Coming in summer 2026 Sashed will offer and publish third party verified Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) on our entire range of timber windows and doors.
These cradle to grave EPDs will not only cover our joinery products but they will also include our in-house installation services servicing all areas of England and Wales. We use only our own installation teams no subcontractors; so the data is accurate, auditable and fully accountable.
Architects and specifiers can confidently specify Sashed joinery now; EPDs will be available within a few months.
Need verified timber windows and or doors EPDs for planning permission conditions or compliance? Read on to see how Sashed can help.
Why EPDs and Life Cycle Assessments Matter and what Sashed is doing about it
Sustainability is now central to building design and planning permission decisions, yet distinguishing genuine green credentials from marketing is increasingly hard.
Architects, specifiers and homeowners want transparent, comparable data not slogans. Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and the resulting Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) provide that clarity by quantifying a product’s environmental impact across its entire life.
What is an LCA and why it matters
A Life Cycle Assessment is a scientific evaluation of environmental impacts over a product’s full lifespan. Depending on scope, LCAs can be:
- Cradle to Gate: raw material extraction through to factory output.
- Cradle to Grave: entire life from materials to disposal.
- Cradle to Cradle: includes reuse or recycling and material recirculation.
An LCA looks beyond simple carbon metrics to multiple impact categories such as global warming potential (kg CO2e), water use, eutrophication, resource depletion, acidification and ozone depletion. This big picture approach reveals hidden ‘trade-offs’ and highlights the most meaningful opportunities to reduce environmental harm.
What is an EPD and why EPDs matter
An Environmental Product Declaration is a verified, standardised report based on an LCA that communicates a product’s environmental performance in a consistent format (aligned with standards such as ISO 14025 and EN 15804). EPDs allow fair comparisons between products and help meet green building certification requirements (eg BREEAM, Passive House, or LEED) by providing trustworthy, third party verified data.
Why timber windows need LCA and EPD transparency
Timber is often regarded as a low carbon material, but environmentally responsible performance depends on species, sourcing, manufacturing, durability and maintenance needs. LCAs and EPDs show the full lifecycle reality: durable, well designed timber windows can outperform aluminium and uPVC when longevity and low operational energy are taken into account.
Comparative studies consistently show timber windows designed for long service life score better over their lifecycle than typical aluminium or uPVC alternatives. Contributing factors include:
- Longer service life and fewer replacements
- Lower maintenance frequency when properly designed and finished
- Superior operational energy performance when paired with advanced glazing such as vacuum glazing.
For example, our hardwood or Accoya® heritage sash window fitted with high performance vacuum glazing delivers significantly lower lifetime emissions and a lower total lifecycle cost than a comparable softwood sash window fitted with slimline double glazing. The vacuum glazed hardwood or Accoya® window has a much lower U‑value and far longer glazing and timber service life, so it requires fewer glazing replacements, requires less maintenance, and uses less energy over decades; producing substantial carbon and cost savings in the long run.
How Sashed is leading the way
Sashed has taken a proactive stance: we’ve decided to completed cradle to grave LCAs and produce EPDs across our 16 different product ranges within our seven different timber window and door offerings, to give our customers verified, comparable environmental data for every product.
We have partnered with Cascade Sustainability (born out of BlueMarble™) who are specialists in Life Cycle Assessment s and Environmental Product Declarations , and in the spring / summer of 2026 we offer our customers a full set of EPD’s prepared in line with EN 15804, ISO 14025 and third party verified (all LCAs and EPDs undergo independent third party verification and are supported by rigorous thermal and durability testing).
Each product is assessed for the impact of:
- Material sourcing and supply chain
- Manufacturing and production energy
- Transport and installation
- In-use performance and maintenance cycles
- End of life scenarios (reuse / recycling / disposal).
Cascade will conduct LCA’s and will produce seven EPD’s, one for each of our seven core product offerings:
- Sliding Sash Windows
- Casement Windows
- Tilt and Turn Windows
- Doors
- Pivot Door
- Sliding Patio Door
- Bi-folding Doors
How we plan to use LCA/EPD data to improve our products
LCA insights drive practical improvements across design and production by:
- Reducing material waste and sourcing lower impact inputs
- Enhancing durability and ease of maintenance
- Optimising glazing and thermal performance
- Choosing greener logistics and supply chains
It is hoped that these changes will result in products that not only meet today’s regulations but are future proofed for tightening standards and circular economy expectations.
Benefits for specifiers, homeowners and the industry
- Planning requirements: EPDs for windows and doors can be a condition of planning, for example EPDs are increasingly critical for construction projects in London, as they are required to comply with the Greater London Authority (GLA) Whole Life-Cycle Carbon (WLC) Assessments guidance.
- Market leadership: Making lifecycle data openly available raises sector standards and accelerates decarbonisation across construction.
- Certainty: Verified EPDs replace marketing claims with verified comparable data.
Planning a sustainable build or renovation?
If you’re specifying windows or doors for a new build, renovation, or extension; both commercial or residential, Sashed will provide full LCA and EPD documentation, plus lifecycle cost and carbon-comparison guidance by mid 2026.
If you need information sooner, our test technical data on thermal performance and other certifications is available on request now.
Contact the Sashed sales team to explore our soon to be EPD certified timber window and door solutions and make choices today that deliver verified environmental performance for decades to come.