Pilkington shines light on learning

Pilkington Planar system offered enhanced structural durability and achieved an improved acoustic performance at Hillsborough College.

Students in Sheffield have been studying in style at the new £27m Hillsborough College.

The hundreds of eager students that flocked through the door on the first day were not disappointed with the stunning building that made extensive use of the Pilkington Planar frameless glazing system.

The building, home to a dedicated sixth form centre, cutting-edge facilities for science, art and design, as well as specially designed suites for Health and Care studies, utilised over 1800m2 of Pilkington Planar.

The sloping front entrance of the college utilised laminated insulating units with a 10mm Pilkington Optifloat clear heat-soaked toughened outer pane, a 16mm air space and a 13.5mm laminated inner pane comprising of 6mm clear heat strengthened Pilkington K Glass, 6mm Pilkington Optifloat Grey heat strengthened glass and a clear interlayer.

The rear entrance of the building, incorporating clear double glazed units, slopes forward to dramatic effect.

Offering a highly visual effect to the main structure of the college, the front northwest and southwest vertical elevations comprised an impressive 1500m2 of 10mm Pilkington Optifloat clear heat-soaked toughened glass.

Pilkington Planar provides a flush glass surface using countersunk holes and stainless steel fittings to fix back the glass facade to the structure instead of conventional framing systems.

The result is a fully engineered system with the minimum of structure and the maximum visual clarity.

Specified by Jefferson Sheard Architects, Pilkington Planar was the natural choice for this project as the architects were looking for an avant-garde design to reflect the nature of the building and the extensive academic facilities available at the college.

Pilkington Planar Accredited Installer, O.J.Taffinder , constructed the Pilkington Planar system and worked closely with Jefferson Sheard Architects and main contractor J.F Finnegan to ensure that all technical and visual requirements of the project were met.

Not only does the system provide fantastic visual quality into the building but the frameless glass system also creates a stunning exterior facade.

Ollie Taffinder, Managing Director at O.J.Taffinder commented: "Pilkington Planar worked really well on this development and met all of the technical constraints of the project".

"A glass system that was strong and durable and yet aesthetically pleasing was required for the building".

"While the aesthetics were crucial, the college performs an important public role and receives a high frequency of traffic on a daily basis".

"Therefore the functional aspect of the glass system was of equal importance".

"The Pilkington Planar system offered enhanced structural durability and achieved an improved acoustic performance.".

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