Senior Architectural Systems has expanded its suite of independently verified Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) to give architects and contractors greater confidence and clarity when assessing the environmental impact of its fenestration systems.
Senior has released new EPDs for its PURe Commercial Door, PURe Casement and PURe Tilt & Turn aluminium windows, plus the zone drained version of its SF52 curtain wall system, joining the EPD for its SF52 mullion drained curtain wall.
The company is keen to challenge the traditional format of EPDs, and specifically those for aluminium fenestration systems, underpinned by the company’s pledge to customers that ‘what you see is what you spec’. The new EPDs continue Senior’s commitment to providing transparent, specification-ready data that reflects the true performance of the fenestration systems being designed into a project. Each new EPD follows the same methodology that set the SF52 mullion drained curtain wall EPD apart. By removing insulated glass units from the calculations, the data focuses solely on the aluminium system. This prevents artificially low carbon figures and gives a more accurate representation of the product’s impact per square metre.
Architects and contractors working across a range of building types also benefit from the non-linear scaling approach used throughout Senior’s EPDs. Instead of relying on a single reference size, multiple system sizes for each product have been independently verified and consolidated into one document. This allows for more precise modelling at the early design stages and supports more robust comparisons between façade options.
All Senior’s new EPDs include the environmental impact of profile extrusion and non-aluminium components such as thermal breaks, gaskets and fixings. These elements are often excluded from conventional EPDs, but can significantly influence the overall footprint of a façade system. Their inclusion gives architects a more complete picture of the materials they are specifying and supports more accurate whole building assessments.
The PURe Commercial Door, PURe Casement window and PURe Tilt & Turn window systems all feature Senior’s patented expanded polyurethane thermal break, delivering high thermal performance without compromising design flexibility. The EPDs offer verified data that supports the proven thermal performance of the PURe system, which has the potential to deliver low U-values that exceed current building regulations.
Senior’s UK Sustainability Lead, Luke Osborne, said: “The expansion of our EPD portfolio reflects Senior’s long-term commitment to responsible manufacturing and meaningful sustainability reporting. Our latest EPDs give the level of detail we know our customers are looking for to make informed decisions at concept stage and throughout the specification process.
“By including all product elements as we’re able to produce much more accurate data. Our commitment to providing greater transparency is matched by our desire to help specifiers better understand the complex information presented in the EPDs.” www.seniorarchitectural.co.uk