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Rotherham-based Speedframe believes housebuilders don't want teams of installers turning up on site to fit PVCU windows but would rather have something so easy to fit that it can be done by the regular crews.

As a result Speedframe launched Olympic Gold - a PVCU window range aimed specifically at volume housebuilders with facets designed to suit. It fits into place from the inside, which means that window fitting is no longer dependent on scaffolding being in place, and the end result is more secure as there is no external beading to be levered out.

The design also does away with the steel sub-frame. While widely used as a way of protecting fully factory-finished products like PVCU windows from being knocked about on site it is a duplication of effort to have to build in, then take out a steel template.

Some flimsier designs have also been prone to buckling or getting out of square leading to problems when fitting the windows.

Speedframe's Olympic Gold has reinvented the sub-frame as a 70 mm cavity closer, also made of PVCU. Unlike a standard cavity closer system which looks like an upturned goalpost, Speedframe's design is fully rectangular: the head which sits underneath the lintel includes ventilation channels so that these don't detract from the design of the finished window.

The cavity closing sub-frame is rigid enough not to need additional metal clips or triangulation and the finished window clips into place from the inside.

The specification for the windows is pitched fairly high: the glazing depth is 28 mm as standard, as are key lock espagnolettes and gold handles.

The full Olympic Gold range comprises casement and tilt and turn windows, as well as entrance doors, patio and french doors.

This year Speedframe has added a bay window assembly to the range which makes it possible to fit the windows after the roof above is built. The bay subframe, which is available in either 90° or 135° splays, acts as cavity closer, template and structural framing.

If the product is innovative so is the procurement process. Speedframe operates a dedicated new housing team which not only sells directly to the end user but also undertakes to visit all live sites once a fortnight. They don't undertake any fixing; the need for skilled fitters has been designed-out saving builders having to timetable another group of subcontractors.