Amanda Aiano Zilberstein
——– Caroline Swallow, St Paul’s Churchwarden writes:
“Aianos were a very professional company and the whole process of replacing our window guards was completely straightforward. The new window guards look fantastic and I would be very happy to recommend the company.”
Earlier this year AIANO was contacted by the churchwarden at St Paul’s to provide replacement traditional window guards for one of their church windows comprising two window lights and a quatrefoil tracery. The church had been advised to obtain new window grilles as a result of their quinquennial inspection. AIANO has been crafting traditional window guards for churches around the country for more than 150 years.”
St. Paul’s Church, Kingston Hill
Churches within The Church of England must be inspected by and architect of chartered surveyor every five years. The architect or surveyor must be approved by the relevant Diocesan Advisory Committee. These inspections are designed to ensure that the fabric of churches is kept in a good state of repair. More information about inspections and looking after your church can be found at http://www.churchcare.co.uk.
St Paul’s Church in Kingston Hill is a grade II listed building built in the late nineteenth century. The nave was built in 1874 and the chancel in 1912. The church has a vibrant spiritual and community life. The church has links with three local schools, runs several very popular mother and toddler groups and has a thriving Womens’ Ministry.
AIANO engineers take templates of the windows
Aiano senior engineer, Steve, fixing the new window guards at St. Paul’s Church
As a first step, AIANO engineers went to the church to take templates of each of the window lights and traceries. The set comprises two lights with gothic window arches with an encircled quatrefoil tracery and two peripheral inset tracery pieces. This initial site survey is a critical part of the process of making traditional window guards for churches. AIANO takes accurate measurements and templates of the shape of arches and traceries in order to ensure the best possible fit for the traditional window guards. The better the fit of the guard, the better it will perform and the less noticeable it will be.
AIANO traditional window guards
AIANO makes traditional window guards for churches from both hand woven mesh and modern weld mesh. For St Paul’s Kingston Hill, AIANO made traditional hand-woven mesh window guards, crafted by our expert wireworkers from stainless steel. AIANO uses traditional materials and methods of manufacturing window guards for churches and heritage buildings, methods that have been developed over more than 150 years.
AIANO fixes the new traditional window guards to be strong and unobtrusive
After making the window grilles, our engineers returned to St Paul’s to fix the traditional window guards in place. The window guards fit perfectly inside the window reveal, which minimises the visual impact and maximizes the strength of the guards. However, window guards should never be fitted too close to the glass, or there is a danger that under sudden strong impact, the natural give in mesh may break the glass it is designed to protect. The guards are fitted using AIANO signature invisible fixings to be almost completely unnoticeable from the front.
The finished window guards at St Paul’s are hard to spot
Close up view of the guards shows the quatrefoil tracery and insets
Please call Scott or Kate on 020 7987 1184 or email us if you would like to discuss your requirements, or for further information or advice on our church window guards.