Heritage Windows, Pebble Grey Entrance Door and Slimline Slide Doors

Traditional at the front, panoramic at the back

The house sits in a quiet, tree-lined road of tile-hung and brick homes, and the owners were clear that it should still look like it belonged there once the work was finished. Upstairs and to the street, that meant windows with the proportions and leaded detail of the originals. To the garden, it meant the opposite: wide, uninterrupted glass across the dining room, living room and the new bay, with frames slim enough to disappear.

Bringing both briefs together in one colour and one family of profiles was the heart of the job. Every frame on the house, from the front door to the corner of the terrace, is finished in the same matt RAL 7032 Pebble Grey, a warm, soft grey that sits naturally against the red clay tiles and buff brickwork.

Equal sight line Heritage windows with aged lead

The windows across the house are matching RAL 7032 Pebble Grey Heritage windows, chosen for slim profiles that echo the look of traditional steel and timber frames while delivering modern thermal performance. They are specified with equal sight lines, which means the fixed and opening lights share exactly the same frame widths. Stand back from any elevation and every pane looks identical; there is no thicker sash giving away which windows open.

The glazing is SN 70/35 solar control glass, a neutral, low-emissivity specification that lets roughly seventy per cent of daylight through while blocking close to two-thirds of the sun's heat, so bedrooms and the landing stay bright without overheating in summer. Decorative aged 12mm lead was applied to the clear panes to give the traditional leaded appearance the owners wanted, with the lead softly weathered so it looks as though it has always been there.

The ground floor windows alongside the door areas were deliberately glazed clear, without lead, so they complement the doors beside them and keep the lead work as a detail of the upper floors.

Bonded Slide doors with glass-to-glass corners

The dining room is the showpiece. A central Ocular Glazing Slide door opens onto the terrace, and on either side of it the glass turns the corner with a bonded corner rather than a post. The glass units are structurally bonded to the frames, so the aluminium is reduced to a slim perimeter and the corners are simply glass meeting glass. From the dining table the view runs uninterrupted across the terrace and lawn in three directions.

The glass here is Ultra Clear SN 75, a low-iron, ultra-clear glass paired with a neutral high-transmission coating. Standard float glass carries a faint green tint that becomes obvious at a glass edge or a bonded corner; low-iron glass removes it, so the corners read crisp and colourless and the garden looks exactly as it does when you step outside.

The living room doors to the right of the dining room use the same bonded Slide system, so the two openings share identical frame widths and track details along the terrace.

Heritage HD on the oversized bay

The ground floor bay to the study is far larger than a standard Heritage window would comfortably carry: six tall lights wrapping a gentle curve, each glazed clear for the best view of the planting outside. Rather than step up to a visibly heavier system, we used Heritage HD, the heavy-duty version of the same profile family. It takes the extra glass weight and the longer spans, but the sight lines are the same, so the bay matches the Heritage windows elsewhere on the house instead of standing out as the odd one out.

Inside, the bay has become a bright home office. The clear glazing and slim frames make the garden feel like part of the room, and the Pebble Grey finish inside and out ties it to the rest of the glazing.