Pilkington Provides Peace And Privacy For Imperial

The refurbishment of London's Imperial College in Praed Street, Paddington has incorporated the use of specialist glass and integral blinds supplied and processed by Pilkington Plyglass.

The Pilkington Insulight Phon units incorporating LUXACLAIR blinds were installed in the ground and first floors of the redevelopment to convert existing laboratories and study areas into offices for the college.

Architects, Boswell Mitchell and Johnson of Glasgow, specified the Pilkington glass to make up 70 insulating units in sizes ranging from 200 x 1800mm to 1200 x 1800mm.

The double glazed units all comprise an inner pane of 16.8mm laminated Pilkington Optilam Phon Low E glass, a 22mm cavity and an outer pane of 10mm heat soaked toughened glass with a ceramic screen print.

The screen print design varies on each pane featuring either the college logo or an intricate striped design.

The unit's glazing is an extremely complicated combination of glasses, which allows for the attributes of each product to compliment one another.

It contains K-glass low-e for energy efficiency conservation, Optilam Phon for sound attenuation and screen printing for a distinctive design, solar control and glare.

The result is an incredibly practical glazing unit that holds great visual appeal.

Within the cavity, LUXACLAIR blinds have been installed, primarily to provide privacy for the employees, as the offices face directly onto the busy Paddington street near the station.

One of the architect's tasks was to ensure the offices were protected from noise emanating from the street, particularly at pavement level.

However, through the combination on LUXACLAIR blinds and Pilkington OptilamT Phon glass, a quiet internal environment has been created to ensure workers are not affected from the noise outside.

For optimum efficiency, a Concerto operating system has been incorporated which commands whole groups of blinds to adopt the same positioning quickly and effectively.

Using Pilkington glass as the encompassing unit ensures compliance with all legislative thermal insulation requirements and EC Regulations governing glare and the use of VDU screens.

The work was completed in September 2003 and says Brian Smith of installers, Prism Architectural, delays and disruption were minimised as the units were delivered ready for installation.

"As a priority, disruption to the daily operation of the building and the public had to be avoided at all costs," he explains.

"The glazing units were all manufactured under strict factory controlled conditions and transported to site, allowing us to meet these criteria." Pilkington Building Products-UK manufactures a wide range of float, rolled and coated glass products.

Glass is distributed direct to customers and, in smaller quantities, either merchanted as stock or bespoke processed products to meet customer needs through our network of 23 branches countrywide.

The company is highly focused on quality and service, continually improving to deliver the benefits of Pilkington's technical ability and innovation to the end user.

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