VELUX helps extension dreams come true

Ten homeowners in the UK and Ireland who have been dreaming about building a new or upgrading an existing single-storey extension in their home have won a coveted competition by leading window manufacturer VELUX®.The competition asked homeowners to explain why roof windows would make a difference to their extension and how important a brighter environment in their home was to them.Winners, who will receive up to four VELUX INTEGRA® solar or electric roof windows and £1,000 worth of John Lewis vouchers, came from across England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.A family from Sudbury, in Suffolk who want a space to better suit their autistic daughter and a couple looking to restore their traditional Victorian home to its original form in Dundee, Scotland are amongst the winners.Georgina Welsh from Leeds, who is expecting her first baby with husband Mark, was 'over the moon' when she found out she had won the VELUX competition. Her home is the first in the UK to be fitted with the VELUX curved glass rooflights for flat roofs.Georgina said: When we viewed our new house, we knew that the kitchen and dining room were quite dark and lacked natural daylight but we loved the location so went ahead with the purchase. Over time, the lack of daylight began to deter us from using the dining room and we missed the bright summer evenings we’d enjoyed so much in our old house. We always knew we’d need to do something about it and winning the competition definitely accelerated the process.We’ve knocked down two walls to create a multi-functional kitchen and entertaining space at the back of our home, and an integral part of the design was to have two large VELUX roof windows. Our friends and family thought we were mad to start a renovation project just three months before my due date! But it was the right time of year and we were told we’d be the first customers in the UK to receive VELUX brand new curved glass roof windows, so it made sense to just go for it!We are over the moon to have won the competition and the VELUX flat roof windows have now been installed and bring much needed light and fresh air into our home, just in time for the arrival of our baby. The competition was part of a wider extensions campaign to inspire and support homeowners with practical tips, advice and tools to help them create their dream single-storey extension with VELUX roof windows, which can let in twice as much daylight as vertical windows of the same size.We were delighted with the public response to our competition, which showed just how important bringing more daylight into buildings through roof windows is to homeowners.The judging process was extremely difficult but the reasons our 10 winners gave for roof windows making a difference to their extension, and how maximising daylight in their homes would help improve their lives, really stood out. We’re so pleased to help each of them create or improve space within their home and inject brightness by bringing the outside in, said Emmie MacMillan, Senior Marketing Manager at VELUX GBI.