I am in the process of buying a house. One concern raised by the surveyor was that the replacement plastic bay window frames may not be adequate to carry the load of the wall (the original wooden frames would have carried this load). The local search shows that the works were carried out by a FENSA certified window person. Does FENSA have anything to do with structural standards, or is it more to do with thermal performance standards?
Does FENSA certificate prove that bay window meets structural requirements
building-regulationsukwindows
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Anything can be done but it's hard for me to believe this is a DIY project. You will need to find a way to bridge over the window with an arch or header in such a way that the load is adequately supported. Also if the wall is important to the lateral strength of the building (and an exterior solid masonry wall probably is), you need to make sure the entire opening is framed out in a way that doesn't affect the shear strength of the wall.
There are standard curtain rods for bay windows such as this one
There is also no reason you cannot use three rods, placed close to one another, one for each window.
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Best Answer
The FENSA website says:
And Approved Document A is titled "Building regulation in England covering the structural elements of a building".
So in theory a FENSA certificate should guarantee that the new windows won't cause any structural issues (in addition to not falling out and hurting someone, providing adequate insulation, etc). In practice, it's quite possible that the installer (or building control officer) didn't do their job correctly and that the certificate is meaningless. More likely is that the surveyor raised a concern to cover themselves, just in case.
The houses I'm familiar with all have lintels above the windows and the window frames themselves aren't structural. You might start by asking the surveyor for further details. If they're not in a position to provide more information, the safest thing to do is commission another surveyor or structural engineer to look specifically at this problem (and any other concerns that were raised) and provide an official report that you can provide to your lender or insurer if required.