At Westbury we take great care to limit the environmental impact of our operations. We obtain all our timber from sustainable sources and we recycle much of our timber waste. Our transport policies limit CO2 emissions and our Garden Rooms are often more energy-efficient than the houses we are adding onto.
Design
The longevity of the design can play a hugh part in environmental damage. Buildings with incorrect architectural proportions and detailing will look very tired and dated as quickly as five to ten years from construction. Beware of cheap imitations, what may look much the same on a drawing may date very quickly. Build it once.. build it right is our moto.
Materials
All the timber used in our conservatories, orangeries, garden rooms and pool houses is FSC certified, guaranteeing that the forests have been managed in a sustainable way. We only use tropical hardwood for glazing bars, ridge beams, kingpins and cills, where exposure to sun and rain is more extreme. For 95% of uses we opt for traceable European Redwood, which is hard, stable, durable and environmentally friendly.
Construction
Westbury’s long-lasting wooden garden rooms save resources because they only have to be built once. We also use resources efficiently during production, reducing timber waste and sourcing bricks, mortar and other materials from local suppliers to cut down transport emissions.
Performance
Westbury buildings, particularly our summerhouse garden rooms and wooden orangeries, are highly insulated to levels that often exceed the legal requirements. Our Low E double-glazing units are up to five times more efficient than single glazing and our insulating glass has a better insulating value than an old solid brick wall.
Environmental Policy
We are committed to a continuing policy of efficiency in order to reduce the impact on the environment to the minimum level possible and have implemented the following procedures:
We only use hardwood where absolutely essential. Hardwood is not efficient because it has extremely high wastage. Instead, we use redwood that can be cut and ordered to size so that we only buy what we need. All of the timber used is from sustainable (managed) forests only.
Our preference is to buy timber that does not come from rainforests at all, be it FSC Protected or not. According to many sources including the Prince Charles Rainforest Project rainforests are one of the worlds primary carbon sinks and need to be preserved in order to reduce the effects of global warming.
Once again, we are fully committed to give you a durable and stable building and will not compromise on the longevity. We always ensure that our bespoke buildings are highly insulated for the future and will not need rebuilding, nor upgrading for the foreseeable future.
The longer a building product lasts, the better it is for the environment. Our roofs, glass and timber provide durable waterproofing that maintains the thermal efficiency of the building for a very long time. Whatever your requirements, Westbury Conservatories will provide a sustainable solution.