360-degree views of Cardiff
8th November 2016

One Central Square, Cardiff, has achieved BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating with the help of PILKINGTON windows.

For Rio Architects, achieving a high level of natural light within the building was also extremely important. This meant specifying a high-performance glass that was not only energy-efficient, but also lacked any visible tinting.

Steve Berry, sales manager at Pilkington United Kingdom Limited, said: “To take advantage of its prime location, the Rio team wanted to maximise the 360-degree views of Cardiff by glazing the building floor to ceiling on all sides.
“The building is surrounded by 6,130m2 of glazed units, so the performance of the glass was absolutely critical to the project’s overall energy usage and the ease with which the interior can be climate-controlled.”

To control the amount of energy coming into the building, a Pilkington Insulight Sun double glazed system was used. The outer pane is Pilkington Suncool 66/33 T– a toughened glass that rejects 64 per cent of the sun’s energy while allowing twice as much daylight in. It also has the additional benefit of thermal insulation. The inner pane was Pilkington Optifloat – a standard float glass – and the two were separated by a 16mm argon-filled cavity to provide enhanced insulation.

The majority of the glazing was constructed as a curtain wall using architectural aluminium systems from Kawneer. However, for the double-height atrium, the Pilkington Planar structural glazing system was used, creating frameless glazed surfaces to maximise the sight-lines through the building and minimise its impact at street-level.

Surrounding the atrium are 130m2 of double glazed units, held in place by low-profile stainless steel fixings and perpendicular glass fins, creating an uninterrupted wall of glass. The toughened fins are 19mm thick and ensure the glazing will stand up to high wind loads.

www.pilkington.co.uk