Aluprof Support Dublin’s Architecture & Building Expo 2025

By Wojciech Brożyna - MD Aluprof UK - The Architecture & Building Expo 2025 (ABX 2025) took place at the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) in Dublin on 8-9 October 2025. The event served as a key meeting point for architects, architectural technologists, building professionals and specifiers from across Ireland and beyond.

The show featured a broad exhibition scope from smart-home systems and modular building to insulation materials, security systems and façade solutions. This years event was run alongside the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) Annual Conference.

Wojciech Brożyna - MD Aluprof UK

The conference theme was "Cities, Towns and Neighbourhoods”, according to the organisers, the accompanying show returned “with a focus on innovation and sustainability” for its 2025 edition. Visitors could engage with live talks, training hubs and demonstrations of new building technologies, allowing attendees to see how the Construction Industry is evolving in response to climate-challenges and regulatory change. Additionally, the networking opportunities were significant with the expo bringing together exhibitors and buyers, offering a platform for partnership building and sourcing of products and services from the Irish market.

ABX 2025 also offered a strong educational and business development component. Workshops and seminars looked at topics such as building automation, prefabrication, and green materials. For professionals in the architecture and construction sectors, the event provided a rich environment to stay up to date with trends, forge new relationships, and explore new suppliers and technologies all in one venue. In short, the expo offered the ideal mix of exhibition, education and networking for those working in building and architecture in Ireland in 2025.

The “Building Change” student lead zone at the event offered a dynamic, interactive showcase of how the construction and architecture industry is being reshaped. Located on the balcony area of the Main Hall at the venue, this space featured the specially designed “Constructive Interference” exhibition, an immersive installation of forward looking building technologies, innovative materials and collaborative design strategies. Aluprof exhibited on stand D5 at the exhibition under the banner of “Fire Safety and Sustainable Innovation,” using their attendance to communicate both technical solutions, fire-rated framing and glazed screens, façade and window systems and the wider sustainability story the business has promoted at other 2025 trade fairs, such as low-carbon production, recycled content and energy efficient product design.

Alongside a full sized sample of Aluprof’s newly launched ‘MB-79N CSF’ (Casement Slim Frame) the stand displayed corner samples of their ‘MB-SLIMLINE’ a slim steel looking system, the ‘MB-104 Passive’ a Passivhaus certified window and door system, a ‘MB-79N’ door corner sample, the ‘MB-78EI’ fire rated system and a sample of the companies class leading curtain wall system, the ‘MB-SR50N Efekt’. Aluprof was delighted to learn that their MB-79N CSF product was shortlisted for the ‘Architects' Choice’ award for the ‘Best Construction Product’ and ‘Best Exterior Product’ categories during the show.

This year, the Prime Minister of Ireland, Micheál Martin TD, addressed the conference, underscoring the national significance of Dublin Expo 2025 and Ireland’s ambitions for a more sustainable and technologically advanced built environment. His speech highlighted the Government commitment to driving green innovation, strengthening construction productivity, and investing in resilient public infrastructure while encouraging stronger collaboration between policymakers, industry leaders, and the wider supply chain to support Ireland’s future growth and competitiveness.

Feedback from architects who attended the Architecture & Building Expo 2025 was broadly positive. Many praised the event’s fresh emphasis on sustainability, smart materials and cross-disciplinary collaboration, noting that the “Building Change” zone offered a strong platform for exploring emerging technologies. However, some architects also noted room for improvement in terms of deeper technical sessions and more manufacturer presence.

Overall, the consensus was that the Expo successfully brought together the architecture and construction communities in Ireland, provided valuable networking opportunities and helped set the tone for new ways of working in the Industry Aluprof UK have been supporting specifiers in the UK and Ireland for over fifteen years with advanced systems that include, high performance windows doors and facade systems.

Many UK and Ireland based fabricators and installers supply these systems and  are on hand to offer surveys and cost analysis as to what improvements can be made  with likely paybacks.

Further information about the wide range of systems and  specification support is available through the company website at aluprof.co.uk or for  home improvement at aluprofliving.com and direct from their UK head office in Altrincham  by phoning +44 (0) 161 941 4005.

West Sussex STEM Project Sees SFS JB-D Plus Window Installation Brackets Speed Progress

SFS UK’s JB‑D Plus pre‑wall window installation brackets have been specified by façade specialist Leay Ltd for the £725 k window‑and‑curtain‑wall package on Chichester College’s new STEM Academy in West Sussex, a choice Leay says streamlines site logistics while guaranteeing the structural integrity of the double‑skinned façade.

Established in 1937 and now a nationwide fabricator of Kawneer aluminium systems, the Aylesford‑based company designed, supplied and installed AA100 HI curtain walling and AA720 high‑performance windows for main contractor Willmott Dixon. The prefabricated bracket system allowed Leay’s sub‑contract teams to meet a tight timetable without on‑site fabrication while accommodating building tolerances and maintaining verified thermal and structural performance throughout the build.

SFS conducted detailed bracket testing in accordance with IFT guideline MO/02‑1 to verify performance across multiple substrates. To meet UK market's demand for values in light‑gauge steel framing systems, the company also ran additional tests in steel frames, enabling its technical Compendium to include certified values for these applications. Armed with this data, Leay’s design team were able to accurately calculate the number of brackets needed for the Chichester College project. When the new JB‑D Plus version launched, SFS supported Leay with samples and on‑site product demonstrations.

A Director of Leay, Jim Matthews, commented: “We have a very good long-term working relationship with Willmott Dixon and have done healthcare, leisure sector and public buildings as well as residential apartment buildings, over commercial premises, and of course education for them. In this case, Chichester is a new STEM facility, a high spec project targeting low U-values where we are predominantly supplying Kawneer windows together with curtain walling, which is being installed at ground floor level, around what is to be used as a vehicle workshop.

“While we have used the new version bracket from the SFS range at Chichester, we were originally introduced to the brackets by Kawneer themselves: for who we are the longest serving dealer in the country – dating back to 1968, and we currently use them on virtually every job we do nowadays. The main benefits to the JB range is that they help avoid cold bridging issues and allow for adjustment: which is particularly advantageous if you are installing long runs of windows across a façade – otherwise in the past you were looking to have sections of 6mm plate cut to size, galvanised and pre-drilled – and using a substantial amount of loose packers.”

Jim reflected: “Things have changed a lot over the years, from where you were presented with a near complete building to fit windows in - to the situation now where a building’s main structure is up - and fitting the windows on these brackets allows the exterior cladding to proceed while fit-out work can proceed indoors in weathertight conditions. So ultimately, they speed up the programme.”

Callum Thornton, fenestration product manager at SFS, explained how the project met the Building Safety Act’s requirements: “With the new Building Safety Act sharpening accountability across the entire supply chain, specifiers and installers need reliable, traceable data for every component they select. By partnering with Leay Ltd we provided our JB‑D Plus brackets together with a full suite of tested values, giving designers certainty during specification, and installers a clear, proven fixing method on site. That blend of transparent information and hands‑on support helps project teams meet the Act’s ‘golden thread’ requirements and deliver first‑time success.” For further information, call 0330 0555888 or visit https://uk.sfs.com/

SWA Member Shines In Heritage Refurbishment Project At Woolwich Arsenal

Steel Window Association member, Associated Steel Window Services, is a long-established member of the Steel Window Association and expert in the repair of metal windows, from the earliest wrought iron examples through to contemporary curtain walling. ASWS also undertakes full restoration works to timber windows and doors, architectural metalwork, specialist glazing, bronze windows and shopfronts.

Members of the Steel Window Association together offer a UK wide service for the repair and replacement of various types of old metal windows, doors and screens, as well as being able to manufacture new fenestration which fully meets the requirements of building regulations.

A recent project at The Woolwich Arsenal is a prime example of the SWA’s skills in bringing historic buildings back to life. Aside from converted and new-build residential properties, the huge site has also seen numerous businesses and social enterprises established, including Woolwich Works, a creative quarter for the arts which includes spaces such as The Firework Factory, The Laboratory and The Cartridge Factory. 

While recent decades have seen the site transformed from a near derelict munitions factory to become one of south London’s most iconic redevelopments, restoration and repurposing work continue apace, with a completed contract involving steel window specialist, ASWS, highlighting both the challenges and the opportunities the complexity of the buildings can present.  

Within Buildings 19 and 41, ASWS was tasked with refurbishing over a dozen large steel windows, including 10 with semi-circular heads, and the removal of three others where the openings were to be blocked up or replaced by new doors.  While the company’s operatives are well experienced at demounting very old windows without damage, these posed a particular challenge in that the outer frames had been deeply recessed into the brickwork to help withstand a possible explosion, from inside or outside, with the history of the building and its location.

The 12 windows measuring 2,400mm high by 1,500mm were removed to the London premises of ASWS for careful grit-blasting and the replacement of many heavily corroded sections.    This reuse rather than the building industry’s default of recycling old metal offered the client significant cost savings and helped maintain the integrity of a truly historic complex which dates back to the end of the 17th century. For further information on the Steel Window Association, please visit www.steel-window-association.co.uk or call 020 3475 8049.