Case Study | 13 Sept 2021

Caxton House Community Centre, Islington

Caxton House Community Centre is a Community Hub based in Islington, North London, offering a wide range of services, activities, advice sessions and events to families, communities and other service users and has an average annual footfall of 60,000. The Centre is undergoing a programme of low carbon improvements.

21° has supplied and installed 45 PERFORMANCE triple glazed timber windows and one doorset to the project, as part of phase one of the improvements.

Zero Carbon 2030 plans

Caxton House is part of the Octopus Community Network of 14 community centres in Islington. Power Up North London is working with Caxton House to help us to set the standard for decarbonisation and energy efficiency to support Islington Council’s zero carbon 2030 plans, and to create a healthier environment for local residents, groups and users of the centre. Power Up North London is a non-profit organisation working with local groups and residents to tackle climate change by delivering renewable energy projects, support and advice that will reduce carbon emissions.

Reducing carbon emissions, increasing comfort

Following a feasibility study, the first phase of the work identified improving the fabric of the building with replacing all the windows and skylights at Caxton House with high quality triple glazed windows in order to reduce heat loss, improve energy efficiency and reduce energy consumed in space heating. This work was made possible through funding from the London Community Energy Fund (GLA), Islington Council and the Garfield Weston Foundation. The next phase will see ventilation improved by the introduction of MVHR units. The fire exit doors will also be renovated or replaced in order to reduce drafts and a room-based building management system will be introduced so that temperatures can be controlled more effectively in different parts of the building. These measures will reduce energy consumption significantly and will therefore reduce the carbon emissions and ongoing issues where space is over/under heated. They will also improve thermal comfort and ventilation, which will make the environment safer and more appealing to the many local residents, staff and charities that use the centre. Caxton House already has a solar PV array that was installed in 2009 and that supports a reduction in their energy consumption and carbon emissions.

Triple glazed timber windows & doors

21°’s triple glazed timber PERFORMANCE range, in both inward and outward opening styles, was chosen for the project, with a total of 45 windows being installed, alongside 1 double doorset. The windows and doors were finished in a high performance paint finish in RAL colour 7033 inside and out.

Caxton House and Power Up North London selected 21° to provide triple glazed high performance windows to replace all existing exterior windows. The Green Building Store team visited the site to take detailed measurements of all the windows and to provide a final estimate of the costs of supply, delivery and installation of the new windows. With a whole window Uw value 0.85 W/m2K, the new PERFORMANCE windows which have now been installed, along with replacement skylights which are due to be installed shortly, are expected to deliver annual energy savings of 16.4% which equates to savings of 25MWh and carbon savings of 5 tonnes a year.

Working with 21° has been fantastic. They have provided an excellent and professional service from our first contact, through design and delivery to the final installation. The windows are beautiful and of the highest quality and all the company’s representatives we have dealt with showed a high standard of professionalism. The installation plan agreed in advance and the installation itself allowed us to continue to operate our centre and the fitters worked really well with us to enable continuation of services wherever possible. We would definitely recommend them and have already contacted them for an additional quote as we start on the next area of work with replacing our fire exits.

Sue Collins. Finance & Office Manager at Caxton House Community Centre

Passers-by have stopped to look, some chatting to each other and pointing at the windows, some peering into windows into spaces they couldn’t see into before, some have smiled and waved at us in the main office, even though we haven’t previously met. Our new windows will definitely raise the profile of the centre and encourage people to notice us and use our services and activities. Two new hirers have booked regular weekly sessions with us now that we have ventilation in the Community Room, this will generate additional income for the centre. We have been inundated with positive feedback from groups, volunteers and local residents.

Sue Collins. Finance & Office Manager at Caxton House Community Centre

Feedback August 2021

“There’s so much more light…” (local resident)
“These are amazing; the centre looks really lovely and smart.” (local resident)
“I can’t hear the traffic now, it’s so much quieter” (group/office user)
“Is the heating on? (No) My office feels much warmer.” (group/office user)
“We love our new windows, thank you Caxton House” (local resident)
“How is it that this room looks so much bigger with the new windows?” (group/office user)
“It’s such a lovely view of the garden and the vegetables and plants, we want to change this part of our room to a seating area for staff and volunteers, so we can sit in this calm space, we don’t want to clutter it back up with desks.” (group/office user)