Renovating architect’s home in TwickenhamAdmin2026-02-23T08:42:22+00:00

Architect’s home in Twickenham

At Timbawood we were asked to replace the casement windows on an unusual Victorian property in Twickenham, owned by architect Guy Morgan-Harris, who was looking for sensitive, authentic design as well as sound insulation solutions to reduce the noise from the main road outside the property.

Orleans Lodge, designed by Felix Duban, the architect of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, was built in 1859 as the Gatekeeper and Groundsman’s lodgings of Orleans House, owned by the exiled Henri d’Orleans, Duke of Aumale.

It was fantastic to work on such an unusual bespoke project with someone as knowledgeable and ambitious with his property as Guy. The project required careful planning and preparation, as Guy outlines in his report:

“At the time that we were re-designing our home, Orleans Lodge, we were actively seeking a new specialist glazing team to work on a number of projects within the practice. We met with many companies and compared specification and pricing of at least eight.

From this initial review Timbawood came out as the likeliest team to suit our requirements, in terms of specification, design adaptability and pricing structure.

We had initially designed a very complicated glazing bar pattern – after much dialogue it was decided to move forward without this, to ensure we could afford the end result, and to avoid losing performance regarding thermal and acoustic efficiency.

A considerable amount of dialogue led to a glazing profile that we were very happy with, to match the profile and details of the original 1859 casement windows at Orleans Lodge. The team at Timbawood were incredibly helpful and accommodating during what was an extended design dialogue. They were as driven as me to find the right solution, which shows great determination (and patience) on their part.

With the aesthetics agreed we also reviewed the glazing make up. After much internal review we determined that a double-glazed unit with a laminated acoustic glass outer pane, a large spacer bar with argon filled cavity and a thinner internal thermal performance toughened glass would provide superior thermal efficiency and acoustic insulation when compared to a thicker triple glazed unit.

Our original selection of seal was replaced with the Schlegel compression seals proposed by Timbawood once we compared performance and reviewed units with differing seals. The Schlegel seal proposed was (and is) a very high performance seal, with a long life and ability to deform and reform many times, even if not regularly used.

We selected an ironmongery range that was not very straightforward to install (particularly the traditional espagnolette bolts for the French doors), but this was taken on board by Timbawood and all was fitted perfectly.

We have been incredibly happy with our windows, they perform remarkably well both in terms of thermal and acoustic insulation, and still look as though they were just fitted.

We also enjoyed getting to know the team at Timbawood, this is a great company with a wonderful ethos from each member of the team – whether that is Director, Designer, Administration, Accounts, Marketing or Fitting, all work in harmony and all are equally decent and helpful. On every project we have worked with Timbawood their team have delivered and been accommodating; the brief is never the same, and the flexibility to accommodate this always remains. It has also been very helpful being able to have Clients visit their premises to see the impressive manufacturing process underway and to see examples of windows for comparison and review.

We are glad to have found Timbawood, and look forward to working with them on many future projects”.