Technology Hardware & glazing systems
Duxton Windows Expands

Overcoming challenges are simply part of doing business successfully.

Overcoming challenges are simply part of doing business successfully. However, some businesses take things a step farther. Rather than simply overcoming a challenge, they manage to turn it to their advantage.

The staff of Duxton Windows & Doors poses beneath the sign at the company’s new, expanded facility.

Duxton Windows & Doors is a manufacturer of pultruded fiberglass windows and doors, based in Winnipeg, Man. It’s a challenging environment, with extremes of both hot and cold temperatures a common occurrence. For Duxton Windows &  Doors, though, this has turned out to be an advantage, as it has allowed the company to know first-hand that its products will stand up to everything the natural world can throw at them.

Al Dueck founded the company in 1999. According to Dueck, he developed insights into window performance characteristics during his more than 20 years in the window industry.

“I had a specific focus on high performance glass configurations, ranging from high to very low solar gain and unique quintuple extreme low U value configurations,” says Dueck. “I gained further insights into fenestration components with the ongoing evolution of vinyl and fiberglass window components. That knowledge became the basis of selecting pultruded fiberglass as the ideal window system material. Even today, we’re one of the few window companies with a pure focus on pultruded fiberglass.”

Two projects that Duxton Windows & Doors has been involved with. The first is the Manasc Isaac designed Capital Health building in Edmonton, with metallic silver finishes and triple/double low-e glass. The second is the Riverdale Equilibrium project (also in Edmonton), which includes QUAD and high solar gain glass.

Dueck also chose to build the business from the beginning with a focus on suitable, complimentary glass configurations. Triple or dual pane glass with selections of clear or solar “block or gain” low e, inert gas and warm edge Super Spacer formed the basis of the window system building blocks. Duxton has also chosen to provide an extended range of glazing options.

The company’s fiberglass window development program includes a broad range of finish options ranging from custom colours to stain-able wood interiors. A range of standard colours is available while colour matching is also provided in suitable applications. The stain-able wood interior provides a unique option that combines the special advantages of pultruded fiberglass as a base but offers the unique beauty of wood.

Window development at Duxton Windows & Doors has also focused on the development of a range of modular window accessories.  The company says this allows designers and building professionals to adapt the product to a wider range of applications. A selection of perimeter and brickmoulds allow the windows/plane of glass to be placed further “in- or out-ward” within the wall system, depending on the situation.

The company has recently announced that construction has been completed on its new facility, located 45 Higgins Avenue in Winnipeg. At 18,000 square feet, it is considerably larger than the old building. According to the company, the new location will allow for more efficient operations as well as provide for ongoing growth.

The newly designed office area contains a meeting room and showroom, as well as additional office space, intended to easily allow for future growth.

In addition, the move nearly doubles Duxton Windows & Doors’ manufacturing space. It will allow the company to expand window fabrication capabilities, accommodating additional production lines and new technology to help streamline manufacturing operations. Also, multiple dock level loading bays will allow for better material and window handling.

“We were a pure start-up as of ten years ago, and it’s been a long steady growth process. We had been working out of two buildings, which just isn’t efficient. It got to the point that we had to do something,” says Dueck. “A facility became available at almost the perfect time. The layout is far superior, and it makes it much easier for our production people to get the job done.”

When Duxton Windows & Doors opened for business ten years ago, it was with the idea of working with designers to fit the product to the building, and find the best solution within budget. The company has worked with a number of unique projects over the years, such as Airdrie Environmental Education Centre in Airdrie, Alta., the West End Cultural Centre in Winnipeg, a major update to one of the University of Alberta’s buildings, the Altona Bergthaler Mennonite Church and the Ocean Sciences Centre in Logy, Newfoundland, and continues to work closely with feature projects such as Riverdale NetZero.

Riverdale NetZero is a new semi-detached duplex on a prime inner-city site in Edmonton. In keeping with the EQuilibrium Initiative, the builder-developer, Habitat Studio & Workshop Ltd., has designed and constructed these homes with the intent that they are healthy to live in, reduce energy use to a minimum, conserve resources, have low environmental impact, and be marketable to people interested in investing in sustainable homes. Another prime consideration is that the homes must produce as much or more energy than they consume. 

The methods used by Duxton’s project managers, supported by CAD detailing by project, work closely with designers and the project specifications to fit precisely fit the product to the building in question. According to the company, the goal is to qualify the suitability of Duxton windows, and then work to find the best possible solutions within budget requirements.

“I think a lot of people would say that when we started, we deliberately chose not to be mainstream,” says Dueck. “But today, a lot of people and property owners are becoming more attuned to the topics of energy efficiency and the environment. They’re looking for products like ours.”

The company remains on the cutting edge, with increased use of low-iron glass, as well updated hard-coated low-e glass recently introduced by AGC. Duxton Windows & Doors also offers a broader range of wood laminates, such as edge grain fir and maple, and the company is still devoted to high creativity in designs and frames, and offering a greater range of finishes including metallic silver. Looking back over the last ten years, Al Dueck credits the company’s success to persistence and team building.

“Through hard work and persistence, we’ve created more of a demand for ourselves, by being creative and making custom, high performance windows,” says Dueck. “Most importantly, we’ve been able to build a strong team of people.”

For more information, visit www.duxtonwindows.com .