Opus is based on an aluminium external face, which can be offered in literally hundreds of different RAL colours and not just in a select range of foils, as we experience with PVCu profiles. It’s also been designed with slim sightlines in mind and is equally adaptive on gabled frames as it is for small windows. To the inside there’s a real sense of something quite unlike any man-made material, in the form of beautiful hardwood, which is carefully shaped, mitred and treated by time served craftsmen.

We are now fortunate that our fourth factory in the Prefix Group has considerable experience in aluminium machining and processing, along with the individual joinery skills and expertise to carefully shape hardwood. The hardwood can be stained, painted or even just lacquered, to preserve the beautiful grains that were so elegantly showcased at the FIT Show.

We’ve designed Opus as a complete system with a 10-year warranty for casement windows, along with French, residential and even bi-folding door options. Given our 20 year experience in roofing, we’ve also added a conservatory, Orangery and lantern roof offering to the mix, so that consumers can not only benefit from replacement windows and doors, but from a completely integrated and newly installed Opus room by utilising a Prefix warmroof or glass roof.  

Opus by its very design is aimed purely at the high end that desire the sheer beauty of wood, but don’t want the on-going maintenance. The aluminium exterior also provides the opportunity in literally hundreds of RAL colours, including attractive textured finishes to create something that’s sympathetic to the existing fabric of the house and we have the flexibility to powder coat our aluminium profiles in short runs.

We fully expect to see consumers migrating over from timber to our Opus composite solution, which brings together the best attributes of both materials. The first few jobs have already been completed in Opus and were considerable in terms of size and scale and feature in our newly launched consumer brochure that was literally picked up in the hundreds at the FIT Show.

In addition to the brochure, we’ve just developed a window sample in a branded bag and will also be adding a branded identification plate to all the products that bear the Opus name, much like the philosophy of hand made sports cars such as Aston Martin. Premium marketing tools will very much be part of the Opus proposition as we look to engage a new affluent target segment and also architects.

While part of the Opus proposition is based on traditional materials, the glass that we specify certainly doesn’t and we’re already specifying the latest glass technologies not only in the windows and doors, but also in the roofing element in the form of solar control glass. Similarly, the latest multi-point locking mechanisms grace the windows and doors, with a wide range of handle options including the period inspired monkey tail handles.