Single fixed window, made to measure

A fixed window has no hinge, no handle and no gap round a sash to let in draughts: the glass is held in the frame all the way round. That makes it the cheapest form of pane there is, because there is no tilt and turn hardware, no handle and no extra seal in it. Choose it where the space doesn't need ventilation — a bathroom window with a separate extractor fan, a stairwell, or a pane next to a door that already lets in enough air.

The standard size is 1,500 × 1,500 mm, but that is a starting point and not a limit: in the configurator you set your own width and height. Because there is no hardware in it, a fixed window is also the form that can go widest and tallest without a sash becoming too heavy to operate — that limit simply doesn't apply here.

A good place for a fixed window is somewhere you don't reach the window anyway: high up in a stairwell, above a cupboard, or a pane that sits in one frame with a door or a tilt and turn window. There, light counts for more than access, and it saves maintenance — there is no hardware to stiffen over the years and no seal that needs replacing. In a bedroom or living room where you want to control the airflow yourself, a fixed window is the wrong choice, because there is no way to add ventilation later without replacing the whole unit.

Compared with the other windows in this group, this is the only one with no opening at all. The window with a dummy sash looks like a tilt and turn window but doesn't open either — choose that if you'd rather keep the look of an opening part. The fixed window with top light is the same fixed form, but in two panes one above the other for a narrower, taller opening. As soon as you do need ventilation, the side-hung casement is the simplest step up: less hardware than a tilt and turn window, with a full opening rather than just a gap.

When you order, measure to the overall size of the frame and not to the opening of a subframe if there is one — the same rule as for every other pane in our layouts. With a fixed window, measuring is in a sense simpler than with an opening pane: there is no sash that has to fit precisely inside the frame, only the glass sitting in the rebate all the way round. A small deviation in the opening is therefore less critical than with a tilt and turn window, where the sash has to have exactly the right clearance.

You choose colour and finish for a fixed window just as for any other pane: any RAL colour on aluminium, and on uPVC a foil or through-colour from the profile's colour chart. Because there is no sash that has to meet the frame separately, the colour difference between frame and sash disappears here — something that is sometimes just visible along the rebate of a tilt and turn window. If you want a clean, even area of colour with no break from hardware or a sash joint, a fixed window is the easiest way to get it. Maintenance is limited to the glass itself and the outside of the frame; there is no hinge to stiffen over the years, no seal round a sash to wear, and no locking hardware to seize. That also makes a fixed window the most predictable choice for a spot you rarely or never maintain, such as high in a stairwell or in a shed you don't visit every year to grease the hardware.

In a renovation, a fixed window is often the cheapest way to fill an existing opening that no longer works without changing the layout of the room — you simply replace glass and frame without having to think about hardware that must match the rest of the elevation. In a new build it is just as often a deliberate design choice: architects use large fixed areas of glass to keep an elevation clean and modern, with ventilation concentrated in a smaller number of opening parts elsewhere. Both uses share the same reason for choosing this layout: fewer parts that can wear, and a price that sits almost entirely in the glass and the frame.

For break-in resistance, a fixed window is harder to force than an opening pane: there is no hinge or locking point for a crowbar to get behind, only the glass itself. For a ground-floor pane, the type of glass is where you gain that extra resistance — laminated or safety glass offers more there than standard double glazing.

Think about the glass when you order, too: in a fixed window you can choose triple glazing with no consequences for the weight on hinges, because there is no hardware anywhere that has to carry the extra weight. That makes a fixed window a logical place for the heaviest, best-insulating glass options if you want to invest in insulation somewhere in the elevation.

Still not sure? Use the comparison with the other layouts in this group above to see which arrangement suits your situation best.