The Blue Anchor has called last orders in Fishpool St, St Albans, with Selectaglaze helping in the restoration to a two-storey home
The Grade II Listed Blue Anchor Pub, built in the 17th century, was one of the last remaining public houses in the historic Fishpool Street. Despite a refurbishment in 2006, it has been challenging to let out the pub. In 2017, Osprey Development’s planning application was accepted to convert The Blue Anchor into a two-storey four bedroomed home with remodelling and alterations to the single storey rear extensions containing changes to the roof. This was dependant on the architectural style, roof form, windows and materials which had to parallel its setting.
The restoration was designed by local architects, Briffa Phillips and managed by building surveyors Kirsop and Co. The main pub area has been thoughtfully renovated into an elegant dining room and foyer; still sensitively retaining the primary windows, wood panelled walls and a fabulous heritage fireplace. Planning Officers were satisfied with the proposal as there were no changes planned to the main façade.
Converting the building was a triumph; however, it still required a solution for the thermally cold and inefficient single glazed primary windows throughout. Additionally, the other requisite was noise insulation from the busy thoroughfare. Due to the Listed status of the building, these windows could not be replaced. Osprey Developments reached out to Selectaglaze, the leading specialist of secondary glazing for a resolution.
As one can envisage with a building as old as the Blue Anchor, it has a lot of oddities and irregularities, with the windows reveals being far from square and true. Furthermore, Osprey was keen to try to colour match the secondary frames to make them look as unobtrusive as possible.
A total of 16 units on the first floor, ground floor and study have been treated using a range of three window styles. All the units installed are versatile and slimline framing systems, suitable for heritage properties. The Series 10 horizontal sliding unit was required to provide easy access to some of the outer windows. The Series 20 was the perfect unit to install mimicking some of the traditional box sash windows. The Series 30 lift-out unit was applied to the smaller windows in the building, offering a practical solution for treating windows which are seldom opened but require infrequent access for cleaning or maintenance.
The owners are delighted with the look and energy saving properties of the windows, as Selectaglaze’s secondary glazing markedly reduces heat loss and the high performance seals almost eliminate draughts leading to lower heating bills. The improvement in heat retention compared to rooms that were not treated with secondary glazing is astounding. Furthermore, almost all noise ingress has been eliminated.
“With the sensitive work done by Selectaglaze, Blue Anchor House is now a pleasure to live in – warm and a good deal more protected from the noise of Fishpool Street traffic.” Kevin Keenan
Established in 1966 and a Royal Warrant Holder since 2004, Selectaglaze is at the forefront of the product development and design of secondary glazing.
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