We have 140 years of experience working with some of the UK’s leading architects, construction companies, and developers. Speak with a heritage window and door expert now.
Your job is to create something beautiful, and our job is to help you do it.
Heritage, historic, conservation, and listed buildings require more than windows and doors – they demand quality that stands the test of time. Individual nuances that hint at its bygone era. And craftsman who understand these requirements inside-out. George Barnsdale master individuality, providing a truly bespoke service. Our windows and doors are meticulously made, are highly customisable for your project, and every single one comes with all of our support, expertise and technical know-how, from plans to completion.
Don’t compromise. Customise.
Discover the benefits
of engaging with true expertise.
Tested and Certified High Performance
Our timber windows and doors are extensively tested and certified for the range of options and sizes we provide.
Long life and Low Maintenance
Offering excellent long-term value for your project, with an estimated 10-40% savings over 30 years. It also reduces the need for repairs and redecoration, ensuring your project looks great throughout its lifespan.
Engineering and Innovation
Our emphasis on engineering and innovation is backed by a rich history of research and a dedicated onsite R&D centre with cutting-edge equipment
A Complete Solution from Design to Installation
Providing an end-to-end service offering advice from concept stage, helping clients achieve planning approval, through to detailed product specification, quotation, surveying, design, bespoke UK manufacture to installation and beyond.
Standing the test of time since 1884
George Barnsdale has been crafting high-quality timber windows and doors for 140 years, ensuring exceptional product performance and durability. Today, we still stand by our craftsmanship heritage, our unwavering attention, and our thorough understanding of historic architecture. But we now complement all that with innovative new methods, new machinery, and our optimised 4-coat paint system applied in the perfect conditions of our automated, climate-controlled paint facility – to bring you windows and doors that meet modern-day compliance, through meticulous processes, and working with UKAS for peace of mind certification.
PRODUCT
Sliding Sash Windows
Timber sliding sash windows have a timeless appeal. Ours enhance period and heritage properties and offer exceptional performance with our patented sash seal. So, you get a window that not only looks original but also performs to the highest standards. You can choose from Box Sash, or Spiral Balanced Sash.
PRODUCT
Casement Windows
Whether your project is an historic Grade II listed building or a contemporary new build, an Edwardian terrace, medieval church conversion, or old-mill-warehouse-turned-apartment-complex, our casement windows can be designed to match your requirements and that of the planning/conservation officer.
PRODUCT
Tilt & Turn Windows
Our tilt and turn windows are designed to provide exceptional versatility and performance. Incorporating a high-performance dual hinge system, the window design can open into the room from either the side or the top, making them ideally suited to buildings with external shutters.
PRODUCT
Timber Doors
Security is intrinsic to our timber door design, with the incorporation of multi-point locking and the most advanced cylinder locks as standard. All timber door designs have been tested to PAS 24 / Part Q, with our Contemporary Door designs being compliant as standard. To ensure the perfect fit for your project, each door design comes with high levels of customisation.
Transformed and enhanced
Here in the Case Studies section, you’ll experience the beauty of our timber windows and doors for heritage and period properties, listed buildings, and even barn conversion and development projects. All customised and made specifically for our individual customers’ needs. Let’s work with you to provide the best possible solution for your next project.
Twenty, Berkeley Square
High Performance and historic aesthetics
Originally a 1930s art deco property, Twenty Berkeley Square is aimed at a clientele that is used to the finer things, including bespoke concierge services and high-quality interior design. When Steve Dixon, Director at George Barnsdale, was approached about the project to produce and install 129 sliding box sash windows, he understood how to develop the correct solution, having already worked on a number of listed buildings requiring sign off by Westminster Council’s Conservation Team.
Working with us in the past on previous projects, Barr Gazetas understood the need to balance aesthetics with performance. Our Grandis Hardwood windows were crafted to complement the style and period appearance of the original windows and building, whilst also meeting the high-performance attributes required for modern-day compliance.
The Lancasters
High performance and historic aesthetics
Grade II listed and made up of 15 stucco-fronted houses dating back to the 18th century, The Lancasters in Central London presented some interesting challenges. We manufactured a range of traditional timber box and tilt & slide sliding sash windows, inward opening doors and sliding doors – 800 in total – all made to measure and finished with our high-quality white paint finish.
We liaised with architects to design timber doors and windows that would complement the period and French Renaissance style of the building. Subsequently, as The Lancasters is a listed development, we had to seriously consider the aesthetics of the wood as well as its performance, stability and natural durability. The door frames and windows, therefore, were manufactured from Redwood WoodHeart®, an x-ray selected engineered timber, a similar species to the original timber used by the Victorians. Whilst engineered Red Grandis Hardwood was used for the production of the doors for natural durability and long term performance.
Product Details
Grandis Hardwood and Redwood WoodHeart® (FSC certified)
CONTACT US
Bespoke timber windows and doors are at the heart of heritage and high-end projects, contact us now using the form below to discuss your next project.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
General
Due to the wide range of products and options, at this stage it is not possible to give a meaningful cost. For us to provide you with a cost, all we require are drawings (or a photograph) or details of the products you require and their dimensions. This plus any additional information regarding options will allow our first quote to be as accurate as possible.
We offer industry leading guarantees and treat the long term care of our customers very seriously. If, in the unlikely event of a problem, we provide industry leading service. You can view our guarantees by clicking here.
Our complete range of window and door products are designed and manufactured in Donington, Lincolnshire, on the same site at which our business started in 1884.
Lead Times
Our standard lead times are 12 weeks from confirmation of drawings and specifications.
A typical project will take about 12 weeks from order. This allows time for you to agree your specification, for us to provide you with your drawings and for you to approve them and finally allows time for us to manufacture your windows/doors and our Approved Partner, if relevant, to fit them. This does however vary significantly based on the size and complexity of the project.
Installation
Professional
We do conduct site surveys ourselves and have an expert team who will provide full project management throughout the process.
Homeowner
If your enquiry is for your own home and you require installation, then we will pass your enquiry to one of our Approved Partners in your region, who will visit you to discuss and understand your requirements, so that we are able to provide you with a quotation. Once an order has been placed, they will then usually make another visit to conduct a detailed survey to allow us to manufacture the windows and doors to your exact requirements.
Depending on your requirements, either one of our team or one of our Approved Partners will be in touch to arrange the next steps. On receiving your enquiry, we will contact you to explore your ideas and arrange a visit.
Professional
If requested for your project, installation will be carried out by our own certified commercial installation team
Homeowner
Either through our own installers or our network of Approved Partners, we have a network of installers that cover most of the UK. Please contact us with your enquiry and we will look into the specific requirements and either deal with internally or forward it to the installer that covers your area.
Wood
We select only those timber species that provide a stable base for our advanced coating system, delivering a long-lasting, low-maintenance finished product. As standard we use the following timber:
Frames and window sashes are manufactured from Engineered Redwood, free of knots and imperfections.
External mouldings and sash window linings are created in Accoya®, which has earned the highest durability rating of any timber, surviving for 25 years when submerged, uncoated, in fresh water.
For our doors, we use Grandis Hardwood. We also use Grandis Hardwood when a stain finish is required for your window or door because it’s clear faced attractive grain pattern exudes the natural beauty of timber.
We can also supply our windows and doors made completely from either Grandis, Oak or Accoya®.
If you are considering a translucent (i.e. stain) finish, hardwood will offer a more natural depth of colour. When a stain finish is required we use Grandis Hardwood because it’s clear faced attractive grain pattern exudes the natural beauty of timber.
Paint
We have a range of beautiful paint colours in both opaque and translucent finishes. We are also able to offer a huge range of specialist colours, which can be mixed to a RAL colour, BS number or colour matched to a sample.
