes, that flexibility can be critical. “You might keep aluminium where it really matters, and then use Elegant ThermoFibra elsewhere,” Terry adds. “That kind of dialogue early on helps projects land in the right place.”

PVC and future performance

PVC remains central to Deceuninck’s offer, particularly in low-rise and volume housing. Here, the focus is on delivering compliant performance in a commercially viable way.

“When designing new systems, we focus on how we can meet future requirements and give our supply chain the best commercial opportunity,” Peter explains. “It was how we meet future requirements and give fabricators the best commercial opportunity.”

By focusing on weighted average performance and typical house types, Deceuninck has been able to achieve future-facing targets using double glazing in many cases. “If we can get involved early enough,” Peter says, “we can look at things like opening sizes and overall glazing areas, which can make a real difference to performance.”

Seeing the whole building

A recurring theme in Deceuninck’s approach is looking beyond the window itself. “Specifiers need to understand the whole cost of the decisions they are making,” Peter says. “It’s not just about the frame or the square metre rate.”

Support brackets, acoustic performance and overheating risks can all introduce significant cost if they are overlooked. “We’ve seen projects where a misunderstanding around acoustics or weight has added hundreds of thousands of pounds of costs,” he adds.

Terry agrees. “It’s unusual for systems houses to be this hands-on,” he says. “Often the response is to point people to a technical manual. We are prepared to engage, to look at the detail, and to help bring those hidden issues to the surface.”

Sustainability and lifecycle thinking

Sustainability also plays a role, from PVC recycling through to the use of recycled aluminium. “We can take end-of-life PVC windows away as part of a redevelopment,” Peter notes. “That kind of thinking only really works if you are involved early.”

For specifiers, that lifecycle perspective is increasingly important, particularly on brownfield sites and large regeneration schemes. As specification routes become more complex, Deceuninck’s message to the market is simple: “We are a systems house you can talk to,” Terry says. “We can support aluminium, composite and PVC, and help specifiers understand the implications of each choice.”

By combining material breadth with early engagement and practical support, Deceuninck is positioning itself as a partner in the specification process, helping projects move from design intent to delivery with greater confidence.

www.deceuninck.co.uk/en-gb