Product category:
Glass
News Release from: Glass UK | Subject: Structural and aesthetic glass
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 14 November 2006
Glass UK brings light to Great Windmill
Street
Glass UK, and LED lighting consultants, Public Screen, work together on a stunning structural and aesthetic glass project.
A working relationship between Glass UK and Public Screen that goes back only three or four years was effectively cemented recently with a stunning example of structural and aesthetic glass that provides the centrepiece to the entrance of 41-44 Great Windmill Street in London's Soho Prior to this contract, glass and structural glazing engineering specialists, Glass UK, and LED lighting consultants, Public Screen, had worked together on other high profile projects, providing glass balustrades and metal handrails for Apex Plaza in Reading and the eye-catching glass staircase in the old County Hall building on the banks of the Thames in Westminster
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 25 Oct 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
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"We find they understand the need for lateral thinking as a way to providing the right solutions to complex problems," says Michael Smillie of Public Screen.
At Great Windmill Street the initial problem to be solved was the hanging of an 8-panel glass chandelier (each panel 75cm x 210cm high), complete with 80 wireless LED lights to each panel, creating the effect of tiny spots of light suspended in mid-air.
There was no repeat of the famous 'Only Fools and Horses' episode with the chandelier in the country house, however.
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In this case, the true professionals were on hand in the shape of Glass UK, who took on the preparation of the hanging calculations in relation to the weight ratios, prior to carrying out the installation - making the chandelier a stunning centrepiece of the four-storey atrium.
Glass UK's involvement in the project went far beyond this, however, in a six-month contract worth upwards of GBP300,000.
Working with the main contractors, Lancsville Construction and Stuart, Duffey, Appleton, the architects, Glass UK also took on the manufacture and installation of the 6m ceiling beams from which the chandelier was hung.
Here, 3-ply cast resin laminate glass was used, in addition to 7m beams in the same dimensions used for the facade support structure.
Glass UK also manufactured a series of four glass facade panels - all 6m high by 2m wide, as well as another four in the same size for the 5 pitched roof.
In complying with current Building Regs, Glass UK took account of potential loads generated by wind and snow, and the pressures created by adjacent buildings.
Here, the glass was a Low E 12mm laminated, toughened on the internal.
In the atrium, some 800sq.m.
of multi-ply laminated glass suitable for variable crowd loadings was used for the flooring and balustrading of the stainless steel cantilevered balconies on three levels.
"Overall, this contract is a very impressive showcase for glass and glazing, and manufacture and installation at its best," said Glass UK director, Warren Evans.
"It shows numerous instances of Glass UK's skill both as a manufacturer of oversized glazing - something in which we lead the UK - and as a highly skilled company when it comes to structural engineering and installation." Between the first and third floors a glass lift shaft is another feature, whilst on the fifth floor there are a number of Glass UK's Sheerglaze doors.
Sheerglaze doors utilise an aluminium frame, sandwiched between two sheets of toughened glass.
This provides a high degree of rigidity to the door construction, whilst ensuring that no part of the frame protrudes beyond the plane of the glass surface.
The units are hermetically sealed to provide excellent thermal and acoustic performance.
The perimeter frame is hidden by a paint band in any RAL colour, which is applied to the inner face of the glass.
The result is a continuously reflective surface with minimal interruption, making Sheerglaze doors perfect for use when combined with secret fixed and bolted structural glass systems in facades and in acoustic partitioning.
All the Sheerglaze doors, and a complex of floor to ceiling glass screenworks, were 2.5m high.
Also at fifth floor level Glass UK manufactured and fitted the windows.
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