IT'S an invention which could mean curtains for the window cleaner -- glass that cleans itself!

Conservatory Coloured Glass (CCG), based in Sett End Road, Blackburn, is the first company in the country to process and distribute special glass which cleans itself when wet.

The glass, called Aqua-Clean, is made by a French company and has an invisible "hydrophilic coating" fused into the glass when it is made.

This coating reacts with water to break down dirt and debris on the windows, effectively cleaning them.

But today the window cleaners hit back and said their business would not be washed up.

Anthony Sanderson, from A Sanderson Cleaning Services, Oswaldtwistle, said: "We are not worried. It would probably cost a fortune to change all the windows over to this kind of glass.

"And nobody cleans windows with the thoroughness of the professionals."

David Bradshaw, managing director of CCG, said this was the first time a self-cleaning product had been part of the glass. Up until now they had come in the forms of sprays and lotions and the new development which was bad news for the good old-fashioned window cleaner.

Mr Bradshaw said: "The sprays were quite effective but would only last a couple of years.

"This is actually part of the glass and will last as long as the glass itself lasts.

"Cleaning this will require less than even half of the effort of conventional glass.

"When the glass gets wet, it draws the dirt from the surface and doesn't leave it streaky. It's the housewife's dream." The French makers of the glass -- the world-renowned Saint-Gobain -- have exclusively offered nine companies across the UK to process and distribute the glass on their behalf.

"CCG, which employs 35 people and supplies window companies glass for conservatories, has been chosen as the pilot distributor and has taken delivery of its first stock -- all 20 tonnes of it.

Mr Bradshaw said: "We had a stand at the Glassex exhibition, in Birmingham last week, and the response was amazing.

"We have had orders from companies right across East Lancashire and even down as far as Essex and Bristol."

Glass giants Pilkingtons said they had launched their self-cleaning glass -- Pilkingtons Activ -- last year but admitted it has yet to come to Britain.

A spokesman for the international company, which has its base in St Helens, said: "It was launched in Ireland, Austria and North America last year and will be launched across Europe later this month.

"It won't be available in the UK until later this year."